撥霞供 Rosy-Clouds-Parting Offering
- Rachelle
- Jan 12
- 2 min read
向遊武夷六曲，訪止止師，遇雪天，得一兔，無庖人可製。師云：“山間只用薄批，酒、醬、椒料沃之，以風爐安座上，用水少半銚，候湯響，一杯後各分以箸，令自夾入湯，擺熟啖之，乃隨宜各以汁供。”因用其法，不獨易行，且有團欒熱煖之樂。
[I] once travelled to Liuqu at the Wuyi [Mountains] and visited a master at the Zhizhi Nunnery.[1] It happened that on a snowy day, [we] caught a rabbit, but no cook was around to prepare it. The master said, “In the mountains, [we] simply thinly slice the meat and soak it in liquor, sauce, peppers, etc. [We] put a stove where we sit with half a pot of water on it and wait for the sound of boiling. After drinking a cup, [we] give out chopsticks so that everyone can take a piece of meat, dip it into the hot soup, stir until it is done and eat it. The soup is served as everyone sees fit.” [We] then used this method [to eat the rabbit]. Not only was it easy to do, there was also a pleasure in sitting together around the warmth.
越五六年，來京師，乃復於楊泳齋伯嵒席上見此，恍然去武夷如隔一世。楊，勳家嗜古學而清苦者，宜此山林之趣。因作詩云：“浪涌晴江雪，風翻晚照霞。”末云：“醉憶山中味，渾忘是貴家。”豬羊皆可作。
Five or six years later, [I] came to the capital and saw this [i.e. the hot pot] again at the table of Yang Yongzhai, [courtesy name] Boyan. In a daze, [I] felt like it had been a lifetime since the day at Wuyi. The Yangs are a meritorious family who are passionate about ancient teaching and live an austere lifestyle: a perfect fit for this joy of mountains and woods. Thereupon [I] wrote the following lines:
Waves surge through the snow on a sunlit river;
Winds stir the rosy clouds shining at twilight.[2]
The ending lines read:
In my cups, [I] recall the taste of the mountains,
Oblivious to my presence in a noble family.
Pork and lamb both work for this dish.
* From Lin Hong 林洪 (fl. 13th century), Shanjia qinggong 山家清供, Yimen guangdu 夷门廣牘 edition (1597), 11a-b.
[1] Liuqu 六曲 (Sixth Bend) refers to one of the nine major bends of the Jiuquxi 九曲溪 (Nine-Bend-Stream) that runs through the Wuyi Mountains. The Zhizhi Nunnery near the first bend has long been a Daoist attraction.
[2] In this context, both lines are metaphors for the boiling soup. The name of the dish, “rosy-clouds-parting offering”, indicates fishing food through the foam on the top of the boiling soup.
An enamelled copper utensil for hot pot
Image credit: Palace Museum, Beijing
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