Teddy Devico

take japanero and distil out the actual fruty flavor of the pepper and leave behind the crazy heat. The flavor of the pepper without the heat is extraordinary.

Roasted Wild Mushrooms with Squash puree, caramelized brussel sprouts, brown butter and cranbery emulsion, crisp cornbread (thin sheets of cornbread that have great textural crunch).

I have been dreaming about this meal for quite some time now, about 6 months to be exact. I was promised a meal with a dinner budget of about $100 per person last year after getting good grades in school. I decided on WD~50 because it was different. I have eaten at amazing "classic" restaurants like Eleven Madison Park, Del Posto, and Jean Georges, but I wanted to try something new and different. Wylie Dufresne, the executive chef and owner, incorporates a special ingredient into all of his dishes that not all chefs use. The ingredient is humor and emotion. His genius food will most importantly taste sensational, but it will also make you laugh and make you marvel at his technique. I was greeted by a very friendly wait staff who were very down to earth. My dad and I were seated at a booth and we both were able to see inside of the kitchen. Wylie Dufresne, Joe Bignelli (Chef De Cuisine), and Alex Stupak (Genius Pastry Chef) were all in house working their asses off. It is not usual for famous chefs like Wylie to be in house working the line, but he is and I really appreciated it. I ordered the tasting menu with my dietary restrictions due to my food allergies, while my dad just ordered a few things a la carte. Just by eating the "bread" at WD~50 you see the genius of the restaurant. Instead of heavy, filling bread they serve light, crispy flat bread. The bread was as thin as a piece of paper and melted in my tongue. This was so delicious and did not fill me up, so I was able to enjoy the fantastic meal which lay ahead of me. The amuse bouche I was served consisted of pickled radishes, tofu, and red pepper gel The peppery radish flavor was diluted by the other flavors and to be frank the dish really did not excite me the way I was hoping that it would. Next came Cuttlefish, apple gel, watercress puree, and fresh watercress. After the disappointing amuse I was expecting to be blown away by this dish and I was not at all. The cuttlefish was very dense so the textures of the gel and puree were lost and their flavors were diluted. This was the worst dish of the night and I was starting to get really scared that this meal was not going to live up to my expectations. (Sorry for the bad picture, however it was very aesthetic at the restaurant) I was served aerated foie, pickled beet, plum, and brioche. To make this dish Wylie liquefies the foie, cooks it, takes all of the air out in a cyrovac, and then ultimately foams the foie in an iSi canister. This was the best foie gras I had ever had in my life. The rich, unctuous foie gras was incredible by it's own, but was complemented even more by the crispy brioche's texture. The beets and plums gave great acidity and sweetness to the best foie dish I have ever had. By now I had completely forgot about the two previous courses and was excited for what was to come. Now it was time for the famous Eggs Benedict. Wylie absolutely loves eggs, particularly eggs benedict. On Top Chef Season 5 when he was guest judge for the "Last Supper" episode his last meal that he wanted was perfect eggs benedict. Wylie wanted to put eggs benedict on his menu because of his obsession with it, but he had to modify it so it worked with WD~50's philosophy. What he came up with is pure genius. The egg yolks were pureed and put in cylinder mold and poached very slowly to get the perfect texture. He then takes hollandaise sauce and coats it in English muffin and to the fryer it goes. He fries hollandaise! That is so cool. He garnishes the dish with ultra thin slices of crisped Canadian bacon and black Himalayan sea salt. This dish blew my mind. It was perfectly seasoned, had great texture, and expressed who Wylie is as a chef. I will dream about this dish for a long time. I was given a dish of Cold Fried Chicken, buttermilk-ricotta, Tabasco, and some seed that had similar textures and flavors to caviar. The original dish has caviar in it, but I am allergic so they made a substitution. To make this dish the dark meat of chicken is "glued" together using transglutaminase, also known as meat glue. Next they cook the huge hunk of meat sous vide and then freeze it with liquid nitrogen. The meat gets coated with a special starch and fried. The coating is hot and crispy while the meat is still cold. I do not see a point in keeping the chicken cold. I believe in regards to taste the dish would have been better if the chicken was hot. I still loved the dish though. The Tabasco added a nice heat and the buttermilk-ricotta was very creamy and tasty. I was then served Peekytoe crab roll, salt n' vinegar chips, celery mayonnaise. The crab was very sweet and worked great with the crispy roll and acidic chips. The celery mayonnaise added a pleasant richness. This dish was delectable, however it did not seem to work with the philosophy of WD~50. This dish seemed to be simple delicous food, which there is nothing bad about that at all, but that is not what Wylie does at WD~50. My waiter brought out the next course which was "Beef and Bernaise". The dumplings were scrumptious. They were very moist and floavorful. However the consomme was very bitter and had no flavor of beef. Them, I was served Roasted Squab with Pumpkin, Chinese Spinach, and Cornbread. The dish really did not look that good to the eye. It was all the same color except for the spinach. However, the squab was cooked beautifully, a perfect, rosy medium rare. The pumpkin and cornbread tasted very earthy and led the dish to bring you back to the Thanksgiving table. The spinach was blanched properly and seasoned well, but the kitchen I believe could have done something more than just simply blanch a green and put it on the plate. Now it was time for desserts. My first dessert was a Licorice custard with sake sorbet, and Bartlett pear foam. This was the most clean and refreshing dessert I have every tasted. The sake sorbet was silky smooth. I believe that they had to use liquid nitrogen to make the sake sorbet so they could freeze the alcohol. The custard was rich and not overpowering. The pear foam was the essence of pear with the creamiest and lightest texture possible. This dish was extraordinary. Next, I received Rainbow Sherbet with plum, tarragon, orange, and olive oil. After the probably the best dessert of my life I did not expect this dessert to live up to the hype, but it did. The olive oil cake was perfect and the olive oil jam added a great fruitiness and saltiness to the dish. The rainbow sherbet was inside a gossamer thin sugar tuille. This dessert took a ton of skill to make. There was nothing wrong with this dish at all. Perfection. My last plated dish of the night was Soft Chocolate with beet, long pepper, and ricotta ice cream. The combination of the beet and ricotta was sublime. It blew my mind how good it was. The savoriness and saltiness of the beet went so well with the ricotta ice cream. The chocolate was tasty, but did not even need to be on the plate. The beets and ricotta ice cream together was the best bite of dessert I have ever had. When the chocolate was brought into the mouth it overpowered the other components. By now my stomach was bursting with food, but I was going to eat every last bit of what was served to me. My dad an I received Cocoa Packets and Chocolate Shortbread with milk ice cream. The technique on the Cocoa Packets was very precise and the flavors were great. The Chocolate Shortbread with milk ice cream was decadent and extremely flavorful. It was the perfect last bite to a great dining experience. After the meal we were asked if we would like a tour of the kitchen! They were asking me, I did not ask them. I was going to ask anyway, but they could tell I was really into food so they asked me first. The kitchen was pretty small, but they had a downstairs prep kitchen that I did not get to see. Wylie, Alex, and Joe were all extremely busy busting out food to a jam-packed restaurant so they really did not have much time for me. Wylie was working the whole fish station by himself. I find that great how he still actually works the line. In my opinion Alex Stupak out shined Wylie Dufresne tonight at my meal. His masterful desserts honestly had no flaws. They were by far the best desserts I ever had in my life. The savory parts of the meal had very high points, like the eggs benedict and the foie gras, but also had some low points, like the cuttlefish. The foie and eggs benedict are definitely in the top 5 dishes of my life. WD~50 blew me away and I really hope I can come back for more soon. Too see pictures go here My link

Going to WD 50 Today.

Grilled Pork Loin with Pork Reduction, Sauteed Swish Chard Leaf, Pickled Swish Chard Stem, and Grapes I started off by breaking down the pork tenderloin. I removed all of the silver skin while trying to keep some fat on the pork. The silver skin does not break down when cooking so it needs to be removed. A lot of recipes say to trim the fat off meats. I have to disagree about this because the fat imparts such a great flavor and moistness. After the pork was trimmed I portioned the loin into four 4 oz pieces. The pork got seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, chili, cinnamon, thyme, and rosemary. I let the pork "marinade" for about 3 hours. (The other 4 oz portion of pork was seasoned without salt for my dad so it is not in this picture) For the sauce I started to render the fat out of 6 strips of bacon and the pork trimmings from the loin. Once most of the fat was rendered I added thinly slice red onion and cooked for about 15 minutes. Next I added apples and cooked for another 15 minutes. Then I added a bottle of beer, thyme, rosemary, chili, trimmings from the swish chard stem, and cinnamon and simmered for 45 minutes. Once all of the flavor was soaked out of the vegetables I strained the sauce. I reduced this strained sauce and reduced it until it looked like a caramel. Right before serving I mixed in a little nob of butter. I removed the leaves from the swish chard stem (I am very fast at this because I have to do clean boxes of Swish Card when I go to Uproot). I cleaned both the stems and leafs in cold water to remove the sand and grit. I then trimmed off the stems and cut them into uniform sizes. I heated water with lemon, salt, and sugar and poured it over the swish chard stem to do a quick pickle. I let the stems rest in the liquid for about an hour. I blanched the leafs in salty water (Thomas Keller goes into a great explanation of how to properly blanch greens in his book The French Laundry Cookbook) and then shocked them in ice cold salty water. Meanwhile I sauteed diced onions and garlic with a little butter until slightly caramelized. I drained off the liquid from the swish chard and squeezed out the excess liquid. Then I chopped the swish chard up into bite sized pieces and added it to the garlic and onion. I then cooked till it was tender and added some lemon juice and zest. I started to peel grapes and slice them in half revealing a white inside. I then sliced unpeeled grapes and the insides were purplish. I was shocked. It obviously has to do with the skin and maybe light, but I am not sure.. Do any of you? I grilled the pork chops on a hot grill on all 6 sides until it was golden brown and about 150 degrees. I then let the pork rest so the juices would all redistribute and it would keep the pork moist. I put the greens down in the middle of the plate and added the loin of pork on top of them. I ladled the sauce on top of the pork and in front of the pork. On top of the sauce went the stems and grapes. The dish tasted great. The pork was very moist and flavorful. I enjoyed the savory flavor of cinnamon, which is very under used. There was a great balance of salt and sweet overall throughout the dish. Also, the lemon made the beet stems taste outstanding. I still am very curious about why the peeled grapes look different than the unpeeled grapes.

First off, a chef is only as good as his ingredients. If your ingredients suck your food cannot taste good. What Dan Barber and his team are doing at Stone Barns Farm and Blue Hill Restaurant is extraordinary. Seventy percent of the food for Blue Hill is made in walking distance from the restaurant. I just think that is so cool. Knowing where your food comes is so important. When you see how beautiful your ingredients are you are going to showcase the ingredients, not hide them. Also, in regards to proteins like pork, geese, turkey, etc. you are going to use every part of the animal that is possible and you are going to make sure you cook it perfectly to honor the animal that gave its life up for you. Thomas Keller once had to kill the rabbit he was going to use at his restaurant, The French Laundry and after he killed the rabbits he made sure he was going to use every part and not screw it up because he saw the rabbits suffering and wanted to honor the rabbit's life. Animals that are happy taste much better than animals that are miserable. Turkeys that never once see daylight, or chickens that cannot walk, or pigs that live in filthy factory conditions, etc. taste artificial. I got to Stone Barns Farm at 10:45 for an 11:00 O'clock tour of the whole facility. When I got to the main square, waiting for the tour guide, I am pretty sure I saw Dan Barber. I think I saw him walk into his restaurant Blue Hill. I only saw the back of him so I am not 100% sure. He was to far away and there was not enough time to approach him, even though I wish I did. We met our tour guide who was in charge of all of the vegetables at Stone Barns. We started off by going through Blue Hill Restaurant. The kitchen was of a good size and there was a class going on about Thanksgiving cooking. The dining room was casual and elegant without being fussy. Next, we went to all of the vegetables. The land was choppy and there was some rocks in the land so it was not the ideal farming conditions, but they are still able to work with the land and get amazing products. After every harvesting season the vegetables rotate in the farm. If you keep one vegetable in the same place every year the soil will lose it's high quality and the vegetables would be very prone to getting wiped out by a disease. The farm was growing garlic, lettuces, cabbages, root vegetables, wild herbs, and much more. They have about 100 different type of vegetables growing in the farm. Then, we went to see the animals. The chickens were running around and seemed so happy. They had two types of chicken, one for laying eggs and another for the actual meat. The chickens that were raised for their eggs produce 5 eggs a week. The chickens are not a problem for the farmers, except when one of the eggs break. If an egg breaks and a chicken eats it that chicken will start to break open more eggs and eat them. The geese were also running around and were very happy. I asked the tour guide if they ever tried raising geese for their liver (foie gras). He said that they had a farmer come from Spain who taught the farmers about raising humane foie gras. You have to trick the geese so they think they are about to go migrate. When they think they are going to go migrate they start stuffing themselves for the journey. When the geese start to stuff themselves you feed them fatty foods, like nuts or corn, and the liver gets engorged and delicious. However there first go with the wild foie gras did not succeed, but hopefully they will try again. The turkeys were huge and looked just like the wild turkey that walk around my neighborhood. They were breeding a wild turkey and then a more traditional Thanksgiving butterball turkey. The turkeys are really only sold during Thanksgiving time. Stone Barns breeds their own type of lamb. The lamb's are used primarily for their meat and secondly for their wool. The lamb are let to graze and eats all different types of grasses, bugs, and worms which brings happiness to there life because they experience diversity (This is the same with all of the animals at Stone Barns). Stone Barns also breeds Berkshire pigs. The pigs are usually slaughtered at 9 months old. Every animal with two legs gets slaughtered at Stone Barns, while all for leg animals have to get sent out and get gutted. Then the gutted four legged animals come back to the restaurant where they are butchered in house. After the tour it was time to eat at the Cafe. I wish I could have gone to eat at Blue Hill, but they did not serve lunch. We waited about 30 minutes on line to get food. I got foccaccia with caramelized onions and squash, Ronny Brooks chocolate milk, and two hard boiled fresh farm eggs. The eggs had bright orange yolks and with salt were absolutely delicious and creamy. The foccaccia was also good but needed some salt and acid. The whole experience was great. I learned a lot and cannot wait to come back and go to Blue Hill and maybe meet Dan Barber. To see the full post with tons of great pictures check out my blog.

Thanks for all of the very interesting info! That is a great point KD

I was just thinking about how some of the great chefs mentor so many people. Here are some people that worked for Thomas Keller: Grant Achaz, Curtis duffy, Rene Redzepi, Eric Ziebold, Tom Colichio, Cory Lee, Jonathon Benno, etc. Thomas Keller makes the people that work for him so much better. I think this is crazy how so many amazing chefs worked for him. This could be said th same about the Adria brothers, Daniel Boulud, Joel Robucon, etc. I am in the process of making a chef "family tree" where it will show for instance that Marco Canora worked for Colicchio who worked for Keller. I think it will be a really cool think to look at and see how some chefs have influenced the culinary world in so many ways.

Does the sous vide supreme demi come with a vacuum sealer and sealable bags?

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich with fried brain. Now that sounds awesome and delicous. For the brain I am going to trim the cartilage, then poach lightly in stock, chill, bread, and then fry. Is that the right technique for brains?

Pan Roasted Chicken Breast and Leg with Beet Gel, Chicken Jus, Crisped Chicken Skin, Radish, and Brussel Sprout

yea I had that at the restaurant I work at and it was so flavorful and suprisingly tender.

I agree that we need lots of little farms to compete. That would lead to great and humane chicken being readibly available.

I love butchering chicken. It is very relaxing and fun. Every week I get an organic chicken that is free range and was never injected with hormones. If there was a local farm near my home that raised chicken I would 100 % get from them, but there are none so I must buy from the supermarket. Chickens that are not free range live their whole life's inside. They never see grass, sky, sun, etc. Imagine living in a world where you were kept inside locked in a cage for your whole life. The chickens are absolutely miserable. And by the way they are fattened so much that they cannot even walk. It is an absolute disgrace! Never buy chicken from big corporate companies like Perdue or Tyson. They torture the chickens, lock them up and fatten them into misery. For your information these chickens taste horrible. There is no flavor in them. There is no chicken flavor. The first time I ever had a real chicken that was properly raised it blew me away. It actually tasted like chicken. I repeat never ever buy chicken from Perdue or Tyson again! Support your local farmers who are passionate about what they are doing. What do you guys think? To see the rest of the post with pictures go here http://teenchefteddy.blogspot.com/