Ben Roche: So I'm Ben, by the way. Homaro Cantu: And I'm Homaro. BR: And we're chefs. So when Moto opened in 2004, people didn't really know what to expect. A lot of people thought that it was a Japanese restaurant, and maybe it was the name, maybe it was the logo, which was like a Japanese character, but anyway, we had all these requests for Japanese food, which is really not what we did. And after about the ten thousandth request for a maki roll, we decided to give the people what they wanted. So this picture is an example of printed food, and this was the first foray into what we like to call flavor transformation. So this is all the ingredients, all the flavor of, you know, a standard maki roll, printed onto a little piece of paper.
Ben Roš: Ja sam Ben, inače. Homaro Kantu: A ja sam Homaro. B.R: Mi smo kuvari. Dakle, kada smo 2004. otvorili Moto, ljudi baš i nisu znali šta da očekuju. Mnogi su mislili da je to japanski restoran, možda zbog imena, možda zbog znaka, koji je bio poput japanskog slova, ali u svakom slučaju, imali smo zahteve za japanskom hranom, čime se baš i nismo bavili. Nakon nekih deset hiljada zahteva za maki sušijem, rešili smo da ljudima damo ono što su tražili. Ova slika je primer štampane hrane, i ovo je prvi primer onoga što volimo da zovemo transformacija ukusa. Ovde su svi sastojci i ukusi standardnog maki sušija, odštampani na malom parčetu papira.
HC: So our diners started to get bored with this idea, and we decided to give them the same course twice, so here we actually took an element from the maki roll and and took a picture of a dish and then basically served that picture with the dish. So this dish in particular is basically champagne with seafood. The champagne grapes that you see are actually carbonated grapes. A little bit of seafood and some crème fraiche and the picture actually tastes exactly like the dish. (Laughter) BR: But it's not all just edible pictures. We decided to do something a little bit different and transform flavors that were very familiar -- so in this case, we have carrot cake. So we take a carrot cake, put it in a blender, and we have kind of like a carrot cake juice, and then that went into a balloon frozen in liquid nitrogen to create this hollow shell of carrot cake ice cream, I guess, and it comes off looking like, you know, Jupiter's floating around your plate.
H.K: Ali, ideja ovakve večere postajala je dosadna mušterijama, pa smo odlučili da im serviramo jelo dvaput. Ovde smo zapravo uzeli deo maki rolata i slikali porciju a onda praktično servirali tu sliku uz jelo. Ovo jelo je u suštini šampanjac sa morskim plodovima. Šampanjsko grožđe koje vidite je zapravo gazirano grožđe. Malo morskih plodova i "krem freš", i slika je zapravo istog ukusa kao i jelo. (Smeh) B.R: Ali ne radi se samo o jestivim slikama. Odlučili smo da uradimo nešto malo drugačije i izmenimo ukuse koji su zapravo veoma poznati - tako, u ovom slučaju, imamo tortu od šargarepe. Uzmemo tortu od šargarepe, stavimo je u blender, i dobijemo neki sok od torte, koji onda ide u balon zamrznut u tečnom azotu da bismo napravili ovaj šuplji oklop od sladoleda od torte recimo, i to ispadne nalik na, recimo, Jupiter koji pluta po tanjiru.
So yeah, we're transforming things into something that you have absolutely no reference for. HC: And here's something we have no reference to eat. This is a cigar, and basically it's a Cuban cigar made out of a Cuban pork sandwich, so we take these spices that go into the pork shoulder, we fashion that into ash. We take the sandwich and wrap it up in a collard green, put an edible label that bears no similarity to a Cohiba cigar label, and we put it in a dollar ninety-nine ashtray and charge you about twenty bucks for it. (Laughter) HC: Delicious.
Tako da, transformišemo stvari u nešto što ranije nikada niste videli. H.C: A evo i nečega za šta nikad ne biste rekli da je jestivo. Ovo je cigara, i u suštini to je kubanska cigara napravljena od kubanskog sendviča sa svinjetinom, tako što uzmemo sve začine koji idu u svinjsku plećku, i oblikujemo ih u pepeo. Uzmemo sendvič i smotamo ga u raštan, stavimo jestivu nalepnicu koja nema nikakvu sličnost sa nalepnicom kohiba cigare, i stavimo to u pepeljaru od 2 dolara i naplatimo vam oko 20 dolara. (Smeh) H.K: Ukusno.
BR: That's not it, though. Instead of making foods that look like things that you wouldn't eat, we decided to make ingredients look like dishes that you know. So this is a plate of nachos. The difference between our nachos and the other guy's nachos, is that this is actually a dessert. So the chips are candied, the ground beef is made from chocolate, and the cheese is made from a shredded mango sorbet that gets shredded into liquid nitrogen to look like cheese. And after doing all of this dematerialization and reconfiguring of this, of these ingredients, we realized that it was pretty cool, because as we served it, we learned that the dish actually behaves like the real thing, where the cheese begins to melt. So when you're looking at this thing in the dining room, you have this sensation that this is actually a plate of nachos, and it's not really until you begin tasting it that you realize this is a dessert, and it's just kind of like a mind-ripper. (Laughter)
B.R: To ipak nije sve. Umesto da spremamo hranu koja izgleda kao nešto što ne biste jeli, odlučili smo da napravimo sastojke koij izgledaju kao jela koja znate. Ovo je tanjir naćosa. Razlika između naših naćosa i drugih naćosa je u tome što je naš zapravo desert. Krompirići su kandirani, mlevena junetina je od čokolade, a sir je od komadića šerbeta koji se stavlja u tečni azot da bi izgledao kao sir. I nakon što uradimo sve ovo dematerijalizovanje i rekonfiguraciju svih sastojaka, shvatili smo da je to zapravo baš zanimljivo, jer kada smo servirali jelo, shvatili smo da se jelo zapravo ponaša kao prava stvar, gde sir počinje da se topi. Tako, kada gledate ovo jelo u trpezariji, imate osećaj kao da je ovo stvarno tanjir naćosa, i sve dok ne počnete da jedete ne znate da je to zapravo desert, i sve je na neki način poigravanje sa vašim umom. (Smeh)
HC: So we had been creating all of these dishes out of a kitchen that was more like a mechanic's shop than a kitchen, and the next logical step for us was to install a state-of-the-art laboratory, and that's what we have here. So we put this in the basement, and we got really serious about food, like serious experimentation. BR: One of the really cool things about the lab, besides that we have a new science lab in the kitchen, is that, you know, with this new equipment, and this new approach, all these different doors to creativity that we never knew were there began to open, and so the experiments and the food and the dishes that we created, they just kept going further and further out there.
H.K: Tako smo stvarali sva ova jela u kuhinji koja je više ličila na mehaničku radionicu nego na kuhinju, i sledeći logičan potez je bio da ugradimo modernu laboratoriju, i to je to što imamo ovde. Ovo nas je odvelo u podrum, i postali smo jako ozbiljni u vezi sa hranom, ozbiljno smo eksperimentisali. B.R: Jedna od stvarno super stvari u vezi sa laboratorijom, pored toga što imamo novu naučnu laboratoriju u kuhinji, jeste to što, znate, sa ovom novom opremom, i ovim novim pristupom, različita vrata ka kreativnosti za koja nismo ni slutuli da postoje, su počela da se otvaraju, i tako novi eksperimenti, hrana, i jela koja smo stvarali, samo su se nastavila odatle u istom smeru.
HC: Let's talk about flavor transformation, and let's actually make some cool stuff. You see a cow with its tongue hanging out. What I see is a cow about to eat something delicious. What is that cow eating? And why is it delicious? So the cow, basically, eats three basic things in their feed: corn, beets, and barley, and so what I do is I actually challenge my staff with these crazy, wild ideas. Can we take what the cow eats, remove the cow, and then make some hamburgers out of that? And basically the reaction tends to be kind of like this. (Laughter) BR: Yeah, that's our chef de cuisine, Chris Jones. This is not the only guy that just flips out when we assign a ridiculous task, but a lot of these ideas, they're hard to understand. They're hard to just get automatically.
H.K: Hajde da pričamo o transformaciji ukusa, i zapravo napravimo neke kul stvari. Vidite kravu kojoj iz usta viri jezik. Ono što ja vidim je krava koja se sprema da pojede nešto ukusno. Šta ta krava jede? I zašto je to ukusno? Krava, u suštini, u ishrani ima tri osnovne stvari kukuruz, repu i ječam, i ono što ja radim je zapravo izazivanje svog osoblja ovim ludim, divljim idejama. Možemo li da uzmemo to što krava jede, oduzmemo kravu, i onda od toga napravimo hamburgere? I u suštini reakcija često bude nešto nalik na ovo. (Smeh) B.R: Da,ovo je naš šef kuhinje, Kris Džouns. On nije jedini koji odlepi kada mu dodelimo neki smešan zadatak, ali većina ovih ideja, su teške za razumeti. Teško ih je samo automatski prihvatiti.
There's a lot of research and a lot of failure, trial and error -- I guess, more error -- that goes into each and every dish, so we don't always get it right, and it takes a while for us to be able to explain that to people. HC: So, after about a day of Chris and I staring at each other, we came up with something that was pretty close to the hamburger patty, and as you can see it basically forms like hamburger meat. This is made from three ingredients: beets, barley, corn, and so it actually cooks up like hamburger meat, looks and tastes like hamburger meat, and not only that, but it's basically removing the cow from the equation. So replicating food, taking it into that next level is where we're going. (Applause)
Ima puno istraživanja i puno neuspeha, pokušaja i grešaka - verovatno više grešaka - koje su deo spremanja svakog jela, pa ne uspeva uvek baš kako treba, i treba vremena da to ljudima objasnimo. H.K: Dakle, nakon recimo dana koji Kris i ja provedemo gledajući se smislili smo nešto što je bilo prilično blizu hamburgeru i vidite da se oblikuje praktično kao meso za hamburger. Sadrži 3 sastojka: kukuruz, ječam i repu i zapravo se sprema kao meso za hamburger, izgleda tako i takvog je i ukusa, ali ne samo to, već je krava stvarno uklonjena iz jednačine. Ovakvo kopiranje hrane, uzimanje toga u obzir dok idemo ka sledećem nivou. (Aplauz)
BR: And it's definitely the world's first bleeding veggie burger, which is a cool side effect. And a miracle berry, if you're not familiar with it, is a natural ingredient, and it contains a special property. It's a glycoprotein called miraculin, a naturally occurring thing. It still freaks me out every time I eat it, but it has a unique ability to mask certain taste receptors on your tongue, so that primarily sour taste receptors, so normally things that would taste very sour or tart, somehow begin to taste very sweet. HC: You're about to eat a lemon, and now it tastes like lemonade. Let's just stop and think about the economic benefits of something like that. We could eliminate sugar across the board for all confectionary products and sodas, and we can replace it with all-natural fresh fruit.
B.R: I definitivno je to prvi krvavi vege burger na svetu, što je odličan sporedni efekat. Mirakolina ili čudesno voće, za slučaj da vam je nepoznato, to je prirodni sastojak, i ima jedno posebno svojstvo. Radi se o glikoproteinu koji se zove mirakulin, koji se javlja u prirodi. Šokiram se svaki put kad ga jedem, ali ima jedinstvenu sposobnost da maskira određene receptore ukusa na jeziku, pre svega receptore za kiselo, tako da ono što bi inače imalo jako kiseo ili opor ukus, nekako počinje da bude jako slatko. H.K: Krenete da jedete limun, a on je ukusa limunade. Hajde da zastanemo i razmislimo o ekonomskim pogodnostima nečeg ovakvog. Mogli bismo u potpunosti eliminisati šećer iz svih konditorskih proizvoda i gaziranih sokova, i zameniti ih poptuno prirodnim svežim voćem.
BR: So you see us here cutting up some watermelon. The idea with this is that we're going to eliminate tons of food miles, wasted energy, and overfishing of tuna by creating tuna, or any exotic produce or item from a very far-away place, with local, organic produce; so we have a watermelon from Wisconsin. HC: So if miracle berries take sour things and turn them into sweet things, we have this other pixie dust that we put on the watermelon, and it makes it go from sweet to savory. So after we do that, we put it into a vacuum bag, add a little bit of seaweed, some spices, and we roll it, and this starts taking on the appearance of tuna. So the key now is to make it behave like tuna. BR: And then after a quick dip into some liquid nitrogen to get that perfect sear, we really have something that looks, tastes and behaves like the real thing.
B.R: Vidite nas ovde kako sečemo lubenicu. Ideja je da eliminišemo mnoge kilometre u transportu hrane od mesta proizvodnje do mesta upotrebe, utrošak energije, i pecanje previše tune za proizvodnju tunjevine, ili bilo kojeg egzotičnog proizvoda ili sastojka iz nekog udaljenog dela sveta, zamenimo lokalnim, organskim proizvodima; tako da imamo lubenicu u Viskonsinu. H.K: Pa ako već čudesno voće može kiselo da pretvori u slatko, imamo ovu drugu vilinsku prašinu koju stavimo na lubenicu i ona od slatke postaje kiselkasta. Nakon što smo to uradili, stavimo to u vakuum kesu, dodamo malo morskih algi, malo začina, urolamo, i ovo počinje da liči na tunjevinu. Sada je ključno učiniti da se ovo i ponaša kao tunjevina. B.R: Nakon što ga na kratko umočimo u malo tečnog azota da postane ovako savršeno suvo dobijemo nešto što izgleda, ponaša se i ima ukus kao prava stvar.
HC: So the key thing to remember here is, we don't really care what this tuna really is. As long as it's good for you and good for the environment, it doesn't matter. But where is this going? How can we take this idea of tricking your tastebuds and leapfrog it into something that we can do today that could be a disruptive food technology? So here's the next challenge. I told the staff, let's just take a bunch of wild plants, think of them as food ingredients. As long as they're non-poisonous to the human body, go out around Chicago sidewalks, take it, blend it, cook it and then have everybody flavor-trip on it at Moto. Let's charge them a boatload of cash for this and see what they think. (Laughter)
H.K: Ključno je imati na umu da nam nije važno šta je zapravo ova tunjevina. Sve dokle je za vas dobro, i dok je dobro za životnu sredinu, to nam nije važno. Ali kuda ovo vodi? Kako možemo ovu ideju varanja vašeg čula ukusa pretvoriti u nešto što možemo da radimo danas a što bi bilo nova prehrambena tehnologija? Dakle, evo sledećeg izazova. Predložio sam osoblju da uzmemo gomilu divljih biljaka, i posmatramo ih kao sastojke hrane. Sve dok nisu otrovne za čoveka, silazimo sa puteva u Čikagu, uzimamo ih, meljemo ih, kuvamo ih i onda svi idemo na ukusno putovanje u Moto. Hajde da im naplatimo gomilu para za ovo i vidimo šta misle. (Smeh)
BR: Yeah, so you can imagine, a task like this -- this is another one of those assignments that the kitchen staff hated us for. But we really had to almost relearn how to cook in general, because these are ingredients, you know, plant life that we're, one, unfamiliar with, and two, we have no reference for how to cook these things because people don't eat them. So we really had to think about new, creative ways to flavor, new ways to cook and to change texture -- and that was the main issue with this challenge.
B.R: Da, možete da zamislite, zadatak kao ovaj - ovo je jedan od onih zadataka zbog kojih nas je kuhinjsko osoblje mrzelo. Ali zaista, skoro da smo morali da ponovo učimo kako da kuvamo, jer su svi sastojci, pre svega, biljke na koje nismo navikli, ili su nam nepoznate, a drugo, nemamo odakle da znamo kako da kuvamo ove stvari jer ih ljudi ne jedu. Tako smo morali da smislimo nove kreativne načine da začinjavamo hranu, nove načine da kuvamo, i da menjamo teksturu - i to je bio glavni problem sa ovim izazovom.
HC: So this is where we step into the future and we leapfrog ahead. So developing nations and first-world nations, imagine if you could take these wild plants and consume them, food miles would basically turn into food feet. This disruptive mentality of what food is would essentially open up the encyclopedia of what raw ingredients are, even if we just swapped out, say, one of these for flour, that would eliminate so much energy and so much waste. And to give you a simple example here as to what we actually fed these customers, there's a bale of hay there and some crab apples. And basically we took hay and crab apples and made barbecue sauce out of those two ingredients. People swore they were eating barbecue sauce, and this is free food. BR: Thanks, guys.
H.K: Dakle ovo je tačka iz koje gazimo ka budućnosti i hrlimo napred. Zemlje u razvoju i razvijene zemlje, zamislite da konzumirate te divlje biljke. Kilometri potrebni za transportovanje hrane bi se praktično pretvorili u metre. Ova uznemirujuća predstava o tome šta je hrana bi praktično stvorila enciklopediju o tome šta su zapravo sirovi sastojci hrane. Čak i ako bismo samo zamenili, recimo, jedan od ovih sa brašnom, to bi eliminisalo toliko energije i toliko gubitka. I da vam damo prost primer toga čime smo zapravo hranili ove mušterije, evo ovde je vreća sena i nekoliko kiselih jabuka. Praktično smo samo uzeli seno i jabuke i napravili umak roštilj od ova dva sastojka. Ljudi su se kleli da su jeli umak za roštilj i to je, eto, besplatna hrana. B.R: Hvala, ljudi.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)