Can A.I. Make Pasta Better Than a Pro Cook _ Eric Kim vs. ChatGPT _ NYT Cooking

Probably this is really a cautionary tale .

Robots can't make recipes .

Hi , I'm Rea Krishna .

I'm a food reporter for the New York Times and we are going to put artificial intelligence to the test against humans and their recipes show me a Thanksgiving menu made for me .

Ok .

Ok .

So last year as TG BT was making the rounds , we started to think how good are the recipe development capabilities of artificial intelligence ?

And can they develop an entire Thanksgiving meal ?

So we worked with G BT .

I told it a little bit about myself .

Uh , they just keep the Indian flavors .

They've really put me in a box and it developed a Thanksgiving menu tailored to me , non stuffing , orange cake with cream cheese , frosting a very , very dry turkey .

What we ended up finding out was that A I can generate recipes that look good in theory , but in practice , don't really work .

But now chat GP T has learned more .

It has read more of the internet each episode , we will prompt chat GP T to come up with a recipe .

Then we will bring in one of our recipe developers to test that recipe .

And come up with their own version and we'll see which one is better .

But the twist is they can only change three things about that original A I recipe .

It's a test of how good artificial intelligence is but how humans can make something even better .

We also hopped on a call with Mark from open A I to see how chat GP T had evolved since our Thanksgiving video .

So can you tell me a little bit about like how this iteration of chat GP T is different GP T four has better and broader knowledge of specific domains , for instance , Cookie and uh it's able to , you know , provide users with answers that are better reasoned and more accurate when we had the last conversation .

You know , we talked about how , you know , there's , there's a kind of soft element to , to cooking , right ?

And it , it's about , you know , like who you are uh kind of your story , uh where you come from and what you're trying to really bring out .

It's about kind of smell and taste and I think those parts are still extremely hard to replace .

So our first guest to go up against artificial intelligence is our own columnist and recipe developer , Eric Kim generate a new recipe by Eric Kim .

So Eric's recipes really run the gamut from really simple recipes like guacamole to things that , you know , have some real nuance , like his cold noodles with tomatoes .

That is one of my favorite recipes , you know , rather than going and completely cold .

We asked Eric to give us some parameters on what kind of recipe he wants .

Chat GP T to generate for him .

Pasta , chicken or eggs .

Those are the three parameters we've been given .

Huh ?

I feel like pasta is actually the safest bet for chat GP .

T I can see it generating like a decent recipe where you're cooking it in salted water .

You're reserving some of the pasta water .

It sounds pretty good .

Here's a recipe for a delicious and easy to make dish called spicy garlic shrimp with soba noodles by Eric Kim .

Soba shrimp , garlic , soy , honey , sriracha vegetable oil scallions .

I would 100% eat this .

Let's keep going .

Now we've got show me a carbonara recipe with a twist by Eric Kim .

OK .

Here's a unique twist on a classic carbonara recipe by Eric Kim that uses roasted butternut squash .

So this roasted butternut squash , carbonara looks pretty standard , but it's got butter and squash , spaghetti , bacon , garlic eggs , parm parsley .

Show me a recipe by Eric Kim that uses pasta , chicken and eggs .

Here's a delicious recipe by Eric Kim that combines pasta , chicken and eggs .

It's like fettuccini alfredo with egg with soft boiled eggs in it .

So you bring salted water to a boil , cook pasta and according to package instructions until al dente add the chicken breast .

Is it boneless skinless ?

Yep , boneless skinless chicken breast .

See , I told you and season with salt and pepper .

Cook for 6 to 7 minutes per side until golden brown and cooked through .

Remove the chicken from the skillet in the same skillet , reduce the heat to medium low .

Add the heavy cream in the cheese stir until the cheese is melted .

The sauce is smooth and creamy .

Bring a small pot of water to boil gently , lower the eggs and cook for exactly six minutes for soft boiled eggs .

It's at exactly six minutes .

Slice the chicken into bite size pieces .

Add it to the skillet with the creamy sauce , spoon , the chicken and sauce over the pasta , no pasta water .

So you're putting the pasta , then spooning the chicken and sauce over the top and then topping with soft boiled eggs , then garnish with chopped parsley .

Hm .

I think let's do it creamy pasta with chicken and soft boiled eggs .

So now we are going to do the really fun part which is ask Dali to generate a photo for this recipe .

Wow .

And this one , it just like added a tomato .

Hm .

Like I would say the most accurate image .

Uh you know , I'm looking at this and I'm like , I would eat it .

I'd probably like maybe set aside the hard boiled egg as a snack for later .

Also , this looks hard boiled , doesn't look soft boiled in the photo .

So now that we've settled on a recipe Eric is on his way here and we are going to test the recipe exactly as written and then Eric is gonna make some tweaks and we'll test it again .

All right .

So we found Eric .

We've got everything out .

I am your sous chef .

You do , you and I'm just here to help .

I'm gonna just do the garlic real quick to get us started .

So it's like just one minute , just a minute .

So maybe this is time when that comes to a boil , I'll add the pasta .

I turn the heat down .

Sorry .

Sorry , I gotta let it burn .

Oh , yeah .

Turn it down because you're using your instincts .

No instincts here .

No , it's when I was doing the Thanksgiving recipes it was so hard to , like , not make changes .

All the little things I definitely take for granted that I just know from having , like , read developed and watched a lot of , with recipes being cooked .

Ok .

It's definitely been a minute .

Yeah .

Chicken breasts .

They just go , they just go , this might be ok .

Hm .

And then season with salt and pepper .

Like , after the fact , do you wanna do that ?

Like the chickeny hand ?

Yeah .

Oh , my God .

It's like , it's really , really , yeah .

Ok .

The garlic is a , if you want me to , should we try to save it ?

Like , what if the chicken's above it , then it will be less .

You know what I mean ?

Let it , let it go .

I think we just have to let it , we're just , it's we're either finding out now or later how dry and burnie are chicken .

It's just , like , imagine being in a small apartment and then being like , what am I doing wrong ?

Yeah .

I mean , the crust is nice except for , like , the burnt bits of garlic .

Don't worry .

We've only got how many more minutes ?

Four minutes people , the longest four minutes of my life we'd even drop our pasta because that's another thing , like , when the pasta's boiled water's boiling , that's like a full 10 , 15 minutes where the recipe could be telling you to do something .

Oh , sorry .

The timer's gone off .

Oh God .

I'm like how Eric's recipe is only uphill from here .

It's making me look great .

Yeah , maybe we'll be surprised by all this .

Like Bernie Smoke voice the recipe the first time .

Oh , wait .

Ok .

So you're supposed to in the pan that you've cooked the chicken and add the cream and cheese ?

So , all right .

So some grated parm , just a half cup and then you stir it until the cheese is melted in the sauce .

Sauce is over you .

I am going careful not cook there .

But you know what , when we fold this in , it's gonna cook through all the way .

Maybe that was chat GB plan all along and definitely not reserving pasta .

Yeah , we're not serving .

Oh God .

This is like why you reserve cooking water because otherwise the pasta will just like clump together .

You push .

This is the mistake people make when peeling eggs .

This is the motion .

Wow , these are gorgeous .

Ok .

So each , each pasta gets its sauce and chicken .

Let's go .

We burned the garlic but it , apparently it was intentional .

Let your apartment on fire and you'll get a nice smoky sauce .

How do we feel about the cook on the chicken ?

Do you feel like you got it where it needed to be ?

I think .

So .

Can I add salt to it to understand it more ?

But hey , this cream sauce so creamy , I mean , in a hotel room and it's like your only option ?

Yes .

100% when I was in a hotel room and it was my only option .

I would totally eat it .

What about you ?

I think I would , I would be so shocked that there's like so little salt in this and , you know , maybe it's my fault .

I didn't season the water as much as I could have .

I think the pasta itself is usually just fine for me .

It's just the fact that you didn't add it back to the pot with the pasta and like toss it so that everything got like glossy and coated because I'm getting like some strands that feel like dry and unpleasant .

I'm surprised by the chicken .

I mean , I know it was like cooking and burned garlic for 12 minutes , but it kind of has that like grilled chicken flavor .

So I'm going to go away .

You are going to cook your version with the tweaks and then we will taste your version versus the original version and see what we think .

Sounds good .

All right .

So we tried cooking the chat G BT generated recipe once .

Great fan fair .

And this is going to be my version with my real little changes .

So the three changes will be changing up the method of cooking for the chicken and salting it beforehand so that it has a chance to dry brine just a little bit .

And then number two is we are going to use the pasta , cooking water to sort of finish up the sauce where we'll pull the pasta out , couple of minutes early so that they come together into more of like a cohesive thing .

And I have a feeling it'll actually taste a little lighter , not least because our third edition is lemon .

We're going to use some lemon .

Great idea from Pria .

I think some acid would be nice in this as the water comes to a boil which , you know , on any , on any stove , it will be different .

But my stove , it's like 10 to 15 minutes .

So I think that's like the perfect amount of time for the chicken to sort of sit and season .

I think the pasta could go in actually .

Can we set a timer for about like , I don't know , nine minutes .

These are small changes that I think will make a huge difference .

I think what happens for me is I have an idea in my head and I'll just make it free freely first without really measuring mostly just trying to see if it's a good idea .

And part of the good idea is if it feels good to cook , like if it really flows the oil is pretty like shimmery and like loose , which means it's going to be ok to do this .

You know , if I had left this to sit even longer , it would be even better .

But right now what the salt did was bring out some water on the outside .

I don't want to get all like Slattery on us .

I think a recipe when it's written needs to also account for adjusting heat .

I'm going to pull the pasta but save some water first .

I wouldn't ordinarily do this , but I want some of this fat to be in here .

Just a , it's like a chickeny olive oil just to keep it a little loose before we finish it .

And the eggs go in .

I would probably , I could probably leave it longer but we want to eat .

So I'm just gonna go ahead and flip it .

I'm going to add the garlic after searing the chicken this time where you're not gonna have the fire department come .

I'm happy with that .

I'm gonna add the heavy cream .

I don't want the garlic to cook too much .

Mm Look at that .

This is very similar to the you know , to the last one .

Hm .

It's really yummy .

It's one of those things where it's like when I'm writing a recipe , I'm also always thinking about in this case , should the pasta go in the sauce or should the sauce go in the pasta ?

Just gonna add some more water and combine them .

So they season them together , do a little more cheese .

Ok .

I'm amazed that this looks like the original thing .

Like I imagine this is probably just gonna be like what we ate , but better .

I like how sauced the noodles look .

And I love that .

We kept the egg .

This is giving like fancy Olive Garden .

I would have been fine with just Olive Garden .

I'm gonna try a piece of chicken .

I didn't overdo the lemon .

I like the idea a lot .

This chicken is like heads and shoulders better .

I mean , duh , I found the eggs on top .

The most bizarre out of the recipe .

Even though like now that I'm thinking about like noodles with an egg on top is actually like a thing that exists in many other cultures .

There are a lot of obvious upgrades that would have could have happened .

But I wanted to like , use what we have try to optimize what's already there .

I mean , it just feels so much more balanced .

It's better seasoned .

The savory notes from the Parmesan are much more pronounced .

You top it and put it in the sauce .

Yeah , I mean , these black specks are probably pepper instead of burnt garlic and the chicken is like , cooked appropriately .

Like this one is like just much juicier because , like , absorb the sauce in really nice ways .

Honestly , the recipe we had wasn't that bad .

It was just , there were glaring errors that I had to fix .

Yeah , I mean , and that's like , sort of why we wanted to do this experiment in the first place is like take something , the bones of which are really good and showing like how it takes the human touch to make it really special a little better .

A lot better .

Thank you .

What we now know going into the rest of the series is that like the A I has stepped up its game .

I mean , this is a dark sentiment but the A I is doing what we as developers on the team are doing , which is we're constantly learning from each recipe .

We're reading the comments , what I will say we will , we have a leg up A I isn't telling you what to look for , what to smell for , like what to listen for .

So tell us in the comments .

Who do you want to go against artificial intelligence ?

Next ?

Someone who will be really nice , like Eric or someone who will absolutely destroy the A I .