Wylie Dufresne Quotes & Sayings

I've always had fond memories of cooking Thanksgiving. — Wylie Dufresne

I've seen cookbooks from lots of great chefs that have been disappointing. A book, to me, it has to have a story. Some of these people, they open a restaurant, and one year later, there's a cookbook. There's not much of a story yet. — Wylie Dufresne

The spirit of pickling is one of adventure and fun. — Wylie Dufresne

'Top Chef' is always entertaining - it's hard to stop watching, like a good hockey fight, but no one gets hurt. It's great that the format is so inherently dramatic and can make cooking so entertaining to people who might not ordinarily be interested in a cooking show. Good for the industry all round. — Wylie Dufresne

Green vegetables are something that fascinate chefs; the ability to keep vegetables green. How do we keep them green? What makes them green? Why are they green? And then that sort of army green. Why do they go from bright vibrant electric green to army green, and how can we avoid that? — Wylie Dufresne

I don't like the term 'dinner as theater,' because that implies something thespian that I don't want to tie into this, but there are plenty of times that people go out to dinner because they want to have an experience. There are, however, probably many more times that people go out to eat because it's 7 o'clock and it's time to eat. — Wylie Dufresne

The East Village is where I cut my teeth as a kid. I ran around here on a skateboard. — Wylie Dufresne

I was working for a chef a long time ago who told me to not skip steps or be in a hurry. Success in a kitchen is more like a marathon and less like a sprint. Rising up the ranks too quickly isn't necessarily a good thing. This advice was from a guy who was sorry he had done that and didn't want me to do the same. — Wylie Dufresne

American cheese is the perfect soft taco. — Wylie Dufresne

I like all cheese, but my guiltiest pleasure is definitely American cheese. — Wylie Dufresne

My job has changed over the years, 22 years roughly I've been cooking professionally. When I was younger, I aspired to be the star player. Now, it's more I like to sit in the dugout and make sure the team wins the game. — Wylie Dufresne

We have a funny sort of love/hate relationship with critics because, unfortunately, in the art/commerce dance that we do, they drive people to the restaurant. Regardless of sometimes how well we prepare the food, if people don't know that we're out there, if someone isn't talking about us, you guys aren't coming. — Wylie Dufresne

Okay, a lot of people think that I'm someone known for a love of eggs and egg cookery. Being asked to endorse an egg yolk separator, I mean, I understood where it came from, but it didn't seem necessarily like something that was ultimately worth pursuing. — Wylie Dufresne

It's been a struggle to get people to come eat for fun. You know, the way they listen to music. You can do all kinds of things with music. But food - it's something people need, and that changes everything. You start playing with it, people have all sorts of reactions. — Wylie Dufresne

It turns out that life in the kitchen is very similar to life on a team. Sports and kitchens are about teams. I found my alternate team sport in the kitchen. — Wylie Dufresne

There will never be a right or wrong way to cook something, but there will always be a more informed way. — Wylie Dufresne

Typically, you learn how to cook, but you don't know why. We were looking for a deeper understanding of what was happening to our food as we roasted it, boiled it, grilled it, chopped it, etc. And it turned out, as we began to really say what is cooking, what does it mean to cook, there's a lot of science involved. — Wylie Dufresne

Fish butchering means a lot to me as a chef; I take pride in it and get a lot of joy from filleting fish, working with fish, breaking down fish, trying to understand fish. — Wylie Dufresne

I would like to, at some point, do a cookbook. — Wylie Dufresne

Eggs are one of my all-time favorite foods, and making the over-easy egg is a test of skill. — Wylie Dufresne

Being a chef isn't the ideal career to intersect with parenting, but I try to be in my kids' lives as much as possible. — Wylie Dufresne

Not having a New York culinary tradition, far from being limiting, it's an opportunity to create freely. — Wylie Dufresne

I think it's important for anyone who is artistic to look back on their body of work and be critical. Maybe the Beatles can look back and say everything was perfect, but we've come up with hundreds and hundreds of dishes, and anyone who is honest with themselves has to realize that every single one wasn't an absolute, unequivocal home run. — Wylie Dufresne

I have no interest in vegetarians whatsoever. Zero. Less than zero. — Wylie Dufresne

I think things like 'farm to table' are misleading. I think sometimes that becomes a pedestal or a soap box to get people into your restaurant but is not ... it's almost empty in a way. I mean, my food comes from a farm, and I serve it on a table. — Wylie Dufresne

It wasn't the traditional cooking most people do. For me, as a young chef, Thanksgiving meant going to work in the kitchen at places like Gotham, JoJo and Jean-Georges. — Wylie Dufresne

There will never be a universal way of cooking, but information will always be universally useful. — Wylie Dufresne

I find it much more compelling to make a four-biter that leaves you wishing that you had a fifth. I think 'the tyranny of the entree' is the right way to put it. I don't want to build this giant plate of food. — Wylie Dufresne

Extremely ripe things are not ideal for pickling. If you pour a hot liquid over super ripe strawberries, you're going to have strawberry soup. — Wylie Dufresne

Every dish doesn't have to be showy, and every dish doesn't have to slap you in the face with technique. — Wylie Dufresne

Neighborhoods change. In some ways, it's part of the beauty of New York City. It's in a constant state of flux. — Wylie Dufresne

It's just about asking why. We as cooks historically have been very, very technically proficient but not technically informed as to why we do what we do. Modernist cuisine is about that knowledge. — Wylie Dufresne

I don't think of eggs as being fundamental to the flavor of mayonnaise, but they are to Hollandaise. — Wylie Dufresne

Eggs Benedict is genius. It's eggs covered in eggs. I mean, come on,
that person should be the president. — Wylie Dufresne

I present classics in an unfamiliar way or unfamiliar ingredients and preparations in a classical way. — Wylie Dufresne

Whites cook at a lower temperature, set at a lower temperature than yolks. That, to me, is very interesting. That has opened up - as an egg lover, that has opened up sort of a world of possibilities, of applications. — Wylie Dufresne

When ramps are in season, we pickle a bunch of ramps and fold that into soup. Pickled pearl onions are great chopped up or pureed. — Wylie Dufresne

As a pure source of reference, 'Modernist Cuisine' is incredibly helpful. It's like a modern-day encyclopedia, except for a single subject. It's not always the answer, but it's always a starting point. I feel honored to have been able to contribute to it. — Wylie Dufresne

It's a funny thing, but it's often overlooked that I'm a huge devout lover of French cooking. I have the utmost respect for them, though they have lost their respect for me because they think the way I cook is nutty. — Wylie Dufresne

We have fried things in cubes, historically. We tried bars of Hollandaise, we tried different shapes, but it ultimately seemed like the cube was the right shape. — Wylie Dufresne

The most important thing with turkey is to let it rest - most people don't let it rest long enough. It will get juicier the longer you let it rest. — Wylie Dufresne

Hollandaise, I would like to pour over my head and just rub all over myself. Eggs Benedict is genius. It's eggs covered in eggs. — Wylie Dufresne

I would say that molecular gastronomy is a field of science. I would - I would say that it's probably lumped under chemistry, maybe. Because cooking, while it has certainly biology and some physics, it's mostly chemistry. — Wylie Dufresne

Whether it be cereal technology or candy technology or snack technology, puff snacks, I'm always curious to know how those things are made and how we can take that technology, those ingredients, and apply it to a stand-alone restaurant. — Wylie Dufresne

I've been asked to endorse lots of different pieces of equipment. It's not necessarily that it's an awful thing to be asked to endorse something, because it's inherently a compliment to your skills, your abilities, on a level. But sometimes it's just not the right fit. — Wylie Dufresne

People have been manipulating food ever since they realized cooking a whole animal was difficult. Cows don't come in hot dog form. — Wylie Dufresne

There's nobody you can call and say, 'So, can you maybe send me your formula for frying Hollandaise?' because to the best of my knowledge, it didn't exist before we did it. — Wylie Dufresne

I can fry hollandaise, I can fry ketchup, I can fry mustard. — Wylie Dufresne

I really don't do much on the night of Thanksgiving other than bring the wine and carve the turkey. My contribution comes the day after, in the form of breakfast. I usually just forage through the leftovers for things that will go well with eggs. — Wylie Dufresne

I have strong feelings about cookbooks because I am a lover of them and student of them and devourer of them and collect them. I find them to be a great source of inspiration. When I was a cook and not making much money, I always used to spend most of what I had on cookbooks. — Wylie Dufresne

I think I can poach a pretty mean egg the old-fashioned way. — Wylie Dufresne

My mother made the best scrambled eggs, super-loose and soft. — Wylie Dufresne