Homaro Cantu + Ben Roche: Cooking as alchemy

Prevodilac: Jelena Kovačević Lektor: Mile Živković

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

Ben Roš: Ja sam Ben, inače.

Homaro Cantu: And I'm Homaro.

Homaro Kantu: A ja sam Homaro.

BR: And we're chefs. So when Moto

B.R: Mi smo kuvari. Dakle, kada smo 2004.

opened in 2004, people didn't really know

otvorili Moto, ljudi baš i nisu znali

what to expect. A lot of people thought

šta 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, možda zbog znaka,

the logo, which was like a Japanese

koji je bio poput japanskog slova,

character, but anyway, we had all these

ali u svakom slučaju, imali smo

requests for Japanese food, which is

zahteve za japanskom hranom,

really not what we did. And after about

čime se baš i nismo bavili.

Nakon nekih deset hiljada zahteva za maki sušijem,

the ten thousandth request for a maki roll,

we decided to give the people

rešili smo da ljudima damo

what they wanted. So this picture is

ono što su tražili.

Ova slika je primer štampane hrane,

an example of printed food, and this was

i ovo je prvi primer onoga što volimo da zovemo

the first foray into what we like to call

flavor transformation. So this is all

transformacija ukusa.

Ovde su svi sastojci i ukusi

the ingredients, all the flavor of, you know,

standardnog maki sušija,

a standard maki roll, printed onto

odštampani na malom parčetu papira.

a little piece of paper.

HC: So our diners started to get bored

H.K: Ali, ideja ovakve večere postajala je dosadna mušterijama,

with this idea, and we decided to give them

pa smo odlučili da im serviramo jelo dvaput.

the same course twice, so here we actually

Ovde smo zapravo uzeli

took an element from the maki roll and

deo maki rolata

and took a picture of a dish and then

i slikali porciju

basically served that picture with the dish.

a onda praktično servirali tu sliku uz jelo.

So this dish in particular is basically

Ovo jelo je u suštini

champagne with seafood.

šampanjac sa morskim plodovima.

The champagne grapes that you see are

Šampanjsko grožđe koje vidite

actually carbonated grapes. A little bit of

je zapravo gazirano grožđe.

seafood and some crème fraiche and the

Malo morskih plodova i "krem freš",

picture actually tastes exactly like the dish. (Laughter)

i slika je zapravo istog ukusa kao i jelo. (Smeh)

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

B.R: Ali ne radi se samo o jestivim slikama.

We decided to do something

Odlučili smo da uradimo nešto malo drugačije

a little bit different and transform flavors

i izmenimo ukuse koji su zapravo veoma poznati -

that were very familiar -- so in this case,

tako, u ovom slučaju,

we have carrot cake.

imamo tortu od šargarepe.

So we take a carrot cake, put it

Uzmemo tortu od šargarepe,

in a blender, and we have kind of like

stavimo je u blender,

i dobijemo neki sok od torte,

a carrot cake juice, and then that went into

a balloon frozen in liquid nitrogen to create

koji onda ide u balon zamrznut u tečnom azotu

this hollow shell of carrot cake

da bismo napravili ovaj šuplji oklop od sladoleda od torte

ice cream, I guess, and it comes off

recimo, i to ispadne nalik na,

looking like, you know,

recimo,

Jupiter's floating around your plate.

Jupiter koji pluta po tanjiru.

So yeah, we're transforming things into

Tako da, transformišemo stvari u nešto

something that you have absolutely

što ranije nikada

niste videli.

no reference for.

H.C: A evo i nečega za šta

HC: And here's something we have no

nikad ne biste rekli da je jestivo.

reference to eat. This is a cigar, and

Ovo je cigara, i u suštini to je kubanska cigara

basically it's a Cuban cigar made out of

napravljena od kubanskog sendviča sa svinjetinom,

a Cuban pork sandwich, so we take these

tako što uzmemo sve začine koji idu u svinjsku plećku,

spices that go into the pork shoulder,

we fashion that into ash. We take

i oblikujemo ih u pepeo.

the sandwich and wrap it up in

Uzmemo sendvič i smotamo ga u raštan,

a collard green, put an edible label

stavimo jestivu nalepnicu

that bears no similarity to

koja nema nikakvu sličnost sa

a Cohiba cigar label, and we put it

nalepnicom kohiba cigare,

in a dollar ninety-nine ashtray and charge

i stavimo to u pepeljaru od 2 dolara

you about twenty bucks for it. (Laughter)

i naplatimo vam oko 20 dolara. (Smeh)

HC: Delicious.

H.K: Ukusno.

BR: That's not it, though.

B.R: To ipak nije sve.

Instead of making foods that

Umesto da spremamo hranu

look like things that you wouldn't eat,

koja izgleda kao nešto što ne biste jeli,

we decided to make ingredients

odlučili smo da napravimo sastojke

look like dishes that you know.

koij izgledaju kao jela koja znate.

So this is a plate of nachos.

Ovo je tanjir naćosa.

The difference between our nachos

Razlika između naših naćosa

and the other guy's nachos,

i drugih naćosa

is that this is actually a dessert.

je u tome što je naš zapravo desert.

So the chips are candied,

Krompirići su kandirani,

the ground beef is made from chocolate,

mlevena junetina je od čokolade,

and the cheese is made from a shredded

a sir je od komadića šerbeta

mango sorbet that gets shredded

koji se stavlja

into liquid nitrogen to look like cheese.

u tečni azot da bi izgledao kao sir.

And after doing all of this

I nakon što uradimo sve ovo

dematerialization and reconfiguring

dematerijalizovanje i rekonfiguraciju svih sastojaka,

of this, of these ingredients, we realized

shvatili smo

that it was pretty cool,

da je to zapravo baš zanimljivo,

because as we served it, we learned that

jer kada smo servirali jelo,

shvatili smo da se jelo zapravo ponaša kao prava stvar,

the dish actually behaves like the real thing,

where the cheese begins to melt.

gde sir počinje da se topi.

So when you're looking at this thing

Tako, kada gledate ovo jelo

in the dining room, you have this sensation

u trpezariji,

imate osećaj kao da je ovo stvarno tanjir naćosa,

that this is actually a plate of nachos,

and it's not really until you begin tasting it

i sve dok ne počnete da jedete

ne znate da je to zapravo desert,

that you realize this is a dessert, and

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

i sve je na neki način poigravanje sa vašim umom.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

HC: So we had been creating

H.K: Tako smo stvarali

all of these dishes out of a

sva ova jela u kuhinji

kitchen that was more like

koja je više ličila

a mechanic's shop than a kitchen, and

na mehaničku radionicu nego na kuhinju,

the next logical step for us was to install

i sledeći logičan potez je bio

a state-of-the-art laboratory,

da ugradimo modernu laboratoriju,

and that's what we have here.

i to je to što imamo ovde.

Ovo nas je odvelo u podrum,

So we put this in the basement, and we

got really serious about food, like

i postali smo jako ozbiljni u vezi sa hranom,

serious experimentation.

ozbiljno smo eksperimentisali.

BR: One of the really cool things about

B.R: Jedna od stvarno super stvari

u vezi sa laboratorijom, pored toga što

the lab, besides that we have a new

imamo novu naučnu laboratoriju u kuhinji,

science lab in the kitchen, is that,

jeste to što, znate, sa ovom novom opremom,

you know, with this new equipment, and

i ovim novim pristupom,

this new approach, all these

različita vrata ka kreativnosti

different doors to creativity that we never

knew were there began to open, and so the

za koja nismo ni slutuli da postoje,

experiments and the food and the dishes

su počela da se otvaraju, i tako

novi eksperimenti, hrana, i jela

that we created, they just kept going

koja smo stvarali, samo su se nastavila odatle u istom smeru.

further and further out there.

HC: Let's talk about flavor transformation,

H.K: Hajde da pričamo o transformaciji ukusa,

and let's actually make some cool stuff.

i zapravo napravimo neke kul stvari.

You see a cow with its tongue hanging out.

Vidite kravu kojoj iz usta viri jezik.

What I see is a cow about to eat something

Ono što ja vidim je krava koja se sprema da pojede nešto ukusno.

delicious. What is that cow eating?

Šta ta krava jede?

And why is it delicious?

I zašto je to ukusno?

So the cow, basically, eats three basic

Krava, u suštini, u ishrani ima tri osnovne stvari

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

kukuruz, repu i ječam,

and so what I do is I actually

i ono što ja radim je zapravo

challenge my staff with these crazy,

izazivanje svog osoblja ovim ludim, divljim idejama.

wild ideas. Can we take what the cow

Možemo li da uzmemo to što krava jede,

eats, remove the cow, and then make

oduzmemo kravu,

some hamburgers out of that?

i onda od toga napravimo hamburgere?

And basically the reaction tends to be

I u suštini reakcija često bude

kind of like this. (Laughter)

nešto nalik na ovo. (Smeh)

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

B.R: Da,ovo je naš šef kuhinje,

Chris Jones. This is not the only guy

Kris Džouns. On nije jedini

that just flips out when we assign

koji odlepi kada mu dodelimo

a ridiculous task, but a lot of these ideas,

neki smešan zadatak, ali većina ovih ideja,

they're hard to understand.

su teške za razumeti.

They're hard to just get automatically.

Teško ih je samo automatski prihvatiti.

There's a lot of research and a lot of

Ima puno istraživanja i puno neuspeha,

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

pokušaja i grešaka - verovatno više grešaka -

that goes into each and every dish,

koje su deo spremanja svakog jela,

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

pa ne uspeva uvek baš kako treba,

a while for us to be able to explain that

i treba vremena da to

to people.

ljudima objasnimo.

H.K: Dakle, nakon recimo dana

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

staring at each other, we came up with

koji Kris i ja provedemo gledajući se

something that was pretty close

smislili smo nešto što je bilo prilično blizu hamburgeru

to the hamburger patty, and as you can

i vidite da se oblikuje

see it basically forms like hamburger meat.

praktično kao meso za hamburger.

This is made from three ingredients:

Sadrži 3 sastojka:

beets, barley, corn, and so it

kukuruz, ječam i repu

actually cooks up like hamburger meat,

i zapravo se sprema kao meso za hamburger,

looks and tastes like hamburger meat,

izgleda tako i takvog je i ukusa,

and not only that, but it's basically

ali ne samo to,

već je krava stvarno uklonjena iz jednačine.

removing the cow from the equation.

So replicating food, taking it into that

Ovakvo kopiranje hrane,

next level is where we're going.

uzimanje toga u obzir dok idemo ka sledećem nivou.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

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

B.R: I definitivno je to prvi

bleeding veggie burger,

krvavi vege burger na svetu,

which is a cool side effect.

što je odličan sporedni efekat.

And a miracle berry, if you're not familiar

Mirakolina ili čudesno voće, za slučaj da vam je nepoznato,

with it, is a natural ingredient, and it

to je prirodni sastojak,

contains a special property.

i ima jedno posebno svojstvo.

Radi se o glikoproteinu koji se zove mirakulin,

It's a glycoprotein called miraculin,

koji se javlja u prirodi.

a naturally occurring thing. It still freaks

Šokiram se svaki put kad ga jedem,

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

ali ima jedinstvenu sposobnost da maskira

unique ability to mask certain taste

određene receptore ukusa na jeziku,

receptors on your tongue, so that primarily

sour taste receptors, so normally things

pre svega receptore za kiselo,

that would taste very sour or tart,

tako da ono što bi inače imalo jako kiseo ili opor ukus,

somehow begin to taste very sweet.

nekako počinje da bude jako slatko.

HC: You're about to eat a lemon,

H.K: Krenete da jedete limun,

and now it tastes like lemonade.

a on je ukusa limunade.

Let's just stop and think about the

Hajde da zastanemo i razmislimo

economic benefits of something like that.

o ekonomskim pogodnostima nečeg ovakvog.

We could eliminate sugar across the board

Mogli bismo u potpunosti eliminisati šećer

for all confectionary products and sodas,

iz svih konditorskih proizvoda i gaziranih sokova,

and we can replace it with

i zameniti ih

all-natural fresh fruit.

poptuno prirodnim svežim voćem.

BR: So you see us here cutting up

B.R: Vidite nas ovde kako sečemo lubenicu.

some watermelon. The idea with this

Ideja je da eliminišemo

is that we're going to eliminate tons of

mnoge kilometre u transportu hrane od mesta proizvodnje do mesta upotrebe,

food miles, wasted energy,

utrošak energije,

and overfishing of tuna by creating tuna,

i pecanje previše tune za proizvodnju tunjevine,

or any exotic produce or item

ili bilo kojeg egzotičnog proizvoda

from a very far-away place,

ili sastojka iz nekog udaljenog dela sveta,

with local, organic produce;

zamenimo lokalnim, organskim proizvodima;

so we have a watermelon from Wisconsin.

tako da imamo lubenicu u Viskonsinu.

HC: So if miracle berries take sour things

H.K: Pa ako već čudesno voće može

and turn them into sweet things,

kiselo da pretvori u slatko,

we have this other pixie dust

imamo ovu drugu vilinsku prašinu

that we put on the watermelon, and it

koju stavimo na lubenicu

makes it go from sweet to savory.

i ona od slatke postaje kiselkasta.

So after we do that, we put it into

Nakon što smo to uradili,

a vacuum bag, add a little bit of seaweed,

stavimo to u vakuum kesu, dodamo malo morskih algi,

some spices, and we roll it, and this

malo začina, urolamo,

starts taking on the appearance of tuna.

i ovo počinje da liči na tunjevinu.

So the key now is to make it

Sada je ključno učiniti da se ovo

behave like tuna.

i ponaša kao tunjevina.

BR: And then after a quick dip into some

B.R: Nakon što ga na kratko umočimo

liquid nitrogen to get that perfect sear,

u malo tečnog azota da postane ovako savršeno suvo

we really have something that looks,

dobijemo nešto što izgleda,

tastes and behaves like the real thing.

ponaša se i ima ukus kao prava stvar.

HC: So the key thing to remember here is,

H.K: Ključno je imati na umu

we don't really care

da nam nije važno

what this tuna really is.

šta je zapravo ova tunjevina.

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

Sve dokle je za vas dobro,

i dok je dobro za životnu sredinu, to nam nije važno.

the environment, it doesn't matter.

But where is this going?

Ali kuda ovo vodi?

Kako možemo ovu ideju

How can we take this idea of tricking your

varanja vašeg čula ukusa

tastebuds and leapfrog it into something

pretvoriti u nešto što možemo da radimo danas

that we can do today that could be

a disruptive food technology?

a što bi bilo nova prehrambena tehnologija?

So here's the next challenge.

Dakle, evo sledećeg izazova.

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

Predložio sam osoblju

of wild plants, think of them as

da uzmemo gomilu divljih biljaka,

food ingredients. As long as they're

i posmatramo ih kao sastojke hrane.

non-poisonous to the human body,

Sve dok nisu otrovne za čoveka,

go out around Chicago sidewalks,

silazimo sa puteva u Čikagu,

take it, blend it, cook it and then

uzimamo ih, meljemo ih, kuvamo ih

have everybody flavor-trip on it at Moto.

i onda svi idemo na ukusno putovanje u Moto.

Let's charge them a boatload of cash for this

Hajde da im naplatimo gomilu para za ovo

and see what they think. (Laughter)

i vidimo šta misle. (Smeh)

BR: Yeah, so you can imagine, a task

B.R: Da, možete da zamislite,

like this -- this is another one of those

zadatak kao ovaj -

ovo je jedan od onih zadataka

assignments that the kitchen staff

zbog kojih nas je kuhinjsko osoblje mrzelo.

hated us for. But we really had to almost

Ali zaista, skoro da smo morali

relearn how to cook in general,

da ponovo učimo kako da kuvamo, jer su svi sastojci, pre svega,

because these are ingredients, you know,

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

biljke na koje nismo navikli, ili su nam nepoznate,

and two, we have no reference for how

a drugo, nemamo odakle da znamo

to cook these things because

kako da kuvamo ove stvari

people don't eat them.

jer ih ljudi ne jedu.

Tako smo morali da smislimo nove

So we really had to think about new, creative ways

kreativne načine da začinjavamo hranu, nove načine da kuvamo,

to flavor, new ways to cook

and to change texture -- and that was

i da menjamo teksturu -

the main issue with this challenge.

i to je bio glavni problem sa ovim izazovom.

HC: So this is where we step into the future

H.K: Dakle ovo je tačka iz koje gazimo

and we leapfrog ahead.

ka budućnosti i hrlimo napred.

So developing nations

Zemlje u razvoju

and first-world nations,

i razvijene zemlje,

imagine if you could take these wild plants

zamislite da konzumirate te divlje biljke.

and consume them, food miles would

Kilometri potrebni za transportovanje hrane

basically turn into food feet.

bi se praktično pretvorili u metre.

This disruptive mentality of what food is

Ova uznemirujuća predstava o tome šta je hrana

would essentially open up the encyclopedia

bi praktično stvorila enciklopediju

of what raw ingredients are, even if we just

o tome šta su zapravo sirovi sastojci hrane.

swapped out, say, one of these for flour,

Čak i ako bismo samo zamenili, recimo, jedan od ovih sa brašnom,

that would eliminate so much energy

to bi eliminisalo toliko energije

and so much waste.

i toliko gubitka.

And to give you a simple example here as to

I da vam damo prost primer

what we actually fed these customers,

toga čime smo zapravo hranili ove mušterije,

there's a bale of hay there

evo ovde je vreća sena

and some crab apples.

i nekoliko kiselih jabuka.

And basically we took hay and crab apples

Praktično smo samo uzeli seno i jabuke

and made barbecue sauce out of those two ingredients.

i napravili umak roštilj od ova dva sastojka.

People swore they were eating

Ljudi su se kleli da su jeli umak za roštilj

barbecue sauce, and this is free food.

i to je, eto, besplatna hrana.

BR: Thanks, guys.

B.R: Hvala, ljudi.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)