Homaro Cantu + Ben Roche: Cooking as alchemy

翻译人员: Lili Liang 校对人员: Angelia King

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

本.罗切：我是本

Homaro Cantu: And I'm Homaro.

哈马罗·坎图：我是哈马罗

BR: And we're chefs. So when Moto

我们是厨师

opened in 2004, people didn't really know

Moto在2004年开业的时候 人们并不知道

what to expect. A lot of people thought

我们卖的是什么 许多人以为

that it was a Japanese restaurant, and

这是家日本餐馆

maybe it was the name, maybe it was

可能是因为店名

the logo, which was like a Japanese

或者标志看起来

character, but anyway, we had all these

像日本文字 反正 我们收到了

requests for Japanese food, which is

许多要点日本菜的要求

really not what we did. And after about

其实我们不卖日本菜

the ten thousandth request for a maki roll,

在收到第一万次寿司卷的要求之后

we decided to give the people

我们决定满足人们的要求

what they wanted. So this picture is

这张照片

an example of printed food, and this was

是一份平面食物

the first foray into what we like to call

这是我们进行味道改造的

flavor transformation. So this is all

首次尝试

the ingredients, all the flavor of, you know,

寿司卷的所有材料 所有味道

a standard maki roll, printed onto

都被印到了

a little piece of paper.

一小张纸上

HC: So our diners started to get bored

后来 客人们都吃厌了

with this idea, and we decided to give them

我们延续这个思路

the same course twice, so here we actually

决定给他们双份同样的食物

took an element from the maki roll and

我们把寿司卷中的一样材料拿出来

and took a picture of a dish and then

给这道菜照了张照片

basically served that picture with the dish.

把照片上的菜一起端上桌

So this dish in particular is basically

这道菜主要是

champagne with seafood.

香槟和海鲜

The champagne grapes that you see are

上面的香槟葡萄

actually carbonated grapes. A little bit of

实际上是碳酸葡萄

seafood and some crème fraiche and the

一点点海鲜和一些鲜奶油

picture actually tastes exactly like the dish. (Laughter)

这张照片的味道和这道菜一模一样（众人笑）

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

我们并不满足于做出可食用的照片

We decided to do something

我们决定

a little bit different and transform flavors

玩些新花样 把人们熟知的味道

that were very familiar -- so in this case,

进行改变 这一次

we have carrot cake.

我们做的是胡萝卜蛋糕

So we take a carrot cake, put it

我们把一个胡萝卜蛋糕

in a blender, and we have kind of like

放进搅拌机

a carrot cake juice, and then that went into

打成汁 接着

a balloon frozen in liquid nitrogen to create

把它灌进一个在液态氮中冷冻的气球中

this hollow shell of carrot cake

在这个空壳中

ice cream, I guess, and it comes off

形成胡萝卜蛋糕冰淇淋

looking like, you know,

它看起来就像

Jupiter's floating around your plate.

木星悬浮在你的盘子上

So yeah, we're transforming things into

我们把东西变成

something that you have absolutely

你们从来

no reference for.

没见过的东西

HC: And here's something we have no

有些菜看起来跟食物搭不上任何关系

reference to eat. This is a cigar, and

这是一支雪茄

basically it's a Cuban cigar made out of

一支用古巴猪肉三明治做成的

a Cuban pork sandwich, so we take these

古巴雪茄

spices that go into the pork shoulder,

我们把猪肩肉用调味料淹好

we fashion that into ash. We take

制作出烟灰的效果

the sandwich and wrap it up in

在把它裹在

a collard green, put an edible label

一片羽衣甘蓝叶里 加上一个可食用标签

that bears no similarity to

这个标签不与

a Cohiba cigar label, and we put it

高希霸雪茄的任何标签雷同

in a dollar ninety-nine ashtray and charge

我们把这道菜摆在一个价值1.99美元的烟灰缸上

you about twenty bucks for it. (Laughter)

20美元卖给你（众人笑）

HC: Delicious.

味道好极了

BR: That's not it, though.

这还没完呢

Instead of making foods that

除了把食物做成

look like things that you wouldn't eat,

不能吃的东西的样子

we decided to make ingredients

我们决定把材料做成

look like dishes that you know.

你们熟悉的食物

So this is a plate of nachos.

这是一盘玉米片

The difference between our nachos

我们的玉米片和其他人的玉米片

and the other guy's nachos,

不同之处在于

is that this is actually a dessert.

它其实是一道甜点

So the chips are candied,

玉米片是用糖做的

the ground beef is made from chocolate,

碎牛肉是巧克力做的

and the cheese is made from a shredded

奶酪是用芒果冰糕做的

mango sorbet that gets shredded

冰糕在液态氮中被切成丝

into liquid nitrogen to look like cheese.

看起来酷似奶酪

And after doing all of this

完成所有这些

dematerialization and reconfiguring

将食材进行改造和重组

of this, of these ingredients, we realized

我们发现

that it was pretty cool,

这种做法非常有意思

because as we served it, we learned that

当把这道菜端上桌

the dish actually behaves like the real thing,

奶酪开始融化

where the cheese begins to melt.

我们发现这道菜产生了和原菜同样的效果

So when you're looking at this thing

当你在餐厅里看着这道菜

in the dining room, you have this sensation

你还真的以为

that this is actually a plate of nachos,

这是一盘玉米片

and it's not really until you begin tasting it

直到你尝上一口

that you realize this is a dessert, and

才惊觉这其实是一道甜点

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

让人大吃一惊

(Laughter)

（众人笑）

HC: So we had been creating

我们创造这些菜式的地方

all of these dishes out of a

与其说是厨房

kitchen that was more like

不如说是机械车间

a mechanic's shop than a kitchen, and

下一步自然就是

the next logical step for us was to install

在建造一间

a state-of-the-art laboratory,

先进的实验室

and that's what we have here.

这就是我们的设备

So we put this in the basement, and we

这些设备放置在地下室里

got really serious about food, like

我们对食物进行严肃的研究

serious experimentation.

好比在进行严谨的实验

BR: One of the really cool things about

这个地方很棒的一点是

the lab, besides that we have a new

除了在厨房里

science lab in the kitchen, is that,

建起了科学实验室

you know, with this new equipment, and

我们还得到了新设备

this new approach, all these

新方法

different doors to creativity that we never

打开了我们之前意想不到的

knew were there began to open, and so the

创新之门

experiments and the food and the dishes

我们进行的试验

that we created, they just kept going

和创造的菜式

further and further out there.

能够越走越远

HC: Let's talk about flavor transformation,

我们来说一说味道的改造

and let's actually make some cool stuff.

我们来创造一些好东西

You see a cow with its tongue hanging out.

这是一头牛 它伸出了舌头

What I see is a cow about to eat something

我看 它正准备美餐一顿

delicious. What is that cow eating?

这头牛吃什么呢

And why is it delicious?

为什么那么美味

So the cow, basically, eats three basic

这头牛主要吃三样食物

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

玉米 甜菜头 大麦

and so what I do is I actually

于是我向员工

challenge my staff with these crazy,

提出了一个疯狂的要求

wild ideas. Can we take what the cow

我们能不能

eats, remove the cow, and then make

用牛吃的食物来取代牛肉

some hamburgers out of that?

来制作汉堡

And basically the reaction tends to be

结果员工的反应

kind of like this. (Laughter)

大多都是这样的 （众人笑）

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

这位是我们的厨师长

Chris Jones. This is not the only guy

克里斯·琼斯

that just flips out when we assign

他不是唯一一个

a ridiculous task, but a lot of these ideas,

被我们荒唐的任务逼疯的人

they're hard to understand.

许多这些想法都很难理解

They're hard to just get automatically.

不是一时半会就能弄明白的

There's a lot of research and a lot of

要做许多研究

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

每试验一道菜

that goes into each and every dish,

都经历失败 尝试 错误 错误占大多数

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

我们并不总是一帆风顺

a while for us to be able to explain that

要花上一些功夫

to people.

向人们解释

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

我和克里斯

staring at each other, we came up with

面面相觑了一整天之后

something that was pretty close

我们找到了

to the hamburger patty, and as you can

一种非常接近汉堡肉饼的东西

see it basically forms like hamburger meat.

你看它看起来跟汉堡肉差不多

This is made from three ingredients:

这是由三种原料制成的

beets, barley, corn, and so it

甜菜头 大麦 玉米

actually cooks up like hamburger meat,

它煮熟之后就像汉堡肉

looks and tastes like hamburger meat,

模样和味道都像汉堡肉

and not only that, but it's basically

不仅如此

removing the cow from the equation.

我们还把牛肉从这个过程中省去了

So replicating food, taking it into that

我们的目标是

next level is where we're going.

复制食物 在此基础上更进一步

(Applause)

（众人鼓掌）

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

这可谓是世界上

bleeding veggie burger,

第一个血淋淋的素汉堡啊

which is a cool side effect.

不错的附加效果

And a miracle berry, if you're not familiar

这是神秘果

with it, is a natural ingredient, and it

一种天然调料

contains a special property.

含有一种特殊成分

It's a glycoprotein called miraculin,

即一种名为神秘果蛋白的糖类蛋白

a naturally occurring thing. It still freaks

是纯天然的

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

我每次吃它 都感到不可思议

unique ability to mask certain taste

它能够

receptors on your tongue, so that primarily

蒙骗舌头上的某些味蕾

sour taste receptors, so normally things

主要是酸味味蕾

that would taste very sour or tart,

所以那些味道酸涩的食物

somehow begin to taste very sweet.

尝起来是非常甜的

HC: You're about to eat a lemon,

你吃一个柠檬

and now it tastes like lemonade.

像在喝加糖的柠檬汁

Let's just stop and think about the

试想一下

economic benefits of something like that.

这蕴含着多大的经济实惠啊

We could eliminate sugar across the board

我们可以省去

for all confectionary products and sodas,

所有糖类食品和汽水中的糖

and we can replace it with

而用全天然鲜果

all-natural fresh fruit.

取而代之

BR: So you see us here cutting up

你看 我们在切西瓜

some watermelon. The idea with this

我们的想法是

is that we're going to eliminate tons of

通过在本地

food miles, wasted energy,

制作金枪鱼肉

and overfishing of tuna by creating tuna,

或其他异域或风味食品

or any exotic produce or item

来省去外地制作同样的食品

from a very far-away place,

所耗费的食物里程和能源

with local, organic produce;

并杜绝了过度捕捞金枪鱼

so we have a watermelon from Wisconsin.

因此 我们拿来了一个产自威斯康辛州的西瓜

HC: So if miracle berries take sour things

神秘果能把酸的食物

and turn them into sweet things,

变成甜食

we have this other pixie dust

我们还有另一种神奇药粉

that we put on the watermelon, and it

能把西瓜的甜味

makes it go from sweet to savory.

变咸

So after we do that, we put it into

经过这样的处理后

a vacuum bag, add a little bit of seaweed,

我们将西瓜真空包装 加一点海苔

some spices, and we roll it, and this

调味料 把它一卷

starts taking on the appearance of tuna.

它开始变得像金枪鱼肉

So the key now is to make it

而关键是

behave like tuna.

让它吃起来也像金枪鱼肉

BR: And then after a quick dip into some

在液态氮中迅速蘸一下

liquid nitrogen to get that perfect sear,

它得到恰到好处的焦脆质感

we really have something that looks,

这样 我们就做出了

tastes and behaves like the real thing.

与金枪鱼口感一模一样的替代品

HC: So the key thing to remember here is,

重要的是

we don't really care

我们并不在乎

what this tuna really is.

这是不是真的金枪鱼

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

只要对人的健康

the environment, it doesn't matter.

和环境有好处 就行了

But where is this going?

但是这一步怎么走呢

How can we take this idea of tricking your

我们如何把这个蒙蔽味蕾的手法

tastebuds and leapfrog it into something

进一步升华

that we can do today that could be

来发展出

a disruptive food technology?

颠覆性的食品科技

So here's the next challenge.

下一项挑战任务来了

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

我对手下说

of wild plants, think of them as

我们拿一堆野生植物

food ingredients. As long as they're

只要它们对人体无害

non-poisonous to the human body,

都拿来当作调料

go out around Chicago sidewalks,

到芝加哥的大街上

take it, blend it, cook it and then

随手摘下来 搅碎 煮一煮

have everybody flavor-trip on it at Moto.

让在Moto店里的每个顾客都尝尝

Let's charge them a boatload of cash for this

收他们一大笔钱

and see what they think. (Laughter)

看看他们有什么反应 （众人笑）

BR: Yeah, so you can imagine, a task

你们可以想象得到

like this -- this is another one of those

这又是一项

assignments that the kitchen staff

让员工把我们恨得咬牙切齿的任务

hated us for. But we really had to almost

但我们几乎不得不

relearn how to cook in general,

重新学习如何烹饪

because these are ingredients, you know,

因为我们对这些材料

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

植物的生长周期都不熟悉

and two, we have no reference for how

我们也不知道

to cook these things because

怎么烹饪这些材料

people don't eat them.

因为人们平时都不吃这些东西

So we really had to think about new, creative ways

我们不得不想出新奇的方法

to flavor, new ways to cook

来调味 来烹饪

and to change texture -- and that was

来改变口感

the main issue with this challenge.

这些是主要的挑战所在

HC: So this is where we step into the future

这就是我们未来发展的方向

and we leapfrog ahead.

我们向前跨越

So developing nations

所以发展中国家

and first-world nations,

和第一世界国家

imagine if you could take these wild plants

设想如果你能把这些野生植物

and consume them, food miles would

拿去消费 你就能

basically turn into food feet.

大大缩短食物里程

This disruptive mentality of what food is

这种对食物的概念颠覆性的思维

would essentially open up the encyclopedia

能够让食材的定义

of what raw ingredients are, even if we just

更加丰富多彩

swapped out, say, one of these for flour,

如果面粉能够被取代

that would eliminate so much energy

我们就能省下大量能源

and so much waste.

减少浪费

And to give you a simple example here as to

这里有一个例子

what we actually fed these customers,

我们可以给顾客吃这些东西

there's a bale of hay there

这是一袋稻草

and some crab apples.

还有一些山楂

And basically we took hay and crab apples

我们把稻草和山楂

and made barbecue sauce out of those two ingredients.

做成了烧烤酱

People swore they were eating

尝过这种烧烤酱的人

barbecue sauce, and this is free food.

都说这跟真的烧烤酱没有区别 而这不花一分钱

BR: Thanks, guys.

谢谢大家

(Applause)

（众人鼓掌）