IBM's Watson made its own barbecue sauce
Props to IBM's Watson for understanding that barbecue has only one true definition: pulled pork.
Just in time for the Fourth of July, Watson has created its own barbecue sauce. While Watson rose to fame after beating Ken Jennings at Jeopardy, its knowledge may one day be eclipsed by its culinary skills.
After analyzing various recipes, Watson created the Bengali Butternut BBQ sauce, which contains gourmet ingredients like white wine, Thai chilies, dates, and tamarind. IBM describes the sauce as having "a slow, warm heat and a kick." Fast Company's Mark Wilson also notes another of the sauce's benefits: It's only got two grams of sugar per serving, much less than standard barbecue fare.
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The company will only produce a limited amount of the sauce, but IBM posted the recipe on its Tumblr, if you're interested in following Watson's lead and making your own.
NPR reports that IBM first began testing Watson's food talents in 2012, giving it recipes and having Watson modify them to generate new cooking ideas. "We try to predict what humans will find flavorful, based on some basic ideas from chemistry and psychology," Lav Varshney, a computer scientist at IBM, told NPR.
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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
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