New Gods of North America.

Chapter 360 Boil water
As the saying goes, "before the troops move, the food and fodder must go first".
While the "troops" have not returned yet, Wayne is now planning to get "food and grass".

Ok,

In fact, he was not busy with anything high-end, he was just simply tinkering with "pre-prepared meals".

Thanks to the Age of Exploration and the development of the New World, people's development and tolerance of various storable foods have greatly improved.

For example, the "hard biscuits" commonly seen in the West are actually a recipe left over from the Age of Discovery.

Add water to the dough and bake it in the oven repeatedly until it hardens.

It's that simple.

It is not fermented or seasoned, and must be softened before eating, otherwise it will become a tooth stone, but it can be preserved for a long time.

Metal cans had already been invented at this time, but due to the limited level of welding, there would inevitably be welding slag or odor inside.
Moreover, the price of canned food at that time was actually not cheap - although the second-hand cans made by military sailors were not expensive either - and the general public neither liked it nor could easily buy it.

With the current income level and working environment of detective agencies, there is no need to consider pre-prepared foods with a long shelf life.

Therefore, what Wayne considered mainly during the "research and development" was the issue of "taste".

This should have been Chef Parker's professional job.
But I'm free anyway...

Melt butter and several relatively cheap cheeses into milk in different proportions, add some salt or sugar, and then add the gelatin that is now included in the recipe, filter and mash into a paste.

Then add some natural food coloring with a long history depending on your mood, spread it flat on the baking tray, bake it slightly, and then cut it into small squares.

Emma was waiting to taste the food.
At this time, the person beside him blinked his eyes, as if he was shocked by the finished product made by Wayne:

"So you turned cheese... back into cheese?"

“That’s different.”

Wayne put some of the baked regenerated cheese slices with different ingredients and proportions on the plate and said, "Come on, try which one is the most delicious."

After Chef Parker went on strike, the detective agency tried to continue making hamburgers.

But the sauce and patties are too demanding, and the taste and texture of different cheeses are also very different. The burgers I make now always feel a little different from what Wayne remembered.
As someone who has seen the modern food industry, Wayne's natural thought is to "standardize" the recipes.

The advantage of recycled cheese in this regard is that the taste and texture are unified, and it is actually more cost-effective - many traditional cheeses are not cheap, and the leftovers are easily wasted. Recycled cheese can be made with leftovers for secondary seasoning, or even with leftovers.
Anyway, it's cooked and won't kill anyone.

As long as the basic seasoning is correct, sandwiching cheese and vegetable leaves in bread is basically a good idea.

If you can’t make delicious fried meat patties, then you can probably make fried eggs or fried bacon, right?
Although Wayne himself doesn't like cheese very much, cheese is considered a "good thing" in this era, and its unit price is more expensive than meat.

Emma tasted several samples like a guinea pig, chose the one she liked best, and then even wanted to eat it.

Wayne took some more from the baking tray and gave her some, then carried the tray to continue looking for "guinea pigs" in the detective agency.

In the end, Wayne himself got 5 points, Inissa got 4 points, and the others together got 1 point. After a reasonable and comprehensive evaluation, the most popular finished product was selected.

Wayne picked out the recipe and waited for Chef Parker to continue to improve it and also let him study the standard sauce.

Now that we have taken care of the food, the next step is the drinks.

In fact, America already has so-called "non-alcoholic carbonated beverages" these days, but this stuff still depends on the origin. It is basically mixed with mineral water containing natural baking soda or carbonate.

If you are not picky, you can actually make basic carbonated drinks by just buying baking soda.

In the scientific research field, a device that can produce "saturated carbonated water" has been invented, but normal people these days have not thought of using this thing to make beverages.
Saturated carbonated water made from chemical reagents is not cheap and has a peculiar smell. Saturated carbonated water made by industrial methods is not very drinkable and requires a lot of heavy industrial factories as upstream and downstream "supporting equipment". Wayne estimated the cost and safety and thought it would be more cost-effective to save money first and then consider where to buy a piece of land with suitable spring water.

When the time comes to fill the wooden barrel or glass bottle, although the gas is not quite enough, the meaning is barely there.

After finishing all these messy things, it was already late at night.
Doug's owl is now causing trouble outside the peregrine falcon's cage, seeking revenge for the bullying it received during the day.

These two carnivorous guys don't really get along. Retaliation is their daily way of getting along after they've had their fill.
Wayne was the type who would chase away anyone who caused trouble, so he just chased the stupid bird away.
That's because the big spider Peter is not at home, otherwise how could they be the king?

Add firewood to the water boiler in the yard to boil water.
Then just wait for the shower.

With a high water tank, the detective agency's daily water use is quite convenient.
Apart from the fact that someone needs to pump water from the river next to the courtyard into the water tank regularly, the water is no different from tap water except that the water pressure is slightly lower.

The detective agency's water boiler is similar in structure to the one in Wayne's home, and the water pipes can directly divert hot water to different cabins.
Forget about showering, the water flow is not strong, and the temperature control system is too complicated to set up. The pipes must be installed at least twice as much.
But taking a bath is not a big problem.

"boom--"

Wayne didn't know whether he heard the gunshot first or was hit by the bullet first, but he felt something suddenly push his shoulder.
Then there was a sharp pain in my shoulder, and the "blue bar" began to move downward in response to the stress.

Damn it? !
He was shot at home?

I hope someone will "come to my door", but I don't want you to "beat me" like this.

The owl in the yard was startled by the gunshot and flew away, then landed nearby, tilting its head and looking at Wayne.

Wayne had already quickly hidden himself in the estimated shooting direction to avoid being shot again, and pointed his finger in that direction, "What are you looking at me for?! Go chase them!"

Other people in the detective agency also heard the noise and rushed out.

Connor, who was on night duty, chased after it immediately. Doug was slower, but the owl understood him and quickly flew away.

Inesa did not chase after him. After seeing that Wayne was not seriously injured, she stepped on the ladder that had been set up there with her rifle on her back and quickly climbed up to the roof of the warehouse.

It’s still a pajama-style battle scene—unfortunately, some styles of normal pajamas for ladies these days are tighter than evening gowns.

Wayne picked up his bolt-action rifle and quickly followed in the direction.

The bullet was previously stuck in the wound by the bone. When it was "pushed out", it looked like a pointed rifle bullet.
Judging from the power of gunpowder and the loss of kinetic energy in this era, the attacker's shooting distance was not too close.

There are ladders placed beside the walls of the courtyard. Usually they are placed inside. When something happens, they can be put outside to climb over the wall.
Wayne stepped on the ladder that had been put up and rushed out. The view of simple lines opened up, and he kept running all the way.

A few hundred yards away in the woods,

Doug's owl was circling in the night sky, and his bolt-action rifle, the barrel of which was still hot to the touch, was thrown at the foot of a big tree.

Wayne picked it up and took a look, and he preferred the Windsor model.

Connor, holding the lantern, had slowed down, seemingly searching for the other party's trace in the distance.
Doug also gave his initial judgment, "The owl probably didn't find the person... If the person hasn't already escaped, then he should still be nearby."

Really?

Pulling the bolt to load the gun, Wayne walked slowly in the woods, looking around.

Although the land nearby is not theirs... it seems that they will have to take charge of the commanding heights within at least 600 yards.

Let's cut down this tree tomorrow to boil water.

(End of this chapter)