永康麦饼的人文味道

永康麦饼的人文味道

作者：沈超

来源：《文化交流》2018年第09期

        林清玄说，有时食物也能像绘画中的扇面，或文章里的小品、音乐里的小提琴独奏，格局虽小，慧心却十分充盈。

        在民以食为天的中国，“饼”这种面食可以说十分常见。今天笔者要说的这种饼，虽然看似单薄且朴实无华，却饱含人文味道，带有浓郁的地方特色，让人久久不能忘怀。

        提起工匠，或许你首先会想到木匠、泥水匠、裁缝等这样的传统手艺人。在浙江永康，也有这样一批工匠，他们走南闯北、走街串巷，以打铁补锅、修锁铸壶等为生，成就了“五金工匠走四方，府府县县不离康”的美名。

        永康有句俗语“千秧八百，不如手艺盘身”。由于人多地少，在永康，光靠种田根本养不活一家人，很多人都会学一门手艺讨生活。永康素有“春秋铸剑，汉造弩机，唐制铜铳，宋采铜矿，清制枪管”的传统，因而大部分人选择了打银打锡、打铁打铜等五金行当。经过长年累月的积累沉淀，永康就拥有了数量庞大的五金工匠群，且多能工巧匠，被誉为“百工之乡”。

        以前交通物资不发达，挑着货担走南闯北的五金工匠们，通常随身都会带上几斤小麦饼。做完工饿了的时候，随手拿出包裹中同样易于存放的烟熏豆腐干充饥。久而久之，小麦饼成为独具永康地方特色的代表美食，并一直延续至今。

        《永康县志》中对小麦饼就有这样的记载：“薄如纸，韧如皮，卷而不裂，携带方便。”可以看出，小麦饼具有便于携带、耐饥的特点，所以一直备受工匠欢迎。

        在老手艺人看来，一张薄薄的饼，其实也蕴藏着一种吃苦耐劳的工匠精神。而当看到小麦饼的制作过程，你就会体会到另一种“舌尖上的工匠精神”。

        永康市芝英老街正街73号，袅袅炊烟中，应业开和他妻子正在小麦饼店忙活，一个擀面饼，一个烤小麦饼。

        生好炉子，应业开将生面饼平摊在“麦饼塌”上，下锅，一两秒后拿出，再换面旋转入锅，等一两秒后再移到锅沿。一个外形均匀、美观的小麦饼就制作好了。

        当地人说，“麦饼塌”是烤制小麦饼的专用工具，它是由五六层白色棉布用白色棉线一针针缝起来的。把生面饼平摊在“麦饼塌”上，再下锅，这样烤出来的小麦饼均匀而且有花纹。

        一摊、一放、一旋转，在一旁看着，单是这不徐不疾、连贯娴熟的手法，就显示出手艺人的美食制作之道。应业开说，小麦饼原料单一，却很讲究工艺、火候和手法：和好面之后，用擀面杖把面团擀成圆圆的、大小均匀的面皮，连续擀到15个左右，把小面皮一个一个垒叠起来，每叠一个撒一层粉，叠好后配合手掌按压，再用擀面杖擀。

        圆如盆、大如钵、薄如纸，烤好的小麦饼，类似春饼，但棕黑色的斑点显示出它经历的火炙。虽说是薄薄一层，朴实无华，但它很有韧劲，香气扑鼻。

        笔者第一次吃到正宗的永康小麦饼，就是在芝英镇上。

        芝英镇是第六批中国历史文化名镇，其祠堂群落独一无二，在不到0.2平方公里的老集镇范围内，原有应氏祠堂近百座，现存较为完整的有53座，明清时期古建筑有147座。祠堂密度之高，全国罕见；建筑艺术之精美，堪称一绝。

        恰逢一批教授和大学生来到芝英实地探访，为古村落的保护和开发利用出谋划策。午休时间，他们吃的是地道的永康小吃。小麦饼就在其中。

        古民居里，来自天南地北的师生们围坐在一起，面对餐桌上摞得整整齐齐的小麦饼，却是无从下手——有的当成春卷，把馅料放进去，卷两下就往嘴里送，馅料却往往从另一头掉了出来。

        “吃小麦饼，也是有讲究的。”负责接待的芝英镇副镇长王国栋一边说，一边给大家演示起来。只见他拿起一张饼，摊平，馅料靠一边放均匀，尾部往里折一段，再卷起来，很结实。

        看到他的手法，大家也跟着模仿起来，“手艺”渐精，小麦饼里的馅料再也不会抖落下来。师生们来自大江南北，口味各不相同，但不论来自哪里，都对永康小麦饼赞不绝口。

        在永康人看来，小麦饼最大的特色，就是“无所不包”（除了鱼刺、菜汤），没有包不了的菜。菜的用量和喜好可根據个人的口味随意选择，但包法大有讲究，包得不好菜就会漏出来。据说，永康有不少丈母娘以此来考量准女婿的智商和诚意呢。

        其实，小麦饼就和永康人的性格一样，大有包容，什么人都能来，什么都能往里“塞”，这也造就了今日“五金之都”的繁华。

        春节前，笔者曾来到永康。乡村里到处弥漫着浓浓年味：师傅熟练地用刀划过冻米糖，丝拉丝拉的声音，听了就让人垂涎；老人手持毛笔，笔锋遒劲地写出一连串福字，让人备感年味浓厚……

        但要说最让永康人难忘的年味，小麦饼肯定占有一席之地——那是一种让人回味的滋味，是饱含地方记忆的美食。

        在永康农村，小麦饼也被称作单饼、摊饼，它既是农村上梁、婚嫁、庆生等宴客的必备主食，也用于清明祭祖等。小麦饼包上金针肉（黄花菜肉），一度被看作过年招待亲戚的最高礼遇。逢年过节或喜庆宴席，民间拜年或走亲访友也必备此礼物。村里的老人说，以前过年时节，出嫁的女儿回娘家拜年，凉笼篮里装的笃定是小麦饼和炒粉。

        如今生活条件越来越好，小麦饼已经不能单单依靠一张面饼登上宴席，馅料的角色变得越发重要——鸡蛋、豆芽、粉丝、白笋、萝卜、牛肉、羊肉，只要你想得到的，都可以往里面加。馅料搭配不同，自然造就了小麦饼口味的千变万化。

        从随身携带的干粮到宴席上的“嘉宾”，一张普普通通的小麦饼，却着实蕴含着浓浓的人文味道。

        Wheat Pancake Shows Tradition and Culture

        By Shen Chao

        Yongkang， a county in central Zhejiang， is famed for traditional hardware craftsmanship. Since very ancient times， the county has been engaged in metal hardware making. Even now， the county boasts manufacturers and hardware traders engaged in domestic and international transactions.

        In the long agricultural past， local residents worked farmlands in the busy season and in the off season， they worked as traveling craftsmen， fixing household hardware such as iron woks and locks and kettles that were out of order. In those days， they traveled on foot， carrying all the tools on the shoulder with a shoulder pole. And in addition to the tools， they also carried a few traveling necessities such as a bedroll and cloths and food. Wheat pancake was a must for these traveling craftsmen. The pancake served as a wrapper and smoked tofu， which was also easy to store and carry about， served as fillings. One rolled the pancake up with the fillings inside and a meal was ready. Looking back at the old days， one would easily understand why a wheat pancake embodied a craftsmanship typical of Yongkang.

        Though traveling craftsmen from Yongkang are no more， the pancake has remained. In Zhiying Town， there are a few pancake shops including a street-corner mom-dad pancake shop operated by Ying Yekai and his wife.

        There is a reason why the pancake has survived in Zhiying. The town has kept intact 147 buildings constructed in the dynasties of the Ming （1368-1644） and the Qing （1644-1911）， including 53 ancestral temples. All these ancient buildings cluster in the old downtown area which measures less than 0.2 square kilometers. In the good old days， the area was home to nearly 100 ancestral temples. Along with the architecture， the town has kept a few traditional things including the pancake.

        Ying Yekai says it isn’t difficult to make a Yongkang Pancake. The mixture has nothing but wheat flour and water and salt. The husband and wife work hand in hand： one makes pancake with a rolling pin and one bakes it in an iron wok. The pancake must be rolled as thin as a piece of paper. Then it is spread upon a cloth piece like a handkerchief， made of five to six layers of white cotton stitched together with white cotton threads. The use of the handkerchief is to impress the pattern of the cotton cloth onto one side of the pancake. The pancake stays on the thick handkerchief on the open palm for a short while before the palm turns downward fast and places the pancake onto a heated iron wok. The pancake stays there for few seconds before it is scooped out. The finished pancake resembles a spring roll better known to diners in the west.

        In Yongkang， a wheat pancake has never been only a takeout for traveling craftsmen. It comes in with a lot of fillings. In the past， daylily and pork were the best fillings to be wrapped in a pancake. It was served at ceremonies such as a wedding banquet， a celebration after roof beams were set into place when the construction of a house was underway， and an ancestral memorial ceremony on Qingming Festival. Nowadays， as people in Yongkang are living a better life， the fillings include egg， chicken， beef， mutton， and vegetables. In fact， local people proudly declare that anything goes into a wrapping pancake except fish bones and/or soup.

        What makes Yongkang Pancake special is the way it is wrapped up tight. Zhejiang boasts quite a few cakes and pancakes in different styles. Most of them are not wrappers. So many people don’t know how to put fillings into a spread pancake and then roll it up tight so that fillings will not leak from the lower end. It is said that a would-be mother-in-law tests if a young man is suitable for her daughter by giving him a pancake and a bowl of fillings. The young man， if clever， is supposed to waste no time to figure out the right way.

        Now and then some tourists struggle with the pancake and fillings in Zhiying. Usually， a local resident will demonstrate how to do it properly. After fillings are spread upon a pancake， one folds one end of the cake up and then roll it up tight. The folded part will make the leaking impossible.

本文来源：https://www.2haoxitong.net/k/doc/2442d095fbd6195f312b3169a45177232e60e46f.html