走進NBA球隊的廚房

When JaeHee Cho first auditioned for the executivechef job with the Philadelphia 76ers, he was going towow the brass. He composed a menu titled"Chicken & Egg." He'd take four or five chickensand showcase every part of the bird — use the bonesto make a broth of incomparable depth, confit thelegs and craft an elevated salad from the meat, concoct an East African-style stew by braising thethighs in a berbere spice, and even bakechawanmushi, a Japanese egg custard tart, threeways.

當(dāng)JaeHee Cho首次面試費城76人隊的行政主廚這一職位時，他打算驚艷到面試官。他創(chuàng)作了名為“雞和蛋”的菜單。他使用了四到五只雞，將雞的每一個部位(的做法)都展示出來——雞骨拿來熬制高湯，用雞腿肉精心制作了雞肉沙拉，用柏柏爾(一種特殊的香料)做成具有東非口味的蒸燉雞腿，甚至還做了日式蒸蛋，一種日本的奶油蛋撻，一種食材，三種做法。

Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo received the suggested menu overemail and winced. He appreciated Cho's ambition, but this might be a little bit too ... chefy.

當(dāng)76人的籃球運營總裁布萊恩-科朗吉羅收到這封菜單的郵件時，他皺了皺眉(覺得不行)。他很欣賞Cho的決心，但那可能有一點太廚師氣了。

"I was looking to show off a skill set, and how I could use creatively every part of a chicken," Cho says. "but they were like, 'Can you make a good pancake?'"

“我想展示我的所有廚藝技能，展示我是怎樣創(chuàng)造性地使用雞身上的每一個部位。”Cho說道，“但是他們好像只在意‘你能做一份美味的煎餅嗎?’諸如此類。”

The Sixers countered by suggesting a meal that would start with basic breakfast items, thenmove toward crowd-pleasing lunch and dinner fare. Cho would also need to pay attention tothe nutritional composition of the dishes because he'd ultimately be feeding world-classathletes.

76人隊相關(guān)管理層建議Cho先從基本的早餐類型做起，再考慮著手做比較大眾的午餐和晚餐的菜品。Cho也需要注重菜品的營養(yǎng)組成狀況，因為最終他要服務(wù)的是世界級別的運動員。

Inside a friend's brick-walled restaurant a couple of blocks off the Italian Market, Cho startedColangelo and a few other Sixers execs at around 1 p.m. with omelets featuring fresh produce, then brought out three kinds of pancakes: one from his own sourdough culture mix, anothermade with flaxseed milk, and a more traditional pancake made with buttermilk sourced from alocal dairy.

下午一點左右，在朋友的一間距意大利市場幾個街區(qū)遠的一家磚墻餐式的餐廳里，Cho向科朗吉羅和其他幾位76人高管展示了自己最新制作的特色煎餅。他制作了三種煎餅:一種是自己獨家調(diào)制的配方，另一種用亞麻籽牛奶制作而成，最后一種采用了當(dāng)?shù)剞r(nóng)場的奶油作為原料，是比較傳統(tǒng)的煎餅。

Over the next two hours, the plates kept coming. Beef fajitas were followed by grilled salmon skewers served with couscous. When the meal was over, Colangelo and company could barely move. Pending a background check, Cho would become the executive chef of the NBA's most comprehensive, sophisticated and well-equipped food program.

在接下來的兩個小時，菜肴不斷被端上來。牛肉鐵板燒上過，緊接著是烤三文魚串伴有蒸粗麥粉。當(dāng)這頓飯吃完，科朗吉羅和他的同伴撐得幾乎不能走路。通過背景調(diào)查后，Cho正式成為76人的行政主廚，他也有望成為NBA最全面、最精細和最完善的食品項目主廚。

The Sixers have put food at the center of the team's daily existence. Situated on the second floor of the Sixers' training facility in Camden, New Jersey, the team's enormous, light-filleddining room and professional-grade kitchen with a view of the Philadelphia skyline function not only as a fueling station where players receive nourishment, but also a hub for the communal life of the team.

76人已經(jīng)把食品工作放在球隊日常實務(wù)工作的中心地位。在新澤西州肯頓這所城市，76人有一個寬敞而且采光性很好的餐廳和一個專業(yè)級廚房，坐落在76人訓(xùn)練館二樓。在這里視野非常開闊，費城這所城市的景色也可一覽無遺。這個地方已經(jīng)不僅僅是球員們獲得營養(yǎng)的“加油站”，也成了這支球隊日常生活的集中地。

"It's always good to break bread with people, with your teammates," says Sixers wing Justin Anderson. "I've learned as much from my teammates in here or on the road at dinner or inviting them over. Food has been a great way over my career to get to know my teammates."

“能和別人，還是你的隊友在這里一起吃點面包，這感覺總是很好的，”76人的側(cè)翼球員賈斯汀-安德森這樣說道。“不論是在這里還是在客場，亦或是邀請他們，每次共進晚餐，我都從我的隊友身上學(xué)到了很多。在我的整個職業(yè)生涯中，食物一直都是我了解隊友的很棒的途徑。”

The meals prepared by Cho, 34, and his team on game days power the Sixers. These athletes rely on Cho to deliver the goods specified in their individual nutrition programs, to make food that will sit well and will make them feel good, and to be discreet about their habits. It's an enormous investment of trust from players and from a franchise that has developed a taste for championship contention.

在比賽日，34歲的Cho和他的團隊為球隊準(zhǔn)備好飯菜，來為他們提供能量。這些運動員還依賴Cho傳遞給他們個人營養(yǎng)計劃中的規(guī)定需求，兼顧他們各自的飲食習(xí)慣，讓食物保證口感的同時也能使他們感覺到身體機能良好。這是一筆對信任的巨大投資，這種信任來自球員和管理層，這也讓76人開始走上冠軍爭奪行列。

Sixers shooting guard J.J. Redick calls Cho's operation, "a top-10 Philadelphia restaurant." Over four days in February, we embedded ourselves inside that establishment.

76人的得分后衛(wèi)J.J.雷迪克稱Cho的手藝，“費城所有餐廳前十名的水準(zhǔn)。二月剛過去四天，我們就深深地陷入在Cho的菜品中不能自拔。”