IBM Watson collaborated with the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) to teach a computerized machine to invent wacky dishes, including meat-based cocktails. To put it simply, the machine, dubbed “Chef Watson” was programmed with thousands of recipes and databases of food chemical compositions plus nutritional information. Chef Watson went through pretty intense training, mastering everything from food pairings to complementary ingredients. It was also programmed with a “surprise factor,” which challenges the machine to concoct completely original recipes. However, as any great chef will tell you, a machine is no match for the human touch. Thus, chefs at the ICE acted as consultants on the project, helping choose and refine the data programmed into Chef Watson. Now, IBM Watson has released a cookbook revealing those recipes.
With creations like Moroccan Almond Curry and Peruvian Potato Poutine, looking at Chef Watson’s recipes is like reading the menu of the latest fusion restaurant. All of the dishes are out there, but imaginable. However, it’s the cocktails section that gets truly weird. Anthony Caporale, the director of Beverage Studies at ICE, asked Watson to dream up protein based drinks. And when we say protein, we don’t mean whey powder, we mean actual meat.
We took a look at two recipes, the Corn In The Coop, and the Plum Pancetta Cider. Here’s how you make these gamey tipples.
Corn In The Coop
Plum Pancetta Cider
Meat has been making the rounds as a flavorful cocktail ingredient. While we’re curious to try these protein packed imbibements, we won’t be swapping all of our simple syrup for beef stock anytime soon.
Images and recipes courtesy of IBM Watson