Food Intelligence King

Chapter 139 An Unexpected Gain from Making Mooncakes: Aunt Tao Tao Arrives (Three Thousand)
In the evening, the atmosphere at home was peaceful.

Ms. Lin and Chen Taotao both had their National Day holiday, so they borrowed and rescheduled, totaling eight days.

However, Chen Zhou was indeed busy with work for a few more days, so Ms. Lin took over the task of preparing three meals a day at home.

She is so considerate.

Thinking about it this way, the mixed salad actually tastes pretty good.

After dinner, Chen Zhou cleaned up the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, while the mother and son argued in the living room.

Tao Tao sat on the sofa, while Ms. Lin squatted on the floor.

The two are exactly the same height.

Their foreheads touched.

Of course, it should be done gently.

Chen Taotao would occasionally sneak a kiss to her mother.

A scene of maternal love and filial piety.

Upon seeing this, Chen Zhou couldn't help but smile.

Thinking about Aunt Tao's visit, he casually said, "Your sister is coming tomorrow, shouldn't you take Tao to pick her up?"

"duang~"

Their foreheads collided solidly.

"Ouch, Mommy!" The little girl covered her forehead, not knowing why she had actually bumped into something.

"Mommy will rub it for you."

While apologizing to her daughter, Ms. Lin answered Chen Zhou's question, "Yes, Tao Tao and I will go together tomorrow at noon."

Chen Zhou reminded everyone: "There will be a lot of people going to the airport and train station during holidays, so remember to leave early."

"Ah."

Chen Zhou always felt that his wife was acting strangely; usually, these kinds of things should be said by his wife.

Ms. Lin became a little nervous when she mentioned that her sister was coming over today.

After her mother rubbed her forehead, Chen Taotao, who was sitting opposite her, felt no pain anymore, so she wanted to cuddle with her mother a little longer.

"It doesn't hurt anymore, Mom, let's continue."

"That's good," Ms. Lin said with a faint smile. "Come on, Tao Tao, it's time to continue learning pinyin."

"what?"

"Come here quickly."

So the mother and daughter sat down close together at the coffee table and started learning pinyin and characters from flashcards.

"Where did we leave off last time, Tao Tao?" Ms. Lin asked.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle".

Before meeting Dean Miao, Chen Zhou did have some opinions about kindergartens not teaching pinyin, but Dean Miao later explained that learning cultural knowledge too early is not conducive to children's healthy growth.

The next day, in the morning.

The weather has gotten a bit chilly, especially when you go out at five or six in the morning, it's not unreasonable to wear a light jacket.

"Good morning, senior brother!" The junior sister rode over on her electric scooter, and her matching windshield was starting to come in handy.

Seeing that she was still wearing short sleeves, Chen Zhou said, "It's getting cold, why don't you wear more clothes?"

"Oh, I know." Zhao Yilin smiled, her gaze lingering on the salad in Chen Zhou's hand.

Chen Zhou asked her, "Want some?"

The junior sister shook her head decisively, "Senior brother, this was specially made for you by your sister-in-law."

Chen Zhou didn't know why, but Ms. Lin didn't sleep in during the National Day holiday. In fact, she started cleaning as soon as she got up this morning.

Aunt Zheng followed the two to the store.

The three greeted each other.

The community canteen opened on the first day of October.

Besides steamed buns, mooncakes have also officially started production, and the proprietress divided them into two batches in the customer group.

They'll be baked over the next two days.

On the morning of the National Day holiday, Chen Zhou expected business to be relatively quiet.

In addition to observing the dynamics of diners in customer groups, there are also many posts about holiday travel on social media.

Last night, people were stuck on the highway; this morning, there were huge crowds of people taking pictures of the sunrise; some even actually went out to sea – it was Brother He Qiang who went out to sea, planning to float back before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The store's business can be adjusted flexibly.

After preparing some of the steamed buns, Chen Zhou handed over the remaining task to Aunt Zheng and prepared the mooncakes himself.

The mooncake recipe in the intelligence report is an old-fashioned mooncake with a thick filling.

Therefore, the mooncake crust is made starting with the syrup.

Put granulated sugar and purified water into a pot and heat over low heat.

At this point, you can gently stir to allow the sugar to completely dissolve.

Once the syrup has turned into a pot of sugar water, you should no longer shake the pot vigorously to avoid the syrup crystallizing.

Add lemon juice squeezed from a fresh lemon.

Keep the heat low, and the syrup in the pot will churn with large, transparent bubbles, which will slowly turn into fine, dense bubbles.

This indicates that the water is constantly evaporating.

The color gradually deepened, turning into a light amber color.

It's the caramelization reaction mentioned in the last intelligence report.

Control the heat carefully. If the syrup is light in color, continue heating it using the residual heat of the pot. If the color has darkened, place it in cold water to prevent it from burning.

The syrup must be cooled before use.

Chen Zhou took a quick look at the intelligence report—

[Food News]: During the National Day Golden Week holiday, seafood prices rose sharply, almost doubling compared to the beginning of last month.

Seafood, it's the same every year.

Prices rise during holidays and festivals because every family eats it.

Then, there was Chen Zhou's targeted intelligence: his sister-in-law came to visit every now and then, so they had to treat her well.

[Diner Updates (Targeted)]: Lin Yiling is actually very interested in seafood, but because of her impatient nature and dislike of the hassle of peeling, she often hesitates to try it. Before returning to Guanzhong, she plans to secretly transfer money to her sister and then delete the transaction record from her sister's phone. After reading the information, Chen Zhou felt that Aunt Tao Tao needed to be treated even better.

As for whether or not they should take it, that's a matter between the two sisters.

As for seafood, the market prices are indeed quite high.

But Chen Zhou has an unstable seafood supplier, and he doesn't know if Brother He Qiang has sailed back from the sea.

finally--

[Market News (Rare)]: Haibin City's cultural and tourism sector will continue its efforts during the holiday, striving to deliver a perfect Golden Week consumption report. The steamed buns from the community canteen will also appear in the promotional video. The content is taken from a previous popular online topic: "Jail-themed Steamed Buns."

I estimate that business will be pretty good in the days leading up to the shop's closure.

After reviewing the intelligence, Chen Zhou made a brief summary.

This intelligence report did not reveal any new issues that required further action.

Chen Zhou has already agreed to do many things, and the steamed buns and mooncakes ordered as a prepayment are related to business operations.

The sister-in-law's visit and the Mid-Autumn Festival visit to Old Chen are examples of everyday life.

I've been quite busy these past few days.

He glanced at the points he had accumulated; the last time he used them to upgrade his master skills, he had spent two thousand points.

I also use the targeted intelligence function occasionally.

However, 18992.5 remains.

I'm pretty close to my goal of 200,000.

In the past few days, business has improved because we've added a few more snacks and braised pork rice items, increasing our product range and attracting new customers.

In addition to the increase in sales, the number of positive reviews also rose accordingly.

Sometimes it can even be over four hundred.

The probability of getting "legendary information" just by relying on one's looks is extremely low.

The 200,000 points guarantee a legendary item, which is more reliable.

Chen Zhou felt that it might just be bad luck.

It might be better if Chen Taotao were to do it. Last time, he tapped the little guy on the head with an egg and a recipe for tea eggs popped up.

During this meeting, Ms. Lin also received a secret gift from her sister.

While waiting for the syrup to cool, you can prepare the filling and pastry.

The chopped nuts, dried fruit, and candied fruit strips were prepared a few days ago. They were put into a bowl and mixed with cooked flour and peanut oil.

The seasoning did use sugar, but in small amounts; Chen Zhou was very restrained. The final flavor was mainly based on the dry aroma of the filling itself.

Then comes the crust.

The dough for making steamed buns needs to be fermented and proofed.

Making mooncakes doesn't require this step; it's done fresh each time.

The ingredients used include all-purpose flour, sesame oil, and the syrup that was just cooked.

Around 11 o'clock, the syrup cooled down and was ready to be used, which was perfect for kneading the dough.

The junior sister helped bring the syrup to Chen Zhou and Aunt Zheng.

She was a little curious as to why lemon juice had been added when making the syrup. "Is this a new recipe, senior? I remember you asked me to squeeze some lemon juice in?"

Before Chen Zhou could answer, the junior sister began to talk about her experience working part-time at a milk tea shop.

She was mumbling to herself, and it seemed like she wasn't really interested in finding out the answer.

This did attract the attention of other customers.

Just then, Lao Meng from the tobacco and liquor store came over for a meal, and he gestured for Chen Zhou to wait a moment.

"Brother Chen, let me explain."

Chen Zhou gestured for him to proceed.

The junior sister also turned her gaze to him.

"Ahem," Old Meng cleared his throat, "Lemons contain citric acid, which can convert sucrose into glucose and fructose during heating, making the syrup less likely to crystallize. Moreover, the sourness of lemons can balance the sweetness, making it less cloying."

The new product tasters specially invited by the community canteen, dissatisfied with the clichés in the documentary "A Bite of China," have begun to study "Food Technology" on their own.

Chen Zhou laughed and said, "Brother Meng, you don't need to be so professional. You own a tobacco and liquor store."

Meng Da felt that Brother Chen was mistaken.

"This comes from my heart. As a taster of new products, I have to take responsibility."

Chen Zhou expressed his gratitude for Lao Meng's painstaking efforts, saying:
"It's worth at least two mooncakes."

A hint of excitement flashed in Lao Meng's eyes: "Then I'll go back and continue my research. It's quite interesting."

The junior sister didn't quite understand what syrup or fructose meant, but she thought the syrup in front of her looked a bit like honey.

They are all amber-colored and viscous.

She said to Chen Zhou:

"So, if I add some osmanthus flowers when I'm making the syrup, will it become the osmanthus honey I bought?"

Chen Zhou pondered it for a moment. And you know what? It actually did have that appeal.

He then received a system notification—

[You've learned how to make honey by hand. It's actually not difficult; you just need to add some flavorings while boiling the sugar syrup. Add some osmanthus flowers, and you'll have osmanthus honey. Add some acacia flowers, and you'll have acacia honey. Add a little of both, and you'll have multifloral honey.]

It popped up in the system and can't be interrupted.

In addition, Chen Zhou also wanted to make a comment:
Isn't this the job of bees? Is it reasonable for something to be made artificially?

As for making mooncakes, that's much simpler.

The dough and filling are cut into a 4:6 ratio.

Like making steamed buns, roll out the dough into portions, press out the wrappers, wrap the filling inside the wrappers, gently push the edges together with your thumb and forefinger to seal, and roll into a ball.

The shop is already very familiar with this kind of process.

Then place the mooncakes one by one into the mold and press them down.

Finally, they were all sent to the oven.

Waiting to be baked, these are the five-nut mooncakes for this year.

(End of this chapter)