Homaro Cantu + Ben Roche: Cooking as alchemy

Prevoditelj: Katarina Smetko Recezent: Zlatko Smetisko

Ben Roche: So I'm Ben, by the way.

Ben Roche: Ja sam Ben, inače.

Homaro Cantu: And I'm Homaro.

Homaro Cantu: A ja sam Homaro.

BR: And we're chefs. So when Moto

BR: Mi smo kuhari. Kad se Moto

opened in 2004, people didn't really know

otvorio 2004. godine, ljudi nisu baš znali

what to expect. A lot of people thought

što da očekuju. Mnogi su mislili

that it was a Japanese restaurant, and

da je to japanski restoran,

maybe it was the name, maybe it was

možda zbog imena,

the logo, which was like a Japanese

možda zbog zaštitnog znaka, koji je nalikovao

character, but anyway, we had all these

japanskom znaku, ali u svakom slučaju,

requests for Japanese food, which is

imali smo mnogo narudžbi za japansku hranu,

really not what we did. And after about

a mi je stvarno nismo pripremali.

the ten thousandth request for a maki roll,

Nakon desettisućite narudžbe za svitak Maki,

we decided to give the people

odlučili smo dati ljudima

what they wanted. So this picture is

ono što žele. Ovo je slika

an example of printed food, and this was

primjera otisnute hrane i to je bio

the first foray into what we like to call

naš prvi izlet u ono što volimo zvati

flavor transformation. So this is all

transformacijom okusa. Ovo su svi sastojci,

the ingredients, all the flavor of, you know,

sav okus, znate,

a standard maki roll, printed onto

uobičajenog svitka Maki, otisnuto

a little piece of paper.

na mali komad papira.

HC: So our diners started to get bored

HC: Našim je gostima polako dosadila

with this idea, and we decided to give them

ova ideja pa smo im odlučili dati

the same course twice, so here we actually

isto jelo dva puta, tako da smo ovdje zapravo

took an element from the maki roll and

uzeli jedan sastojak iz svitka Maki,

and took a picture of a dish and then

fotografirali to jelo i zatim

basically served that picture with the dish.

poslužili tu fotografiju s jelom.

So this dish in particular is basically

Ovo konkretno jelo sastoji se

champagne with seafood.

od šampanjca i plodova mora.

The champagne grapes that you see are

Šampanjsko grožđe koje vidite

actually carbonated grapes. A little bit of

zapravo je pougljeno grožđe.

seafood and some crème fraiche and the

S malo plodova mora i vrhnja

picture actually tastes exactly like the dish. (Laughter)

slika zapravo ima jednak okus kao i jelo. (Smijeh)

BR: But it's not all just edible pictures.

BR: Ali nismo radili samo jestive slike.

We decided to do something

Odlučili smo učiniti nešto

a little bit different and transform flavors

pomalo drugačije i transformirati okuse

that were very familiar -- so in this case,

koji su nam vrlo poznati -- u ovom slučaju,

we have carrot cake.

imamo tortu od mrkve.

So we take a carrot cake, put it

Dakle, uzmemo tortu od mrkve,

in a blender, and we have kind of like

ubacimo je u mikser i dobijemo nešto poput

a carrot cake juice, and then that went into

soka od torte od mrkve. Zatim smo to stavili

a balloon frozen in liquid nitrogen to create

u balon zamrznut tekućim dušikom

this hollow shell of carrot cake

i dobili šuplju školjku torte od sladoleda

ice cream, I guess, and it comes off

od torte od mrkve, više-manje,

looking like, you know,

i to je na kraju izgledalo, vidite,

Jupiter's floating around your plate.

kao da vam Jupiter lebdi na tanjuru.

So yeah, we're transforming things into

I tako mi to pretvaramo

something that you have absolutely

u nešto što zaista

no reference for.

nemate s čime usporediti.

HC: And here's something we have no

HC: Evo i nečega što

reference to eat. This is a cigar, and

ne znamo kako jesti. Ovo je cigara.

basically it's a Cuban cigar made out of

To je u biti kubanska cigara izrađena od

a Cuban pork sandwich, so we take these

kubanskog sendviča sa svinjetinom.

spices that go into the pork shoulder,

Uzeli smo začine koji se dodaju svinjskoj lopatici

we fashion that into ash. We take

i samljeli ih u prah. Zatim smo uzeli

the sandwich and wrap it up in

taj sendvič i omotali ga u

a collard green, put an edible label

list kelja, stavili na to jestivu naljepnicu,

that bears no similarity to

koja nimalo ne naliči

a Cohiba cigar label, and we put it

naljepnici cigara Cohiba, stavili to sve

in a dollar ninety-nine ashtray and charge

u jeftinu pepeljaru

you about twenty bucks for it. (Laughter)

i naplatili vam dvadeset dolara za to. (Smijeh)

HC: Delicious.

HC: Vrlo ukusno.

BR: That's not it, though.

BR: No, to nije sve.

Instead of making foods that

Umjesto da radimo hranu koja

look like things that you wouldn't eat,

nalikuje stvarima koje ne biste jeli,

we decided to make ingredients

odlučili smo obraditi sastojke tako

look like dishes that you know.

da nalikuju poznatim jelima.

So this is a plate of nachos.

Ovo je tanjur nachosa.

The difference between our nachos

Razlika između naših nachosa

and the other guy's nachos,

i nekih drugih nachosa

is that this is actually a dessert.

jest u tome da je ovo zapravo desert.

So the chips are candied,

Krumpiri su kandirani,

the ground beef is made from chocolate,

mljevena govedina zapravo je od čokolade,

and the cheese is made from a shredded

a sir je napravljen od ribanog

mango sorbet that gets shredded

šerbeta od manga, koji smo naribali

into liquid nitrogen to look like cheese.

u tekući dušik kako bi izgledao poput sira.

And after doing all of this

Nakon što smo toliko

dematerialization and reconfiguring

dematerijalizirali i rekonfigurirali

of this, of these ingredients, we realized

ove sastojke, shvatili smo

that it was pretty cool,

da je to prilično cool.

because as we served it, we learned that

Naime, dok smo to servirali, primijetili smo

the dish actually behaves like the real thing,

da se jelo ponaša kao pravo,

where the cheese begins to melt.

gdje se sir počinje topiti.

So when you're looking at this thing

Kad gledate to

in the dining room, you have this sensation

u blagovaonici, imate osjećaj

that this is actually a plate of nachos,

da je ovo zaista tanjur nachosa,

and it's not really until you begin tasting it

a tek kad ga kušate

that you realize this is a dessert, and

shvatite da je to desert

it's just kind of like a mind-ripper.

i da vam se igra s mozgom.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

HC: So we had been creating

HC: Stvarali smo

all of these dishes out of a

sva ta jela

kitchen that was more like

u kuhinji koja je više nalikovala

a mechanic's shop than a kitchen, and

mehaničarskoj radnji nego kuhinji

the next logical step for us was to install

i idući logičan korak bio je da ugradimo

a state-of-the-art laboratory,

najsuvremeniji laboratorij,

and that's what we have here.

i upravo to vidimo ovdje.

So we put this in the basement, and we

Ovo smo stavili u podrum

got really serious about food, like

i počeli se ozbiljno baviti hranom,

serious experimentation.

ozbiljno smo eksperimentirali.

BR: One of the really cool things about

BR: Jedna od zaista cool stvari u

the lab, besides that we have a new

ovom laboratoriju, osim činjenice da imamo

science lab in the kitchen, is that,

novi znanstveni laboratorij u kuhinji, jest

you know, with this new equipment, and

da su nam se s tom novom opremom

this new approach, all these

i s našim novim pristupom

different doors to creativity that we never

otvorila mnoga nova različita vrata u kreativnost

knew were there began to open, and so the

koja nikad prije nismo znali otvoriti, i tako su

experiments and the food and the dishes

eksperimenti i hrana i jela

that we created, they just kept going

koja smo stvarali postajala

further and further out there.

sve neobičnija i neobičnija.

HC: Let's talk about flavor transformation,

NC: Hajdemo sada preobražavati okuse

and let's actually make some cool stuff.

i stvarati neke zaista cool stvari.

You see a cow with its tongue hanging out.

Vi vidite kravu kojoj jezik visi van.

What I see is a cow about to eat something

Ja vidim kravu koja se sprema pojesti

delicious. What is that cow eating?

nešto ukusno. Što ta krava jede?

And why is it delicious?

I zašto je ukusno?

So the cow, basically, eats three basic

Krave se u biti hrane trima osnovnim

things in their feed: corn, beets, and barley,

namirnicama: kukuruzom, ciklom i ječmom.

and so what I do is I actually

Ja zapravo izazivam

challenge my staff with these crazy,

svoje osoblje svojim ludim,

wild ideas. Can we take what the cow

divljim idejama. Možemo li uzeti to što

eats, remove the cow, and then make

krava jede, ukloniti kravu i zatim napraviti

some hamburgers out of that?

hamburgere od toga?

And basically the reaction tends to be

Reakcije koje dobivam uglavnom su

kind of like this. (Laughter)

ovakve. (Smijeh)

BR: Yeah, that's our chef de cuisine,

BR: Da, to je naš šef kuhinje,

Chris Jones. This is not the only guy

Chris Jones. A on nije jedini

that just flips out when we assign

koji poludi kad mu dodijelimo

a ridiculous task, but a lot of these ideas,

smiješan zadatak, ali mnoge od tih ideja

they're hard to understand.

teško je shvatiti.

They're hard to just get automatically.

Teško ih je automatski shvatiti.

There's a lot of research and a lot of

Mnogo istražujemo i idemo metodom

failure, trial and error -- I guess, more error --

pokušaja i pogreške -- više pogreške, valjda --

that goes into each and every dish,

u procesu stvaranja svakog pojedinog jela.

so we don't always get it right, and it takes

Ne uspijemo svaki put

a while for us to be able to explain that

i dugo traje dok to uspijemo objasniti

to people.

ljudima.

HC: So, after about a day of Chris and I

HC: Nakon što smo Chris i ja jedan dan

staring at each other, we came up with

zurili jedan u drugog, smislili smo nešto

something that was pretty close

što je prilično nalikovalo

to the hamburger patty, and as you can

smjesi za hamburgere. Kao što vidite,

see it basically forms like hamburger meat.

oblikuje se jednako kao meso za hamburgere.

This is made from three ingredients:

Izrađeno je od tri sastojka:

beets, barley, corn, and so it

cikle, ječma i kukuruza, i zaista se

actually cooks up like hamburger meat,

peče kao meso za hamburger,

looks and tastes like hamburger meat,

izgled i ima okus kao meso za hamburger

and not only that, but it's basically

i ne samo to, nego u biti

removing the cow from the equation.

izbacuje kravu iz jednadžbe.

So replicating food, taking it into that

Kopiranje hrane, unapređenje toga

next level is where we're going.

jest naš cilj.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

BR: And it's definitely the world's first

BR: A to je definitivno i prvi vegetarijanski

bleeding veggie burger,

hamburger na svijetu koji krvari,

which is a cool side effect.

što je cool nuspojava.

And a miracle berry, if you're not familiar

Čudnovata bobica, ako niste čuli za njum

with it, is a natural ingredient, and it

prirodan je sastojak

contains a special property.

i ima posebnu osobinu.

It's a glycoprotein called miraculin,

To je glikoprotein miraculin,

a naturally occurring thing. It still freaks

prirodna tvar. Još uvijek me izbezumi

me out every time I eat it, but it has a

svaki put kad ga jedem, ali ima

unique ability to mask certain taste

jedinstvenu sposobnost da maskira

receptors on your tongue, so that primarily

određene recptore okusa na vašem jeziku,

sour taste receptors, so normally things

tako da na receptorima za kiselo

that would taste very sour or tart,

stvari koje bi imale kiseo ili trpak okus

somehow begin to taste very sweet.

nekako dobivaju vrlo sladak okus.

HC: You're about to eat a lemon,

HC: Spremate se pojesti limun,

and now it tastes like lemonade.

a on sad ima okus kao limunada.

Let's just stop and think about the

Razmislimo malo o

economic benefits of something like that.

gospodarskim koristima nečeg takvog.

We could eliminate sugar across the board

Mogli bismo potpuno ukloniti šećer

for all confectionary products and sodas,

iz svih slatkiša i sokova

and we can replace it with

i zamijeniti ga

all-natural fresh fruit.

potpuno prirodnim, svježim voćem.

BR: So you see us here cutting up

BR: Ovdje režemo

some watermelon. The idea with this

lubenicu. Ovdje je ideja

is that we're going to eliminate tons of

da uklonimo hrpu

food miles, wasted energy,

prehrambenih kilometara, potraćene energije

and overfishing of tuna by creating tuna,

i prekomjerni izlov tune tako što ćemo stvoriti tunu

or any exotic produce or item

ili bilo koji egzotičan proizvod ili namirnicu

from a very far-away place,

iz vrlo egzotičnog mjesta,

with local, organic produce;

pomoću lokalnih, organskih proizvoda.

so we have a watermelon from Wisconsin.

Ovdje imamo lubenicu iz Wisconsina.

HC: So if miracle berries take sour things

HC: Ako čudnovate bobice kisele stvari

and turn them into sweet things,

pretvaraju u slatke,

we have this other pixie dust

mi imamo drugačiji vilinski prah

that we put on the watermelon, and it

koji stavljamo u lubenicu i on ju

makes it go from sweet to savory.

pretvara iz slatke u slanu, pikantnu.

So after we do that, we put it into

Nakon što to učinimo, stavljamo je u

a vacuum bag, add a little bit of seaweed,

vakumiranu vrećicu, dodamo malo morske trave,

some spices, and we roll it, and this

začina, zarolamo je, a ona

starts taking on the appearance of tuna.

počinje nalikovati na tunu.

So the key now is to make it

Sad je bitno dobiti

behave like tuna.

da se i ponaša kao tuna.

BR: And then after a quick dip into some

BR: Nakon što ju nakratko umočimo

liquid nitrogen to get that perfect sear,

u tekući dušik kako bismo dobili savršeni rez,

we really have something that looks,

zaista imamo nešto što izgleda,

tastes and behaves like the real thing.

ima okus i ponaša se kao prava stvar.

HC: So the key thing to remember here is,

HC: Najvažnije je zapamtiti da nas

we don't really care

zapravo nije briga

what this tuna really is.

što ova tuna stvarno jest.

As long as it's good for you and good for

Doke god je dobra za vas

the environment, it doesn't matter.

i dobra za okoliš, nije bitno.

But where is this going?

No, kamo sve to ide?

How can we take this idea of tricking your

Kako ideja da prevarimo

tastebuds and leapfrog it into something

vaše okusne populjke može postati nešto

that we can do today that could be

što ćemo činiti danas i što bi moglo

a disruptive food technology?

unijeti pomutnju u prehrambenu tehnologiju?

So here's the next challenge.

Ovo je sljedeći izazov.

I told the staff, let's just take a bunch

Rekao sam osoblju, uzmimo hrpu

of wild plants, think of them as

divljih biljaka i smatrajmo ih

food ingredients. As long as they're

sastojcima hrane. Dokle god

non-poisonous to the human body,

nisu otrovni za ljudsko tijelo,

go out around Chicago sidewalks,

šećite čikaškim pločnicima,

take it, blend it, cook it and then

berite ih, meljite, kuhajte

have everybody flavor-trip on it at Moto.

i dajte svim gostima u Motu na kušanje.

Let's charge them a boatload of cash for this

Naplaćujmo im masno za to

and see what they think. (Laughter)

i čujmo što misle. (Smijeh)

BR: Yeah, so you can imagine, a task

BR: Da, možete zamisliti, takav zadatak --

like this -- this is another one of those

to je još jedan od onih zadataka

assignments that the kitchen staff

zbog kojih nas je kuhinjsko osoblje

hated us for. But we really had to almost

mrzilo. Ali zaista smo gotovo morali

relearn how to cook in general,

ponovno naučiti kako uopće kuhati

because these are ingredients, you know,

jer ti su sastojci, znate,

plant life that we're, one, unfamiliar with,

biljke s kojima, kao prvo, nismo upoznati,

and two, we have no reference for how

a kao drugo, ne znamo

to cook these things because

kako ih pripremati

people don't eat them.

jer ljudi ih ne jedu.

So we really had to think about new, creative ways

Zaista smo morali smišljati nove, kreativne načine

to flavor, new ways to cook

kako začiniti, kako kuhati

and to change texture -- and that was

i kako promijeniti teksturu -- i to je bio

the main issue with this challenge.

glavni element tog izazova.

HC: So this is where we step into the future

HC: Time krećemo u budućnost

and we leapfrog ahead.

i skačemo prema naprijed.

So developing nations

Narodi u razvoju

and first-world nations,

i narodi prvog svijeta,

imagine if you could take these wild plants

zamislite da možete brati te divlje biljke

and consume them, food miles would

i konzumirati ih, prehrambeni kilometri

basically turn into food feet.

pretvorili bi se u prehrambene metre.

This disruptive mentality of what food is

Uznemirujuća predodžba o tome što je hrana

would essentially open up the encyclopedia

otvorila bi enciklopediju

of what raw ingredients are, even if we just

onoga što su sirovi sastojci, čak i kad bismo

swapped out, say, one of these for flour,

samo jedan od njih zamijenili brašnom,

that would eliminate so much energy

to bi uklonilo toliko energije

and so much waste.

i mnogo bi se manje rasipalo.

And to give you a simple example here as to

Kao primjer onoga

what we actually fed these customers,

što smo posluživali gostima,

there's a bale of hay there

ovo je bala sijena

and some crab apples.

i divlje jabuke.

And basically we took hay and crab apples

Uzeli smo to sijeno i divlje jabuke

and made barbecue sauce out of those two ingredients.

i napravili umak za roštilj od tih dvaju sastojaka.

People swore they were eating

Ljudi su se mogli zakleti da jedu

barbecue sauce, and this is free food.

umak za roštilj, a to je besplatna hrana.

BR: Thanks, guys.

BR: Hvala, ljudi.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)