Why Monsters Always Want to Steam Xuanzang for Eating

By Liu Shijiu

Why Monsters Always Want to Steam Xuanzang for Eating

By Liu Shijiu

In 1582, the tenth year of the Wanli emperor’s reign in China’s Ming Dynasty, Wu Cheng’en passed away, leaving behind many Da Vinci Code-like puzzles for later generations of Chinese people. These could even be called “The Wu Cheng’en Code.” The most important of all the enigmas being: “How should Xuanzang’s (a famous and fabled monk with impressive powers from the Chinese literary classic ‘Journey to the West’) meat be eaten?”

I went through the entire, ‘Journey to the West,’ and counted roughly fifteen times, from six different monsters and spirits, that clearly stated that Xuanzang’s meat should be steamed for eating. Let us try to unravel this mystery: “why would monsters and spirits steam Xuanzang’s meat when they catch him?”

Monsters and spirits yearn to eat steamed Xuanzang’s meat, considered to be the most precious of all foods on the pilgrimage to bring back the Buddhist scriptures. Xuanzang was a very enlightened individual himself, even he said his own flesh should be steamed and eaten. For instance, in the 27th chapter“The corpse fiend thrice tricks Tang Sanzang, another name of Xuanzang, the holy monk angrily dismisses the handsome Monkey King.” Xuanzang says, “My destiny is in Heaven’s hands, if the monsters and spirits are to steam me and eat me, or boil me, they will.”

So we can see, Xuanzang also thinks steaming is the first option, and boiling, whilst it is an option, is not as good as steaming.

The practicality of steaming Xuanzang was also recorded in “QímínYàoshù”.(a book on agriculture during 533-544 AD,written by Jia Sixie)

The eight volume “Qímín Yàoshù” lists as many as twenty-six different steamed dishes under the section“Steaming.” Apart from steamed lotus root, the rest of the dishes are all meat dishes: steamed bear, steamed pig, steamed chicken, and steamed goat…

The part cited about steamed bear says: “Take three sheng of pork, a bear, wash & skin clean and steam till half cooked. Next, add fermented soybeans and marinate overnight. Lastly, add glutinous rice, onion, ginger, and salt and put it in a rice steamer and steam till cooked.”

If bear can be steamed, Xuanzang shouldn’t be a problem.

Wu Cheng’en was born in Shanyang County of Huai’an, located in today’s Huai’an district of Huai’an City. It wasn’t until he was a fifty-something that he was finally selected as a “tribute candidate” by the local government to attend the imperial examinations. After two years of muddling around in Beijing he left for Zhejiang to be the official assistant officer of Changxing County and returned home shortly after. He lived out most of his life in southern China.

Yangzhou cuisine, now famous around the world, originated from the areas of Huai’an and Yangzhou. It is a cuisine that puts it emphasis on purity, mildness, and freshness. Broth steaming is the main form of cooking in Yangzhou cuisine. Wu Cheng’en’s taste was, obviously, deeply connected to his life.

Only steaming can keep the original flavors of top quality ingredients, achieving a sort of simple delight, allowing one to be lifted away with one bite. Xuanzang, a “chubby whitefaced monk,” “tender in appearance” is even more fresh and pure; evidently only through steaming can the highest realm of flavor be reached.

Some monsters and spirits suggested boiling Xuanzang, since it would save more fuel than steaming. Among the Leopard Spirit’s subordinate spirits arose the suggestion to boil Xuanzang, as it would lessen the amount of firewood needed.

The one who thought the same as this spirit was none other than Sun Wukong (The Monkey King, the most capable apprentice of Xuanzang).

In the 72nd chapter of ‘Journey to the West,’“The seven emotions confuse the basics in gossamer cave at filth-cleansing spring pig forgets himself,”seven spider spirits caught Xuanzang: “Sister, let’s have a bath before we steam the fat monk and eat him up.”“These monsters aren’t at all economical,” Monkey smiled to himself. “They’d save a lot of firewood if they boiled him. Why steam him instead?”

This kind of detail, actually casts a light on Wu Cheng’en’s normal everyday life. In ancient times, a city relied on a workman who provided firewood—normal citizens could only spend money to buy wood. The ancient phrase, “wood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea” were considered as the seven necessities of life. With“firewood” being number one, it would certainly need to be rationed.

Spirits and monsters having the opportunity to get their hands on a top-notch ingredient like Xuanzang, in the face of destiny to eat an everlasting-life-giving piece of meat and still thinking about saving some firewood, is superficial and petty.

During the team of Leopard Spirits’ “brainstorm” on how to eat Xuanzang, one spirit said, “bring the Tang Priestout, chop him up into little bits, and fry him with anise seed. Then everyone will be able to eat a piece when he’s steaming hot, and we’ll all live forever.” At this another junior devil clapped his hands together and said, “No, no, he’d taste much better steamed.”

I believe this sentence was actually written because Mr. Wu Cheng’en couldn’t help himself anymore from jumping up and voicing his opinion. In a life of frustrated ambitions, it was the flavors of his home town and his scholarly interests that were engraved on to his heart, becoming the consolation that uttered from in between his lips and teeth.

It is established in “Journey to the West” that Xuanzang should be steamed for eating; this is the most basic of all common senses in the world of monsters and spirits. Any other cooking method is not a pursuit suitable for any monster or spirit.

(From Youth Digest Issue 16, 2016. Translated by Sam Bowden)

1582年，明神宗萬歷十年，吳承恩去世了。他用一部《西游記》，給后世中國人留下許多“達·芬奇密碼”式的難解之謎，我們可以稱之為“吳承恩密碼”。而其中最為關鍵的一個問題是：“唐僧肉到底應該怎么吃？”

我粗略統(tǒng)計一下《西游記》全書，有6個妖怪曾15次明確地說，要把唐僧蒸了吃。我們就來試著解開這個謎題：“為什么妖怪抓到唐僧，都喜歡蒸了吃？”

不僅妖怪們喜歡蒸了唐僧吃，作為取經(jīng)路上最珍貴的食材，唐僧自己也很有覺悟，覺得自己應該被蒸了吃。比如，在第27回《尸魔三戲唐三藏，圣僧恨逐美猴王》中，唐僧道：“我命在天，該那個妖精蒸了吃，就是煮了，也算不過。”

可見，唐僧自己也認為，蒸了吃是第一方案，煮了吃是不如蒸了吃的。

蒸唐僧的可行性，在《齊民要術》里有記載。

《齊民要術》第八卷中有“蒸法”，記載了多達26種蒸菜，除了蒸藕之外，全部是肉菜，比如蒸熊、蒸豚、蒸雞、蒸羊……

沒錯，有蒸熊。其中引述的關于蒸熊的方法是這樣的：“取豬肉三升、熊一頭，洗剝干凈，煮到半熟。然后，用豆豉腌制一晚上。接著，和糯米、蔥、姜、鹽一起，放到甑里蒸熟。”

連熊都可以蒸，唐三藏就更沒問題了。

而吳承恩生于淮安府山陽縣，也就是今天的淮安市淮安區(qū)。他一直到五十多歲，才補了一個貢生。吳承恩在北京混跡兩年，之后到浙江做了長興縣丞，不久又回到老家?；旧希窃谀戏蕉冗^大半生。

著名的淮揚菜，就發(fā)源于淮安、揚州一帶。這個菜系注重鮮活，口味平和、清鮮。清蒸是淮揚菜的主要烹飪方法之一。吳承恩的口味，顯然跟他的生活息息相關。

只有蒸，才能保持頂級食材本來的“鮮肥”之味，得“天真”之趣，可以一口入魂。而唐僧作為一個“白面胖和尚”，“生得嬌嫩”，又是鮮活，顯然蒸才能達到最高境界。

也有妖怪提議，把唐僧煮了吃，煮的好處是比蒸節(jié)省燃料。豹子精手下的小妖中，就有一個提議不如煮，省柴。

跟這個小妖有相同看法的，還有孫悟空。

在《西游記》第72回《盤絲洞七情迷本，濯垢泉八戒忘形》中，七個蜘蛛精抓住唐僧：“后邊的走向前來呼道：‘姐姐，我們洗了澡，來蒸那胖和尚吃去。’行者暗笑道：‘這怪物好沒算計。煮還省些柴，怎么要蒸了吃？’”

這樣一個細節(jié)，其實也是吳承恩日常生活的映照。在古代，城市的柴火，需要靠專門的打柴人供應，普通人家只能花錢買柴。所以，古語“柴米油鹽醬醋茶”為“開門七件事”，柴居第一位，需要節(jié)省。

作為一個妖怪，如果得到唐僧這樣的頂級食材，在吃一塊肉就要長生不老的命運面前，還想著省柴，實在是沒有格局，成不了大器。

豹子精團隊“頭腦風暴”，討論怎么吃唐僧的時候，一個小妖說：“把唐僧拿出來，碎碎剁，把些大料煎了，香噴噴的大家吃一塊兒，也得個延年長壽?！庇忠粋€小妖拍著手道：“莫說莫說，還是蒸了吃得有味?！?/p>

這句話我認為，其實是吳承恩老先生自己忍不住，跳出來發(fā)表的意見。他不得志的一生中，家鄉(xiāng)風味和文人趣味銘刻在心里，成為唇齒之間的安慰。

于是，在《西游記》的設定里，唐僧應該蒸了吃，是妖界的基本共識。別的吃法，都不是一個有追求的妖怪應該有的。

（摘自《青年博覽》 2016年第16期）

為何非要蒸唐僧

文|劉十九