"Iconoclasts"—Alice Waters and Mikhail Baryshnikov on the Sundance Channel

That's not me—the obsessive cook. I've known a few, worked for a few, and admired many but have never risen that high on the food pyramid. In every vocation and avocation, there are the select few—the Tiger Woods of their niche—who set the standard of excellence for the rest of us. That one percent who stop us in our tracks with the beauty of their execution, the nimbleness of their moves, and the sheer poetry of their particular dance. For every Michael Jordon and Mikhail Baryshnikov, there are thousands who watch with awe. And for every Thomas Keller (the top of the toque in my opinion) there are thousands of excellent professional cooks who will never see the lights of Broadway.

First there was Julia—the presence of a queen plus Lucille Ball's comedic timing. More than anyone she led us to believe that we too could prepare exquisite food at home. In the 80's, Wolfgang Puck and Alice Waters became world famous for their restaurants and for their food skills. In that same generation, there was Rick Bayless, Michele Richard, Michael Roberts, Mark Peel, Nancy Silverton, and of course my favorites, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. 

In the 90's the Pacific Northwest erupted with working celebrity chefs, like Tamara Murphy, Tom Douglas, and John Sundstrom. In New York City, French born Eric Ripert became the chef at Le Bernardin, eventually earning three stars from the Michelin Guide for excellence in cuisine. Also in the 90's, The Food Network took over behind camera and behind the line, bringing fame to Bobby Flay, Jaimie Oliver, Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, and Rachael Ray.

In 2000, Anthony Bourdain's paradigm shifting, Kitchen Confidential was released and brooding, cursing, angry chefs became the rage. In a recent New York Times article, Too Much Heat in the TV Kitchen?, Bourdain says, “I’ve been pushing it and pushing it and have unloaded like a Marine in front of a vast roomful of blue-haired ladies, and they seem to get it.”

Today, the chef with the biggest media file is David Chang. Recently profiled in the The New Yorker, Chang's three Manhattan Momofuku restaurants are nearly impossible to get into. The new one, Momofuku Ko, has twelve seats and takes reservations on a lottery system. High-end restaurant chefs agonize daily over consistent excellence and creativity, always working against raging competition and with an increasingly slim profit margin. As for me, I enjoy reading about them, empathizing with their twelve to eighteen hour days, and will look for them on TV.

Here are recipes from a few of the stellar one percent:

Eric Ripert from New York Magazine

Cassoulet, Anthony Bourdain

Ingredients for the Duck Confit-serves 4

4 duck legs
sea salt
2 cups/450 g duck fat (see Suppliers)
black pepper
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 garlic clove

Equipment
shallow dish
plastic wrap
saucepan
ovenproof casserole
foil

Day One

Rub the duck legs fairly generously with sea salt, place in the shallow dish, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. At all times, keep your work area clean and your ingredients free of contamination - meaning don't allow any other food, like bread crumbs or scraps, to get into your duck, duck fat or confit, as they will make an otherwise nearly nonperishable preparation suddenly perishable.

Day Two

Preheat the oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Render (melt) the duck fat in the saucepan until clear. After seasoning with the black pepper (not too much), place the duck legs in the clean, ovenproof casserole. Nestle the thyme, rosemary and garlic in with it, and pour the duck fat over the legs to just cover. Cover the dish with foil and put in the oven. Cook for about an hour, or until the skin at the "ankle" of each leg pulls away from the "knuckle." The meat should be tender.

Allow to cool and then store as is in the refrigerator, sealed under the fat. When you need the confit, you can either warm the whole dish, in which case removing the legs will be easy, or dig them out of the cold fat and scrape off the excess. I highly recommend the former. A nice touch at this point is to twist out the thighbone from the cold confit. Just place one hand on the drumstick, pinioning the leg to the table, and with the other hand, twist out the thighbone, plucking it from the flesh without mangling the thigh meat. Think of someone you hate when you do it.

Cassoulet

5 cups/1100 g Tarbais beans (see Suppliers) or white beans
2 pounds/900 g fresh pork belly
1 onion, cut into 4 pieces
1 pound/450 g pork rind
1 bouquet garni (see Glossary)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup/56 g duck fat
6 pork sausages
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
4 confit duck legs (which you already have, non?)

Equipment

large bowl
large pot
strainer or colander
sauté pan
paper towels
blender
large, ovenproof earthenware dish
measuring cup
kitchen spoon

Day One

Place the beans in the large bowl and cover with cold water so that there are at least 2 or 3 inches of water above the top of the beans. Soak overnight. That was hard, right?

Day Two

Drain and rinse the beans and place in the large pot. Add the pork belly, the quartered onion, 1/4 pound/112 g of the pork rind, and the bouquet garni. Cover with water, add salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the beans are tender, about an hour. Let cool for 20 minutes, then discard the onion and the bouquet garni. Remove the pork belly, cut it into 2-inch/5-cm squares, and set aside. (If you plan to wait another day before finishing the dish, wait to cut the pork belly until then.) Strain the beans and the rind and set aside, reserving the cooking liquid separately.

In the sauté pan, heat all but 1 tablespoon/14 g of the duck fat over medium-high heat until it shimmers and becomes transparent. Carefully add the sausages and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside, draining on paper towels. In the same pan, over medium-high heat, brown the sliced onions, the garlic and the reserved squares of pork rind from the beans (not the unused pork rind; you'll need that later). Once browned, remove from the heat and transfer to the blender. Add 1 tablespoon of the remaining duck fat and purée until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Place the uncooked pork rind in the bottom of a deep ovenproof earthenware dish. You're looking to line the inside, almost like a pie crust. Arrange all your ingredients in alternating layers, beginning with a layer of beans, then sausages, then more beans, then pork belly, beans, duck confit and finally more beans, adding a dab of the onion and pork rind purée between each layer. Add enough of the bean cooking liquid to just cover the beans, reserving 1 cup/225 ml in the refrigerator for later use. Cook the cassoulet in the oven for 1 hour, then reduce the heat to 250ºF/130ºC and cook for another hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight.

Day Three

Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC again. Cook the cassoulet for an hour. Break the crust on the top with the spoon and add 1/4 cup/56 ml of the reserved cooking liquid. (Don't get fancy. Just pile, dab, stack and pile. It doesn't have to be pretty.) Reduce the heat to 250ºF/130ºC and continue cooking another 15 minutes, or until screamingly hot through and through. Then serve.

1½ cups pear or apple juice
1 cup sake
1 cup mirin
½ cup sugar
1 cup soy sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
10 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons neutral oil, like corn or grapeseed
4 to 5 pounds short ribs
2 large onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 tablespoons butter
8 to 12 small potatoes, preferably fingerlings, trimmed
½ cup chopped scallions
4 cups cooked white rice.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, combine juice, sake, mirin, sugar, soy sauce, about 20 grinds of pepper, both forms of garlic, sesame oil and 1½ cups water. Bring to a boil, then simmer.
2. Put corn or grapeseed oil in a large ovenproof braising pan or skillet over medium-high heat and add ribs, seasoning them liberally with salt and pepper. Brown well on one side, moving them around to promote even browning. Turn, add onions and half the carrots, and brown other side, stirring vegetables occasionally.
3. Carefully pour braising liquid over meat and bake, bone-side up and submerged in liquid (add water or juice if necessary), for 3 to 4 hours, until meat falls from bones. Cool ribs in liquid for 1 hour, then remove; strain liquid. At this point, ribs and liquid can be covered and refrigerated overnight.
4. Remove bones from ribs. In a pot, combine meat with braising liquid; heat to a boil then simmer, reducing liquid until syrupy. If it seems too thick, thin with a bit of water.
5. About ½ hour before you are ready to serve, put butter in a skillet and add potatoes and remaining carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally and seasoning with salt and pepper, until browned and nearly tender, about 20 minutes. Add to meat. Taste mixture and adjust seasonings if necessary, then garnish with scallions and serve on rice.