Chapter 3 Ham and champion

The will that Jin Shengtan passed on to his son on the guillotine is: "Remember, eating peanuts and dried tofu together will give you the taste of ham." Too "petty bourgeoisie"?If I didn't understand him as a person, I might think that this is a code word with some overtones.In fact, this great talent who has commented on it is just teaching future generations: one should enjoy life as much as possible—a feast of dreams, and one can also find substitutes in the reality of limited conditions... This allusion related to ham, you know There are too many people, a bit overcrowded.It is estimated that it will not work.

In comparison, I think Yuan Mei said it better: "One champion will be produced in three years, but a good ham will not be produced in three years." He has written a good book, which should belong to an authoritative person.Comparing the number one scholar to ham—only literati in the imperial examination era can praise it in such a clever way.And he emphasized: a real good ham is even rarer than a champion who has surpassed all living beings—is that equivalent to the realm of genius?Yuan Mei's eulogy of ham will make champions blush—not to mention those juren or scholars.They can only be regarded as braised pork, right?

The most authentic ham is Jinhua ham. It is said that the production process is extremely complicated: "The salt used for pickling must be salt, and the smoke used must be loose." But it is worth it—Jinhua is famous for its ham.If there is no ham, I am afraid that many people would not know where Jinhua is.The Chinese are really capable of making smoked and cured products more delicious than fresh meat.Of course, it can also be said that they took great pains. I think that a good article or a poem should be as difficult as the birth of a good ham, which has been influenced by art and tested by time.For example, when reading Tang poetry and Song poetry left over, I always have to chew carefully and savor them slowly to get a ham-like flavor from them.It can be seen that those eliminated titles always have reasons for being eliminated.Good things are always hard to come by.Yuan Mei himself is a poet, and I would like to change his words a little bit: "One champion will emerge in three years, but no good poet will emerge in three years."He certainly wouldn't object.

In Nanjing, passing by the ruins of Suiyuan (the junction of Shanghai Road and Zhujiang Road, there is a Xiaocang Mountain), I always think of Yuan Mei.He wrote two books here, one is called "Suiyuan Poetry Talk" and the other is called "Suiyuan Poetry Talk".At the same time, he established his dual identity: poet and gourmet.It seems that great elegance is great vulgarity, and great vulgarity is great elegance.Yuan Mei: A great poet in the Qing Dynasty and a great chef in Nanjing.He writes poems like stir-fry dishes (paying attention to color, fragrance and taste), and compiles recipes like poems (with great literary talent).Sui Garden is Yuan Mei's Grand View Garden.He "received a lot of female students and begged more concubines" and became Jia Baoyu in the poetry circle.It is said that he was eighty years old, and he wrote a poem to protest against the ban on Qinhuai prostitutes by the government at that time: "The three emperors also had Hong doctor prostitutes, which were recorded in the "Kangxi Dictionary."

It is this unrestrained Yuan Mei who has a soft spot for ham—and by praising ham, belittles the number one scholar who follows the rules.It's a good thing he can figure it out. Fortunately, he has many friends.Reading the proses of Zhou Zuoren, Lin Yutang, Liang Shiqiu, Wang Zengqi and even Zhang Zhongxing, I can smell the smell of Suiyuan—or the smell of ham.They are all disciples and grandchildren of Yuan Mei.This series of leisurely writers is not on the path of the number one scholar in the liberal arts.It seems that by relying on stereotyped essays, no good ham can be cultivated. Liang Shiqiu also specially wrote an article titled "Ham": "In the winter of 1926, one day Mr. Wu Mei hosted a banquet for his colleagues from Southeast University to Nanjing Beiquan. Put it on a large porcelain plate with high sides, take the most refined part of the ham, cut it into small pieces half an inch square and an inch high, twenty or thirty pieces stand upright on the plate, purely steamed and cooked with alcohol brewing flower carving, the taste is unparalleled. It has been more than half a century since the grand meeting was unforgettable, sir, blushing slightly, singing loudly at the scene." For him personally, this is equivalent to half a lifetime.The taste of ham can almost last his whole life.Besides, he was on an isolated island in Taiwan, recalling the ham in the mainland—the ham in his thoughts must be more expensive than gold.

Liang Shiqiu also said that ham is the favorite of southerners. Northerners don’t know how to eat ham, and think that ham has a stale, greasy and astringent taste.From this, we can roughly deduce the difference between the two aesthetics and values.Leisurely literati who pursue ethereal and illusory are still suitable for living in the south.Beijingers are pragmatic, and they may pay more attention to the champion.And Qingjiang Pork is their champion.Liang Shiqiu did not reject the clear sauce meat, but he still made a proper defense for the ham: "It's just that the clear sauce pork loses the unique fragrance of ham."This lingering fragrance is the mystery of ham.

In Jiangnan, when I walk into any wax shop, I can see hams with the texture of mahogany hanging all over the walls.In a trance, I would mistakenly think that I walked into a musical instrument store-a blunt ham is not like food, but like a pipa that bounces brilliantly.The rain of flowers on the Silk Road has long since stopped, and the fairies have all flown away, leaving behind only their antique musical instruments - which are endlessly teasing my imagination... The ham seems to have gone through thousands of tempers. I'm glad I'm a Southerner.I am glad that I have the same hobby as Yuan Mei and others.I still enshrine ham as the greatest classic in everyday life.Do not want to exchange with anyone.