Wylie Dufresne is not your ordinary chef, so there is no way his first cookbook would be an ordinary cookbook. wd~50 is a work of art, an inspiration, and an absolutely breathtaking collection of recipes, photos, ideas, and stories.
Dufresne grew up in and around New York City, his father in the restaurant business, so it's not a big surprise to find him in a professional kitchen. But the route he took to get there, and the way he approaches his dishes, makes him more than just a cook. He's a chef's chef, the man who other chefs turn to for inspiration. His background in philosophy and his love of Japanese culture shine through in his science-driven cuisine and his innovative plating designs.
He is a man who fries cubes of mayonnaise to serve with sliced pickled beef tongue and an onion streusel. He uses coconut as egg white and carrot as egg yolk to create a playful egg on a plate, complete with an egg yolk membrane to fool the eye. He makes noodles out of tofu and spaetzle out of chicken liver. The level of Dufresne's creativity has no limit, and his expertise is legendary. And the only way he was able to bend the expectations of his diners like this and stay on top was to guarantee the finest flavors in his dishes.
It would take an extraordinary home cook to attempt to recreate Dufresne's dishes. It could be done, of course, but I am not that interested in creating food this fussy for eating at home nor do I have the patience for it. But I could not tear myself away from this cookbook. It is a work of art, showing one chef's genius with food and his place in culinary history.
Although his restaurant wd~50 is no longer open (I've heard its closing compared to the closing of the iconic star-creating bar and NYC legend CBGB), its legacy remains. It remains in the work of chefs who follow in his footsteps and use culinary gastronomy to stretch our ideas of what food is, what it looks like, and how should taste. His legacy remains in our expanded understanding of food as art, as the delicacy and refinement of his plating left us breathless with anticipation. And it remains in the pages of this beautiful cookbook, filled with the vision of a true original. Buy it and shelve it with your books on photography, history, art, and philosophy. If your other books can handle the pressure, that is.
Galleys for wd~50 were provided by Anthony Bourdain/Ecco through Edelweiss, with many thanks.