Could AI be used beyond just fast food and mass market treats? Photo / 123RF
Can artificial intelligence revolutionise cooking? The proof is in the pudding.
Sear a well seasoned quail breast in a cast iron pan until the skin is golden brown, before finishing in the oven.
Meanwhile, bring 100ml of chicken stock to the boil, reduce, then stir in cream and truffle oil.
Finally, serve the quail atop blanched wild garlic and boiled asparagus spears, with the sauce drizzled over the lot.
The recipe is “bang on for seasonality”, says Michelin star chef Chris Galvin.
“I think it’s very good, I have to say, very impressive.”
This dish has not been conceived by an up-and-coming cook, nor even a rival. In fact, the plate was created by a computer.
The recipes shown to Galvin were written by ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) engine that has taken the world by storm. The Telegraph asked the Silicon Valley chatbot to come up with three dishes it deemed Michelin star quality, with a few rules thrown in to test its ingenuity.
All three recipes had to use local British ingredients that were in season. One of them had to be pescatarian with “an innovative twist”, while a third had to be vegan and contain an emulsion.
It took less than 30 seconds for ChatGPT to propose the quail dish, alongside seared scallops with celeriac purée and fennel salad, and, for vegan diners, roasted beetroot with horseradish emulsion.
Large food companies such as Nestle are already using AI to analyse consumer trends and come up with suggestions for new products, while fast food giants such as Chipotle and McDonalds are using it to streamline ordering and delivery.
However, the refinement shown in the recipes drawn up for The Telegraph suggests AI could be used far beyond just fast food and mass market treats.
“It has really blown me away actually,” says Galvin, the owner of the upmarket Galvin restaurant group, which includes the Michelin-starred Galvin La Chapelle in London.
Dr James Canton, chief executive and chairman of US think tank The Institute for Global Futures, says: “AI wins awards today for photojournalism. Tomorrow, will we have award-winning three to four star AI chefs?”
Writing recipes is just one way experts say technology could revolutionise the restaurant trade.
“I’m looking at robots to take trays around because, you know, we have runners and humans are super expensive,” says Galvin. “And it’s getting hard to explain why a plate of food costs so much.”
Increased automation and robotics can help restaurateurs address the chronic staff shortages that have emerged in recent years.
“What’s happened to us since the pandemic is basically 20pc to 25pc of our staff never came back,” Galvin says.
“People don’t want to work nights, they don’t want to work weekends. We’ve basically had to slash hours because our industry was terrible for long hours, which were not paid.”
Dr Canton says: “In hospitality today, wherever you are, Europe, Asia, the United States… The biggest issue is finding labour, finding qualified labour and skilled labour, whether it’s to cook or serve, or administer or manage.”
Robots will not replace waiters wholesale, nor will all new dishes be created by AI. Rather, Dr Canton expects staff will be able to lean on AI and robotics to handle the less glamorous, procedural work of ordering ingredients, costing out dishes, calculating margins and booking tables.
“You’ll likely see a collaborative co-evolution of humans in hospitality and robots that are working together, whether it’s in the back office in terms of cooking, or whether it’s inventory or management or if it’s in food service, or even the creation [of food].”
Companies are already coming up with ways to make kitchens more efficient using technology. Satis.Ai for instance, touts itself as offering an “AI Vision Kitchen Brain”.
Through cameras installed above a chef’s workstation, Satis monitors dishes as they are put together and issues warnings if, for instance, a chef forgets to include a drink while packing a delivery order, or doesn’t get the balance of ingredients right in a dish.
Founder Mo Khodadadi says: “Right now when you order food from a restaurant, when they put it in the bag to send it to you, they make a mistake on one in every 10 orders.
“This camera understands humans, it understands food items, it also understands packaging. If [the chef] leaves something missing, it is going to raise it to him and mitigate that.”
Rather than eliminate chefs, he says this technology will make their jobs easier and make food more consistent.
Some tasks, such as putting dishes together on the plate, require an understanding of physics and bodily flexibility that only humans can currently achieve.
Still, despite these assurances, the rise of robots could lead to some jobs being lost.
“The phrase you sometimes see is… ‘workplace displacement’, which is basically a euphemism for humans no longer required,” says Nick White of law firm Charles Russell Speechlys.
There are also questions about health and safety.
“Let’s imagine for example, if you ask the robot to give you the different allergies that can be possible with the food… there are a lot of risks if the robot says wrong information,” says Dr Reza Etemad-Sajadi, professor at EHL Hospitality Business School in Switzerlands.
“[Or] let’s imagine that the robot is just bringing you the drink, and suddenly it hurts you.”
AI in restaurants could raise “a lot of ethical issues”, he says.
Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding. Whether or not AI is used to come up with recipes will come down to how good they taste.
Galvin says the quail dish could use real truffle rather than the truffle oil suggested by ChatGPT, and the sauce could be boosted by some alcohol and thyme added during cooking. The celeriac in the scallop dish should be salt-baked rather than boiled, he adds.
“When you’re cooking at Michelin star level, there’s got to be different levels of flavour, different depths… more nuances. And that takes a human.”
Ingredients:
Cooking instructions:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
In a small saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a boil and reduce to half. Add the double cream and truffle oil and stir until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Rinse the wild garlic leaves and blanch them in boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain and squeeze out any excess water.
Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the wild garlic leaves and cook until they are soft, about 3-4 minutes.
Meanwhile, season the quail with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the quail, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Flip the quail over and transfer the skillet to the oven. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until the quail is cooked through.
In a separate pan, cook the asparagus in boiling salted water until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Drain and season with salt and pepper.
To serve, place the quail on a plate, along with the asparagus spears and wild garlic leaves. Drizzle with the truffle sauce and serve immediately.
Ingredients:
Cooking instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, toss the beetroot wedges with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them out on the baking tray and roast for 20-25 minutes, or until tender and caramelized. Remove from the oven and set aside.
In a small saucepan, bring the vegetable stock to a simmer. Add the fresh peas and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat and transfer to a blender.
Add the vegan butter to the blender and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the grated horseradish, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper until you get a smooth emulsion.
To serve, spoon some of the pea puree onto each plate and arrange the roasted beetroot wedges on top. Drizzle the horseradish emulsion over the top of the beetroot.
Ingredients:
Cooking instructions:
To prepare the celeriac puree, place the chopped celeriac in a large pot and add enough water to cover it. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Simmer until the celeriac is tender, which should take about 20-25 minutes.
Drain the celeriac and add it to a blender or food processor along with the butter, salt, and pepper. Puree until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and sear the scallops for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown and cooked through. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, honey, and a pinch of salt to make the dressing for the fennel salad.
In another bowl, toss together the sliced fennel, watercress, and the dressing.
To serve, spoon some of the celeriac puree onto each plate and top with 2 seared scallops. Add a generous handful of the fennel salad on top of the scallops.
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