North and South groceries

Considering the consumption power of this era, the breakfast buffet in Ma's guest house is only open during the days when the officials and students are on vacation.

The price of a bamboo stick sold to the court is 22 Wen, and the retail price to the outside world is 28 Wen. In terms of purchasing power, the 28 Wen is equivalent to a little more than 100 Yuan in later generations.

It doesn't sound very expensive, but in terms of income level, 28 Wen is basically half a month's income for the low-level labor force in Chang'an City. It's not easy, most people will definitely not eat such a luxurious breakfast.

"Here, venue fee."

At around 10:30 am on this day, the buffet breakfast time ended, and the helpers were cleaning up the venue. Luo counted the bamboo sticks he got that day, and then pushed some of them to Ma Feiyang.

A sister’s restaurant borrows the place of Ma’s guest house to sell buffet breakfast. No matter what, there is always some venue fee. People, it is said that they are quite popular.

"I gave a little more today." Ma Feiyang fiddled with the pile of bamboo sticks in front of him, reckoning that this time there could be more than a dozen more than last time.

He has more than a dozen here, and Luo Yong has more than 100 more in his hand. Their venue fee is calculated according to the share. How many bamboo sticks are collected every time the buffet breakfast is returned, and one of them is given to the Ma family as the venue fee. .

"Next time I plan to add another row of seats in the corridor." Luo Yong said.During the two to three hours of today's peak period, many people came and saw that there were no vacant seats in the lobby. After asking, they found that the private room was also full of people, so they had to leave and said they would come back another day.

"Can they be willing to sit in a place like the corridor?" Ma's guest house is spacious, and the corridor after going up the stairs is also spacious enough, but will there really be people sitting in such a place?Those who can afford to spend twenty or thirty renminbi for a breakfast are not ordinary people.

"It's okay, the wooden couch and the low table should be more elegant, and some flowers and potted plants can be added for decoration. If you really don't want to sit, then you can't." Whether you want to sit or not, you have to try it out. In this buffet, the more people there are, the more profitable it will be.

"Leave this matter to me." Anyway, the venue fee was charged, and besides, Ma Feiyang has nothing to do recently, unlike Luo Yong who has to teach, go to court, and have a buffet.

"In this way, there will be Brother Lao Ma." Luo Yong said with a smile.

"My virtuous brother, why do you need to see outsiders so much?" Ma Feiyang said with a smile.

"Hey, are you ready? Let's go." Qiao Junlin urged impatiently while waiting.

"Okay." Luo Yong put those bamboo sticks into a cloth pocket, picked them up and left.

The two went downstairs one after the other.

Ma Feiyang: ...What's the matter with this feeling of being robbed of your little friend?

"What are you looking at?" Ma Silang came up from downstairs at this time.

"How do you think these two people are so good? They go in and out together all day." Ma Jiulang said to his elder brother.

"If you're bored, you can go in and out with me." Ma Silang said with a smile.

Ma Feiyang: If you want an errand, just say so.

"Where's today's bamboo stick?" Ma Silang asked again.

"It's all here." Ma Feiyang pushed the pile of bamboo sticks under his hands in front of his brother.

"It seems that Luo Sanlang's business is doing well." Ma Silang also saw that there were more bamboo sticks this month than last month.

"Yeah." Ma Feiyang nodded, saying that it would be a lie if he didn't envy him, how can he make the coffin boards, look at how much money he has made recently.

"I'll go out for a while, so keep an eye on the inn." Ma Silang stuffed those bamboo sticks into his arms one by one.

"Why do you want so many bamboo sticks?" Ma Feiyang stretched out his hand to stop them. If his elder brother took them all at once, then what about himself?

"I'm useful." Ma Silang said, quickly gathered up the few bamboo sticks left on the table, and put them in his arms.

"Where's mine!" Ma Feiyang said dissatisfied.

"..." Ma Silang glanced at his brother, thought for a while, took out two sticks from his bosom and handed them to him: "Don't give them away indiscriminately."

Ma Feiyang: "Just these two, how can you make me mess up?"

Ma Silang smiled when he heard this, turned around and went downstairs.

In fact, it's not that Ma Silang is reluctant to give his younger brother a few more bamboo sticks, it's just that the kid is really out of touch. Last time he was coaxed by his friends who had just met in Chang'an City, so he casually threw out a dozen bamboo sticks. lottery.

The dozen or so young people came to the buffet with their own bamboo sticks, and some young people were bluffing in the restaurant, which caused some customers to be very unhappy. It was Luo Sanlang who responded quickly and asked the other party clearly. After learning about his background, he said that since he was Ma Jiulang's friend, he had to arrange a private room for them no matter what, so he revealed the matter.

Ma Feiyang also knew that what he did last time was inappropriate, some of his friends recollected it later, but they became estranged from him.

He shouldn't brag about how many bamboo sticks he has, since he is on good terms with those people, it would be nice to invite them to a wine shop for a meal, why give them bamboo sticks and let them join Luo Sanlang's breakfast... …

In fact, Luo used them to sell bamboo sticks, but he didn't pick the origin of the customers. The only thing he needed to pay attention to was to ensure the dining atmosphere.

It is precisely because of this that Luo Yong has to go to the cafeteria here to watch every time he takes a rest recently, in case there are some emergencies. Besides, there are quite a lot of people in Chang'an City who don't like him. I'm also afraid that someone will deliberately find trouble.

"This half day's work is stronger than the income of a whole day's food shop." On the Chonghuafang side, Aunt Luo said with emotion after counting the bamboo sticks she earned in the day.

"This is the only time in five days." Luo Yong said with a smile.

"It's hard work for the two of you, and you still have to work when you're in Xiumu." Aunt Luo said.

"My sister doesn't have to work every day." Luo Yong said.

"Since we're doing business, we naturally have to work every day, and it's the same for other people's homes." Aunt Luo laughed.

That afternoon, neither Luo Yong nor Qiao Junlin went back to Chonghuafang. I heard from the Ma family that some people in the guesthouses and wine shops in Chang’an City recently wanted to imitate their breakfast banquet. Compared with it, it won’t be long before there will be competition. up.

In order to ensure the freshness and superiority of our buffet, in addition to the freshness and variety of dishes and the dining atmosphere, we also introduce some new dishes from time to time.

Speaking of new dishes, after salad dressing, Luo Yong naturally thought of cream.

The previous salad dressing did not attract much attention, and some people ate it, and some people liked it quite a bit, but it did not become a hot spot, nor did it cause any waves in the food circle of Chang'an City.

This time, the cream cake was placed on Luo Yong's high hopes. To be honest, their current buffet breakfast does not have any special dishes except canned fruits. It is necessary to study more main dishes.

"See if this milk is layered?"

In a hut on the side of the yard, Luo Yong opened the window to let the outside light shine in. He saw several open pottery urns in this room, and each pottery urn was covered with a pottery cover. There is still a milky smell in the room.

This is their second experiment. The first time they used goat's milk. As a result, the whipped cream couldn't be whipped smoothly, so this time they switched to cow's milk. In Chang'an City right now, cow's milk is better than goat's milk. Much more expensive.

Qiao Junlin opened a pottery urn and took a look, then scooped up some milk with a long-handled wooden spoon and observed carefully: "It seems a little different from yesterday."

"Let me take a look." Luo Yong took the wooden spoon and looked at it. Although he was not sure, he thought it should be whipped cream: "Just take the milk from the upper layer and use it, and then put it down, I'm afraid The milk is going to be sour."

The extraction method of this whipped cream is often used in later generations with a centrifuge. Luo Yong didn't know the structure of the machine, and Heng and his son were not around for a while, so no one could show him the machine, so he had to use this stupid method. The fresh cow's milk is placed there quietly, until the fat-rich part of the milk floats by itself.

This separation method is not only inefficient, but also incomplete. It takes a lot of milk to get a little whipped cream. Fortunately, the remaining milk can be used in other places, otherwise the cost will be too high. Taller.

In addition to whipped cream, the low-gluten flour used to make cakes is also a problem.

Luo Yong didn't know how those factories in later generations produced low-gluten flour. The method he found in space was to make low-gluten flour with ordinary white flour and cornstarch.

Cornstarch is not considered a precious thing in later generations, but it is still relatively rare at this time.

It just so happened that Hou Lin had some corn kernels on hand. He planted corn in his yard last year and this year, and he was not willing to eat what he grew. Last year, he made a lot of money by selling seeds. This year, the price of corn seeds has come down. He didn't sell much, and kept them all. Now that he heard that Luo Yong wanted to use corn, he took them all out.

After the corn kernels are fully soaked, they are ground into corn slurry with a stone mill, and then the corn dregs are filtered out. After precipitation, drying and crushing, a little bit of cornstarch is finally obtained, which is carefully packed in a pottery jar by Luo Yong. , Stored in the house, the opening of the pottery urn is tied tightly with oiled paper every day to prevent small insects from crawling in.

Refined white flour is mixed with a certain amount of cornstarch to become a low-gluten flour, which can make a chiffon cake with good fluffiness. This cake has a lot of milk, sugarcane pulp and grapefruit juice added to it. It tastes loose and soft Soft and tender, with a little bit of tenacity.

This time the cake was not steamed, but oiled in an open flat pottery urn, the prepared cake batter was poured in, and baked out over low heat.

After being out of the pan, carefully cut into pieces of round cakes, and then spread the whipped cream on top.

The fresh whipped cream extracted from homemade fresh milk, added some sugarcane pulp and grapefruit juice to pass, the sugarcane pulp can be bought in the milk drink shop in Chang'an City, although the price is higher, it is acceptable, grapefruit juice can remove milk There is a little fishy smell in it, which adds some fruity fragrance, and a little acidity is added appropriately, and it is relatively less greasy to eat.

……

In the afternoon of this day, the female guests who had attended the breakfast at Xu's Guest House received a dessert from Auntie's restaurant one after another.

I saw this snow-white piece of pastry, about the size of a palm, exuding a strong milky fragrance, and a touch of sweet and sour fruity fragrance. I dug a small piece with a spoon and put it in my mouth, feeling the sweet and beautiful taste Melts slowly in the mouth...

"This is from my sister's restaurant? What else did you say?"

"It is said that we will have this at the next breakfast banquet, and I will bring one over to taste with my wife first."