Chapter 71: Only sell finished products
After saying goodbye to the village chief and returning to the Gu family, Gu Lang and Gu Tingchuan were reviewing their lessons in the study, while Wang took Gu Sang and Gu Da to pick out duck down, preparing to make more down jackets.
Gu Feixue went to the kitchen alone with eggs and a full bucket of milk.
What she wants to make this time is a cream cake.
The ingredients for making cakes are already available at home, and although the process of making cream is complicated, the raw materials are very simple, that is, milk.
The cake base does not need to be baked, and it can be steamed in a large pot over water to produce a soft and glutinous texture.
As for the cream, you need to make butter first.
The method of making butter is not complicated, but it is time-consuming and laborious, so she called Gu Da over to work as a laborer.
First boil the milk completely, then let Gu Da use a high-temperature sterilized bamboo blender to stir it clockwise.
After stirring, Gu Feixue found that the effect was not so obvious, so she poured the milk into a closed bamboo tube and made a simple manual shaking device.
Tie the rope around both hands, pull the hands apart, and the rope will rotate clockwise along with the bamboo tube.
Push inward with both hands and the bamboo tube will rotate outward counterclockwise.
After rotating back and forth hundreds of times, the bamboo tube was opened and the milk inside was found to be divided into layers.
Pour out the clear liquid in the bamboo tube, and the remaining thick part is butter mixed with some water.
As for removing moisture, it is simple. Just put the butter with water on gauze, hang it in a wooden barrel and let it stand overnight. You can get water-free butter the next day.
Anhydrous butter is an important raw material for making cream.
The next day, Gu Feixue got up early in the morning and went to the kitchen to check on the butter.
I found that a lot of milky white clear liquid had dripped into the bucket.
And there was no more water dripping on the gauze, it seemed that the butter was completely done.
Next, Gu Feixue separated the eggs she bought yesterday and put the egg whites into a basin.
She called the still sleepy Gu Da and asked him to stir the egg whites in one direction while she melted the butter over water.
After the egg whites were beaten into foam, she added butter and sugar, and then Gu Da continued to stir.
After stirring repeatedly for a long time, when the liquid was filled with bubbles and became viscous, Gu Feixue added boiled and cooled milk into it.
Then Gu Da stirred it again until a look of pain appeared on his face as he stirred, and the cream in the basin finally became viscous.
Gu Feixue felt a little embarrassed, so she asked Gu Da to take over and she would do the finishing work herself.
By the time the cream was beaten to the point where it wouldn't drip when picked up with chopsticks, it was already noon.
Then Gu Feixue put the cake batter that had been prepared long ago into a bowl and steamed it.
The cake base was steamed in no time. The Gu family knew that Gu Feixue was tinkering with food in the kitchen, so they didn't come to disturb her.
When Gu Feixue placed a light yellow object with a milky aroma in front of everyone, everyone couldn't help but look surprised.
“Is this the cake?”
Gu Feixue nodded upon hearing this, and said with great satisfaction:
"It's just a cake. In the future, you can make it in many colors and styles. It will be much more beautiful than this."
Although there was no concept of pigments in ancient times, some natural pigments had already begun to be used, such as red beet juice and green spinach juice.
Animal cream cannot be made into as delicate shapes as vegetable cream, but it can still be made into some simple patterns.
Gu Sang, Gu Da and the others had recently learned the Central Plains dialect and could understand what Gu Feixue was saying. At that time, Gu Sang could not help but praise her:
"It's already beautiful, as white as snow and as fragrant as condensed milk!"
Gu Feixue smiled upon hearing this:
"It's also healthier than condensed milk. There's not as much sugar in the cream, so it's okay to eat too much."
The taste of cream is naturally incomparable to condensed milk. After everyone took a spoon and scooped a spoonful of cream into their mouths, they all showed a look of surprise.
Even though they were mentally prepared, they still didn't expect the cream to be so delicious.
The melt-in-your-mouth texture, the sweet but not greasy taste, the combination of milk and egg aroma, instantly makes everyone's appetite whetted.
Even Gu Lang and Gu Tingchuan, who usually don't like sweets, couldn't help but eat a few more bites.
This time, Gu Lang didn't need to explain it, everyone knew that such food was naturally not available at the palace banquet.
Gu Sang and Gu Da ate so much that they looked like little cats, with cream all over their faces, making them look very cute.
Wang only likes the soft and glutinous texture of cakes, while Gu Feixue of course likes everything, after all, she made it herself.
Although this is the first time it has been made and there are still some shortcomings that need to be improved, the overall level is definitely worth selling.
"Xue'er, are you also planning to cooperate with Zuixianlou as this cream cake?"
After a little thought, Gu Tingchuan realized that the food this time was different from the previous ones.
Condensed milk is easy to imitate, but custard is difficult.
"Brother, nothing can be hidden from your eyes. I plan to do it differently this time. I heard about this kind of thing from the miracle doctor, so of course I can't just sell it casually."
Seeing everyone was stunned after hearing this, Gu Feixue continued:
"I plan not to sell the recipe, but only the finished cream cakes to Zuixianlou, charging half an ounce of silver per cake."
The condensed milk yogurt I made before was easy to make, after all, it wasn’t very difficult.
But this cream cake is not easy to fool, so just use the mysterious Shennong tribe as a shield.
As for the price of half a tael of silver, it was also determined based on the prices of the pastry shops in Liangcheng.
A high-quality pastry would cost at least half a tael of silver. She couldn't ask for too low a price for her cream cake.
Even this half tael was given because Liangcheng had just suffered a disaster and most families did not have much spare silver.
After the autumn harvest next year, she will definitely raise the price.
When everyone heard this, they thought that it was the food that the miracle doctor taught to Gu Feixue, and they couldn't help but straighten their faces.
"That's fine. How can you sell the things taught by the miracle doctor so casually? Tomorrow, your parents will accompany you to explain the situation to the owner of Zuixianlou."
Early the next morning, Gu Lang, Wang Shi, and Gu Feixue took the prepared cream cakes to Zuixianlou.
"I didn't know you were coming, and I'm sorry for not coming to greet you."
Bao Hongcai smiled. The business of Zuixianlou finally picked up yesterday.
Now in Bao Hongcai's eyes, the Gu family is the God of Wealth of his Zuixianlou, so naturally his attitude towards them is as good as possible.
"Boss Bao, we're here this time to sell you a dish that's different from the previous ones."
After saying that, Wang opened the food box containing the cream cake, and a small snow-white mountain appeared on the table.
"What is this?" Bao Hongcai was surprised.
"This thing is called Cream Cake. Shopkeeper Bao, you might want to try it."
Bao Hongcai couldn't wait any longer. When the servant brought him a spoon, he immediately scooped a spoonful and put it into his mouth.
The melt-in-your-mouth texture instantly caught Bao Hongcai's attention.
"Wonderful, wonderful! This delicacy will be collected by Zuixianlou!"
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