Chapter 581: Progress

A day later, the Detective Agency successively bid farewell to the Agent teams heading to the two offices, and the remaining members became busy with their own tasks again.

Wayne’s main focus was on the workshop’s progress, and he also pulled Chef Parker along to try out small-scale “mass production” experiments with new tools.

It has to be said that when tools change, many seemingly similar things often become very different.

For example, in the makeshift workshop built fastest outside the mill, using a large oil pan (actually a small iron oil pool) to fry a small amount of meat patties for the Agents on duty, the initial heating was incredibly slow, and once the oil temperature was sufficient, the heat became incredibly fierce.

Not only did the difficulty of temperature adjustment and control increase, but you also couldn’t “lift” this thing. If you followed the experience of using a household stove, waiting until the “heat was just right” to start scooping out the meat patties, the time difference would only be a few tens of seconds, and some of them would often already be “spoiled.”

There were many similar small problems. For instance, some recipes that Chef Parker had already developed, which worked fine when replicated in a restaurant, would change flavor when moved to the “workshop.”

Some recipes cannot be simply “scaled up proportionally,” and the same procedures require specific improvements in detail.

An example of the former is reconstituted cheese; without adding extra ingredients, the color and firmness of the finished product would be different from those made in a small pot.

An example of the latter is sauces; after switching to a large pot, simply “continuously stirring” during the simmering process is a physically demanding task that can exhaust many people, requiring the design of specialized tools that don’t look like “kitchen utensils” to assist.

Furthermore, once production increases, shelf life also becomes a very real problem.

Not only do meats and dairy products need to be processed quickly upon arrival, and production procedures carefully designed, but the finished product’s state must also be stable—homemade sauces and semi-finished products can spoil in a few days because they are consumed quickly, but if a restaurant wants to expand to various locations, it might take more than a few days for the goods to even reach the destination.

The same applies to luncheon meat and reconstituted cheese; after secondary processing, the cost certainly decreases, but their properties are not as shelf-stable as ham, bacon, or natural cheese. Even if they haven’t turned sour or smelly, any noticeable change in color and taste is, in a sense, considered “spoiled.”

Unfortunately, at this time, America’s chemical industry was virtually nonexistent, so they could only find solutions themselves.

Fortunately, the most basic preservation techniques actually have a low barrier to entry.

Adding corks to glass bottles, lids to tinplate containers, and then boiling them in warm water for a period is a simplified version of “canning,” or a makeshift version of “pasteurization.” Even directly adding ingredients rich in Vitamin C to the recipe can serve as the simplest and most effective preservative.

Unfortunately, high-temperature boiling destroys Vitamin C, so the process needs to change accordingly. Additional ingredients also lead to flavor changes, and the recipe needs to be re-adjusted—it’s very much a “add flour if there’s too much water, add water if there’s too much flour” situation.

Therefore, there’s a reason why America at this time didn’t have a food processing industry beyond “canning,” “pickling,” and “brewing.”

Without mastering key scientific principles and technologies, it would indeed be impossible to develop it.

Wayne’s leave from the academy was approved; his “suspected murder” had been in the newspapers, and local professors and students who returned after attending the Bishop’s funeral and the new Bishop’s ordination could also indirectly corroborate it. A letter was sent, and in less than two days, a letter of approval returned.

However, a bit of trouble was that the letters that came back were actually “a stack.” Some professors expressed that they could jointly publish academic papers on fingerprint research for Wayne, some inquired if Wayne had other research achievements, and some professors urged Wayne to return soon to continue his math classes, or told Wayne not to delay the learning of the talented Emma…

Wayne actually somewhat wanted to send Emma back. Emma hadn’t known Liam for very long, but she learned quickly in terms of personality, showing a resilience that was “fearless after being mischievous, I’ll just honestly take my beating.”

After coming to Richmond, she didn’t even have to be pressured by Daimon McQueedy’s “fiddler crab” to do her homework, which was truly “a vast world in a single thought.”

Inessa was also very attentive to the construction of the “workshop.” Her supervision mainly focused on the overall layout and architectural arrangements of the area.

She would make requests such as “a wooden house needs to be built in this location” or “that roof cannot be higher than a certain amount,” feeling like she was playing a tower defense game. Outsiders couldn’t see the internal situation at a glance, and those unfamiliar with the paths would likely suffer if they trespassed.

Incidentally, Inessa was quite interested in the “food industry” that Wayne and Parker were tinkering with. She would occasionally come to join the fun, appearing eager to learn, and even helped taste the latest products.

Some of her knowledge in herbs and hunting also came in handy. For example, Wayne could look for Vitamin C-rich herbs among those she thought of to try and improve recipes.

And some animal organs considered toxic, such as the livers of moose, black bears, wild wolves, or horses, which are not uncommon in America, are rich in Vitamin A—the concentration is too high, and direct consumption by humans can easily lead to overdose and poisoning. However, adding an appropriate amount to meat products can delay spoilage and also comes with a “meaty flavor.”

Some hunters, when cooking these meats in the wild, would also cut a small piece of liver into the pot to cook together; the flavor often became better. This was a small secret recipe that “is not recommended for ordinary people to easily imitate, but poses no risk if the principle is understood.”

Lina, on the other hand, appeared to be the busiest among the partners during this period. After some Agents were temporarily diverted to the offices, there weren’t many people left, and she still took “Soften” and his group out every day.

Following Wayne’s idea of “wanting to keep abreast of developments in Richmond,” once Lina had a general plan, she went to Inessa and withdrew 5000 American dollars from the Detective Agency’s account in one go.

Wayne was a bit speechless when he found out: “…Just arrange for ‘Soften’ and a few other peripheral members to move around the city more often, and incidentally bribe some street newspaper boys or something, hoping to get information in a timely manner. Is it really necessary to spend so much money?”

“Intelligence gathering always costs money.”

Lina, instead, felt Wayne was making a fuss. “Not all of this money needs to be spent immediately, you know. These past few days, I’ve visited some ladies and young women I met at the ball, and while the workshop and restaurant were being renovated, I had ‘Soften’ and his group give some craftsmen ‘tips.’ I also deepened my friendship with the street kids and some regular vendors in the city. Anyway, it’s always right to have some extra cash on hand; I generally have it all figured out.”

Alright…

As long as the goal can be achieved, it’s still best to trust the judgment of professionals.

And even without mentioning Lina’s “selling mirrors” to get those thirty thousand American dollars, 5000 American dollars is actually an amount that two offices could earn back in a few months of stable operation. If it can be effective, then the Detective Agency can still afford it.

The key is to gain a firm foothold in Richmond, ensure that the Church and Mr. Russell don’t “change their ways,” and gradually clear out the gangs in the Dock Area.

That way, not only could subsequent offices be developed, but the restaurant and workshop would also have the opportunity to become new profit points.

They couldn’t keep doing things like before, where Bishop Corleone had already passed away, and the Detective Agency only found out after reading the newspaper.