A New Dessert

Chapter 10 A New Dessert

The lord's manor had very few servants, which was rare in the residences of other nobles.

Only that bastard from before, who never had any ideas and was completely oblivious to the dire situation of Coldwind Territory.

Alphonse was the only one dining at the large table.

Mia must have delivered the mother's meals.

Lunch consisted of small pieces of salted pork chops with vegetables, and white bread as the main dish.

The bread wasn't particularly soft and was rather bland, with a subtle woody flavor. The pork chop, on the other hand, was salty, had a hint of honey sweetness, and a subtle spice flavor, like rosemary.

It wasn't very tasty.

Given the current state of the Baron's mansion, it's already a blessing to be able to eat meat.

Alphonse wasn't a picky eater; he had endured all sorts of hardships during his wanderings.

While munching on bread, a sudden thought flashed through my mind, and I remembered something.

I don't seem to have any memory of that thing ever appearing.

Alphonse quickly ate his fill and ran to Mrs. Mary's room.

Mia was feeding her mother oatmeal porridge with a spoon, while the maid stood respectfully to the side.

Mother seems to be in much better spirits.

After exchanging greetings, Alphonse hurriedly asked, "Mother, do you know what butter is?"

"Cream? What's that?" Mrs. Mary asked, somewhat puzzled.

Mia also had a puzzled expression.

Alphonse gave a brief description, but the two still looked confused.

This further confirmed Alphonse's idea.

There's a chance!

There is no cream in this world.

That's normal, since sweets are considered a luxury these days.

After saying goodbye, Alphonse rushed out again.

"What does he want to do?" Mia frowned.

Mrs. Mary smiled, a rare occurrence. "Alphonse suffered a lot with me in the past, so after my husband and I improved our lives, we unknowingly began to spoil him. Unexpectedly, this led him to develop some bad habits, but he is still a good boy. Mia, please help him more."

Seeing Mrs. Mary's expectant expression, Mia sighed inwardly and nodded.

Alphonse went straight to the kitchen.

They asked the cook for milk, eggs, honey, and earthenware jars and other utensils.

I did discover something strange: there was no white sugar here. Apart from honey, the only sweetener was maple syrup.

In modern times, maple syrup is more expensive than white sugar. According to the cook, sugar cubes in this world are much more expensive than maple syrup, and are not something that ordinary people can afford. They have to go to the city to buy them.

At Lady Mary's request, in order to save expenses, sugar cubes were not used in the Baron's mansion.

However, the maple syrup in this world is very cloudy, unlike the clear and transparent one I saw in my previous life, which also has a unique woody smell.

No wonder the bread I ate had a woody smell.

Alphonse had no intention of producing white sugar; the sugar-making process was too complex, and many aspects were difficult to implement.

The method of rinsing sugar with yellow mud water, often mentioned in time-travel novels, basically doesn't produce white sugar.

I don't know if Song Yingxing made a mistake in writing "Tiangong Kaiwu". If you really poured yellow mud water on sugar, you would only get dirty sugar water mixed with mud.

Alphonse initially found it fascinating that many time-travel novels described pouring a spoonful of muddy water onto a piece of white sugar, revealing a crystal-clear substance. Driven by curiosity, he searched on Bilibili (a Chinese video-sharing website) and discovered that all the content creators who attempted this had failed miserably.

It's clear that the method of rinsing sugar with yellow mud water must have a problem somewhere, and it can't be used directly.

Even with activated charcoal filtration, it's difficult to obtain completely clear and transparent sugar water; it always retains an earthy yellow hue, and needless to say, it won't look like syrup when boiled down.

Moreover, activated carbon needs to be produced using high-temperature steam, which is quite difficult to do without certain tools and equipment.

Alphonse carried a large pile of things back to his room.

To maintain secrecy, the cream could not be made in front of the cook.

I still vaguely remember the method.

A layer of milk skin has already formed on the milk, which is also necessary.

Alphonse carefully scraped off the milk skin and put it into another small earthenware jar.

Only then did he pick up the spoon and start stirring the milk.

This is to break down the fat particles in the milk and help separate the fat.

In this world, where electric mixers are readily available, manual mixers are the only option.

It requires a great deal of time and patience.

After stirring continuously for a long time, and confirming that the milk fat had completely separated from the milk, Alphonse stopped stirring and used a spoon to scoop up the milk fat floating on the surface of the milk and put it into another container.

Next, you need to beat the eggs, but you don't need the yolks, just the egg whites.

Not a single egg yolk was wasted; Alphonse brought boiling water, poured it over the yolk, and swallowed it all raw.

This is a habit left over from a previous life. A senior colleague at the company taught me this, saying that it helps retain the nutritional components of eggs and can also be beneficial in certain aspects.

As for what these "certain aspects" are, children don't need to understand.

Alphonse added egg whites and a little honey to the collected milk fat and began stirring again.

It's a pity there's no butter; if we had it, making cream would be much easier.

Upon reflection, Alphonse immediately realized he had made a foolish mistake.

One of the ingredients for making butter is heavy cream, but there isn't even any cream in this world yet, so how could there be butter?

As the mixture is stirred, the milk fat becomes increasingly viscous, gradually transforming into a soft paste.

I don't know if it's because of the honey, but the cream is a bit yellowish, not as white as I remember.

Alphonse picked up a bit with his finger and tasted it. It was a little different from the modern cream he remembered, but not too different. It still had a silky and smooth texture, just a bit sweeter.

However, this method of production is quite tiring, time-consuming and laborious.

After tidying up his belongings, Alphonse excitedly carried a small half-jar of cream to his mother's room.

Saying it's only half full isn't quite accurate. It's a small earthenware jar, originally meant for storing seasonings, barely the size of a palm, and the cream only filled about a third of it.

It's enough for people to taste.

It was only afternoon when Mia sat by the bedside, holding a book, reading to Mrs. Mary, who was bedridden.

Mrs. Mary was somewhat puzzled when Alphonse rushed in again in such a flurry.

"This is the cream I made," Alphonse said, scooping up a little with a small spoon and bringing it to his mother's lips as if presenting a treasure.

Mrs. Mary stared blankly at the small blob of pale yellow paste on the spoon, but still opened her mouth.

This stuff, which my beloved son named "Cream," melts in your mouth.

Instantly, a strange fragrance and the sweetness of honey filled my taste buds, and that sweet taste seemed to linger in my mouth.

Mrs. Mary couldn't help but feel somewhat intoxicated.

Mia watched with great curiosity, her eyes wide open.

"You try some too." Alphonse turned the spoon upside down, used the handle to scoop up a small amount, and put it in his mouth.

Mia hesitated for a moment, then stuck out her small tongue and licked the tiny bit of cream into her mouth.

Originally, I wanted to write about pouring a spoonful of yellow mud water on top, and then the shiny white sugar would appear, and I would make a fortune. But after writing two chapters, I checked some information and realized that readers might criticize me, so I had to scrap those two chapters. I'm so unlucky!

(End of this chapter)