The Magical Food God of Hogwarts

Chapter 122 Unexpected Strong Reinforcements

This idea came to me after a sudden flash of inspiration.

According to the normal plan, one must first lay a sufficient foundation in magic, identify the magical effects and toxicological reactions of various magical animals and magical plants, and master certain knowledge of potions and their preparation skills before one can truly begin exploring magical medicinal cuisine.

This kind of real magical medicinal cuisine is a recipe made from real magical ingredients and herbs, after hundreds of experiments, according to the principle of "principal, assistant, adjuvant and guide".

But Lucas's idea is quite ingenious. In China, chicken is used as an ingredient in the traditional Chinese medicine "Four Treasures Soup for Calming the Mind," creating the classic medicinal dish "Four Treasures Soup for Calming the Mind Stewed Chicken."

Now, could we use this as an example, incorporating chicken as an ingredient into the magical potion "Soothing Potion" to create a magical medicinal dish?

It's an opportunistic approach, but once it's done, it's a breakthrough from zero!

Lucas rolled up the parchment covered in writing and stood up excitedly.

All her friends looked up, and Ellie pushed her homework aside and stood up: "Lucas, where are you going?"

"I have a new idea, I want to do an experiment." Lucas called up from the top of the stairs, "Pepper, hurry up and come down!"

But there was no response from inside the room. It seems it has gone off to the Forbidden Forest again to act as an American cultural ambassador, singing "God Bless America" ​​to the female ravens.

Oh well, it already completed its six spice memory tasks this afternoon anyway, so it's fine if it's not there.

Spice memorization is no easy task. Not only do you have to memorize the unique flavors, names, categories, and applications of six spices, but you also have to perform associative memorization, naming spices with similar flavors and those with obvious contrasting flavors.

Currently, out of 120 commonly used kitchen spices, it still has the task of memorizing 30 spices left. In another week, it will complete all of them and then begin the second stage of food appreciation training.

So Lucas turned to climb out of the common room, but then Allie, Hannah, Susan, Ernie...

Every single one of Lucas's friends, along with other older students who heard the commotion, stood at the door, clamoring to follow Lucas and try his new dish.

Lucas chuckled, exasperated. "I do have some new ideas that I need to experiment with. Whether they'll succeed or not is uncertain, and whether they'll taste good is also uncertain. It's a very time-consuming process, and I don't know how long it will take today..."

'

"In short, you don't need to just wait around with me. I also need a stable environment for thinking and experimenting."

""

Lucas stood in front of the kitchen counter at Hogwarts, organizing his thoughts, while the house-elves in the kitchen stood far away, afraid of disturbing the esteemed Mr. McGregor.

"Dear Mr. McGregor, I have brought you all the potion ingredients you requested." The house-elf Lanchi appeared in a flash, placing the potion ingredients, including daisy roots, grass leaves, dried nettles, and finished leech juice, along with potion-making tools such as a cauldron, balance, dropper, and measuring cup, on a corner of the kitchen counter, and even a small blackboard.

Lanchi looked at Lucas with adoration.

Just now, the esteemed Mr. McGregor entered the kitchen and announced that he was going to conduct a great magical culinary experiment and needed assistance. The elves present eagerly volunteered to carry out this glorious task.

But in the end, it was Lanchi who was Mr. McGregor's favorite and got the mission, becoming Mr. McGregor's assistant and witnessing the birth of a new miracle!

Lucas nodded and thanked Lanchi, who was so moved he trembled, bowed, and stepped aside.

Hogwarts is really generous. The potion ingredients that students need in class are simply piled up in the potion cabinet in the Potions classroom and can be taken at will. Only the truly rare ingredients are kept in the lockers in the professor's office.

Lanchi brought a large amount of materials, and with the kitchen elves generously providing several old hens and related ingredients, there was no need to worry about the raw materials for this experiment.

Lucas wrote the basics of this medicinal diet experiment on the small blackboard:

Chicken meat and chicken broth, used as supplementary ingredients, will not react specifically with the components in the soothing medication.

According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, chicken is sweet and neutral in nature, nourishes the five internal organs, and treats the five types of fatigue.

Its sweet and neutral properties form the basis for its properties and are the foundation for various chicken-based medicinal dishes.

In theory, it shouldn't react with the potion ingredients. However, everything in the magical world is unknown, and experiments are still needed.

"Is there any chicken soup in the kitchen?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, Mr. McGregor!" Lanchi replied quickly, and with a clatter, he brought Lucas a pot of golden, fragrant chicken soup.

Lucas picked up his potions textbook again and carefully read through the instructions for making the "Soothing Potion." Then he quickly began making the Soothing Potion.

Slice 1 ounce of daisy root diagonally into thin slices, about 0.05 inches thick, using a silver knife; finely chop 4 fresh leaves repeatedly; weigh 0.35 ounces of dried nettles; add 5 drops of prepared leech juice using a standard dropper...

The blade flashed in his palm, the house-elves watched in adoration, and Lucas focused intently: This isn't cooking, this isn't cooking... I'm concocting a soothing potion, I yearn for its success, I can already see its appearance...

When the pale purple liquid appeared in the crucible, Lucas finally breathed a sigh of relief, filtered the potion, and poured it into a crystal bottle.

He hesitated for a moment, then took out half of the medicine and drank it down in one gulp.

Lanchi watched him nervously, while Lucas frowned and couldn't help but gag.

It was awful to drink, especially for my sensitive palate. The bitter and astringent taste seemed to linger in my mouth and esophagus, then rush straight to the top of my head, making my head go numb.

But the next moment, a cool and refreshing feeling gently caressed me, as if my entire soul had sunk into a cool and soft waterbed. The tension and fatigue immediately softened, and my mind felt much lighter.

The medicine was very effective.

Lucas inwardly praised it. The potion was highly effective, worked instantly, and had virtually no side effects. What did the unpleasant taste matter to the British?

No wonder the wizards had no intention of researching medicinal cuisine; any ailment could be cured with a single vial of medicine.

However, Lucas could not tolerate it.

In addition to the unique deliciousness of medicinal cuisine, magical medicinal cuisine should also have long-term beneficial effects that magical potions do not possess.

For example, a truly successful and ideal "soothing chicken soup" should not only relieve fatigue and repair tiredness when consumed regularly, but also nourish the spirit, strengthen the body, and make people feel refreshed and less prone to fatigue.

Of course, what we are doing now is just the most basic experiment, and we are still far from the ideal state. It would be good enough if we could just combine the chicken as an ingredient with the soothing agent.

Now that the soothing medication has been confirmed to be effective, we will begin the most basic testing.

Scoop a small spoonful of chicken broth into a small bowl, then carefully drip the pale purple soothing medicine into it using a dropper...

Lucas and Lanchi stared intently as the potion dripped into the golden chicken soup. With a soft hiss, a wisp of steam rose up, and the pale purple soothing potion that had been dripped into the soup vanished into the soup!

The soothing medicine seems to have some kind of reaction with the chicken soup!

Lucas's eyes widened, and his heart sank. If the effects of the soothing medicine would be ruined by the chicken soup, then it would be impossible to combine chicken with the soothing medicine to create a medicinal dish.

If even this simplest experiment failed, then there's no point in trying any of the subsequent ideas.

But how could this be? Chicken is sweet and neutral in nature, it shouldn't be like this!

Lucas stared at the dissipating soothing potion with a look of deep resentment. Though unwilling to admit it, it was the truth; today's attempt had ended in failure before it even began...

Lanchi was frantic, but he was helpless and could only watch as the respected Mr. McGregor prepared to put away his tools.

"It's a matter of temperature, Mr. McGregor," a familiar voice suddenly said. "It seems your potions skills are just beginning; there's still a lot to learn."

Lucas turned around in surprise and saw someone he absolutely did not expect.

An elderly woman dressed in a Victorian-style nurse's uniform, with silver-white curly hair, was quietly watching him, holding a plate of thumb-sized butter cookies in one hand and a cup of hot milk in the other.

"Good evening, Mrs. Pomfrey!" Lanchi quickly bowed.

"Madame Pomfrey, hello!" Lucas said in surprise. "What brings you here?"

Mrs. Pomfrey moved closer: "Sometimes I forget the time when I'm mixing potions and miss dinner, so I come to the kitchen to grab something to eat. I just happened to run into you today. You were so focused that you didn't notice me, so I watched you for a while."

Perhaps there are no patients at the school hospital today or the next couple of days, and it's leisure time now. Mrs. Pomfrey seems quite relaxed, and not as serious or aggressive as before.

She stared at the chicken soup and soothing potion in Lucas's hands: "Although I don't know what you're up to this time, if you're frustrated that the soothing potion is ineffective after entering the chicken soup, I can tell you it's a temperature issue."

temperature?

In that instant, it was as if a bolt of lightning flashed in Lucas's mind.

Because the chicken soup is covered with oil, it stays at a boiling temperature. The famous Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles are cooked by blanching the noodles directly in the chicken soup.

The soothing medicine not only requires the water to be kept at a "fish-eye" state and not boiled during the decoction process, which is about 70 degrees Celsius, but also needs to be cooled down at the end before the leech juice can be added.

This soothing medication is currently at room temperature.

Therefore, soothing medications should not be exposed to high temperatures!

What ruins the effect of the soothing medicine is not the chicken soup itself, but the temperature of the chicken soup!

In that instant, everything took a turn for the better, and immense joy welled up within him. Forgetting about thanks and politeness, Lucas shouted, "Quick, get some ice! I need to cool the chicken soup down!"

Lanchi had already raised his finger and flicked it lightly.

A faint blue light flashed across the chicken soup pot, and Lucas felt a coolness in his hand as the once scalding hot chicken soup cooled to room temperature.

Food Charm 1: Rapid Cooling Charm. This charm rapidly cools food to the desired temperature, or even freezes it completely.

There was no time to marvel at Hufflepuff's greatness and the Pokémon's power. Lucas took another bowl of chicken soup, added a few drops of soothing potion, and the others watched nervously.

This time, the pale purple potion seeped into the orange-yellow chicken soup, giving it a slight purple hue. Lucas held his breath and gently stirred it a few times with a spoon, allowing the soothing potion to completely dissolve into the soup.

The final step!

Under Mrs. Pomfrey's furrowed brow, Lucas downed the bowl of chicken soup in one gulp.

A strange smell... but a slight cooling sensation flashed by, and the soothing medicine was still working!

Success! The first step of the soothing chicken soup has been successful, proving that chicken can indeed be used as an adjuvant and will not affect the efficacy of the soothing medicine!

"Mrs. Pomfrey! You are absolutely wonderful!" Lucas shouted excitedly. He wanted to give Mrs. Pomfrey a hug, but she avoided him.

"So what exactly are you up to?" Mrs. Pomfrey put down the biscuits and hot milk. "Pour the soothing potion into the chicken soup to make it taste better?"

"I dare say it doesn't taste good at all, especially since you have to let the chicken soup cool down before you can add the soothing medicine."

"Cold, greasy chicken soup, plus a bitter soothing potion..." Madam Pomfrey's lips twitched. "How could you, a genius chef, make such a mistake?"

"If you insist on drinking it this way, why don't you drink the soothing medicine first, and then drink some hot chicken soup to soothe your taste buds after the medicine takes effect?"

Lucas shook his head: "No, Mrs. Pomfrey, mixing the two to observe their effects is merely the first step in my experiment. Even improving the taste of the soothing potion is only an intermediate goal. My ultimate objective is to prepare a medicinal soothing chicken soup."

"Medicinal cuisine?" Mrs. Pomfrey frowned even more. "What's that?"

Lucas wrote a few keywords on the blackboard, and the house-elves in the kitchen all gathered around.

"Medicinal cuisine is one of the crystallizations of thousands of years of civilization in China. Although it is a Muggle technique, I believe it has great reference value for the magical world, which is also the goal I want to master."

"Medicinal cuisine is made by skillfully combining medicines with food and using unique cooking techniques. It is not a simple mixture of medicine and rice, but rather a process of adjusting the properties of food with the properties of medicine, and then using the properties of food to enhance the efficacy of medicine, achieving a harmonious state in which medicine benefits from food and food enhances the efficacy of medicine."

Madame Pomfrey's expression gradually became serious, her eyes gleaming in the kitchen light.

As the head nurse and chief physician at Hogwarts, she possessed decades of medical experience, extremely rich medical expertise, and a compassionate heart that was always concerned about the health of the children.

Now, hearing about "medicinal cuisine" from Lucas, she couldn't help but feel a surge of interest. With her authoritative medical skills, she could tell that the concept of "medicinal cuisine" was feasible and had research value; it was by no means just a naive fantasy of a little wizard!

"Medicinal cuisine combines medicine with food, possessing both nutritional value and long-term effects such as health maintenance, disease prevention, and treatment."

"This is only the effect of Muggle medicinal cuisine. I believe that magical medicinal cuisine should have a stronger ability to provide sustained healing and improvement, strengthen the foundation and enhance the quality of wizards, and even promote the improvement of wizards' magical power."

Lucas spoke eloquently, while Mrs. Pomfrey stared intently at him until he felt uneasy and stopped, thinking that Mrs. Pomfrey had noticed something amiss and had some strong objection.

Until Mrs. Pomfrey spoke in a deep voice: "Not a bad idea."

"Let me join your research, Mr. Lucas McGregor."

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