10 KITCHEN ITEMS: WYLIE DUFRESNE, WD-50, NYC [Notes are mine; also see Wylie transcript.

1) Thermal Immersion Circulator For slow, low-temperature and sous-vide cooking. Basically its a finely calibrated device that keeps a water bath at a constant, unfluctuating temperature for ultra-precise lowtemperature cooking. Creates meltingly tender meats and perfectly cooked fish, among other things. Wylie would not specify a brand for the home, but according to Cookingsousvide.com and a number of other cooking websites, the best-known and bestrespected brand is Polyscience, whose professional-grade immersion circulators range in price from roughly $800 to $1,600. Polyscience circulators are available through Williams-Sonoma.com. See: www.polyscience.com/lab/circ.html www.cookingsousvide.com/info/thermal-immersion-circulators

2) Centrifan Personal Evaporator This is a tabletop centrifuge manufactured by a company called Modular SFC that chefs and home cooks can use to create extracts and pure flavor compounds for use as seasonings and in drinks. It works like a laboratory rotary evaporator (a room-size machine that some professional cooks do in fact use) but without a vacuum. The Centrifan can be used, say, to extract the pure flavor essence of a jalapeo pepper, in the form of a liquid distillate, while leaving behind the capsaicin, which is the heat-causing compound. Cost: $4,900. See: www.modularsfc.com/centrifan_pe_rotovap.html

3) Paco-Jet This is a Swiss-made appliance thats essentially a micro-pureeing machine for frozen foods and confections, especially ice creams and sorbets. It uses an ultra-fast-spinning titanium blade to create insanely creamy frozen purees with virtually no ice crystals. Comes with a set of specially designed metal beakers to hold frozen contents. Costs about $4,000. See: www.pacojet.com/en/index.php

4) CVap Hold and Serve Drawer This is a essentially a tabletop warming oven that uses water evaporation to create gentle, consistent heat that neither makes things soggy nor dries them out, whether its dinner rolls or tortilla chips. Wylie uses the commercial-grade standing version of the CVap to cook fish, because the machine creates such an even, consistent temperature. He says you could use the home version of the CVap to do that too, and to slow-cook ribs or other long-cooking cuts of meat. Prices for single-drawer versions start at around $3,500; double-drawer models top out at about $5,200. See: www.winstonind.com/products/subcategory/category/hold_serve_drawers

5) Vitamix Blender A more powerful, more durable, restaurant-grade version of your typical bar blender. For most home cooks, it will last a lifetime. Creates smoother, more uniform pures, in less time. Cost: $449 to $649. See: https://secure.vitamix.com/Vitamix-Machines.aspx

6) Set of Specialized Japanese Knives (Deba, Yanagi, Usuba, Garasuki) There are four main kinds of single-edge, single-purpose Japanese cooking knives: a deba, which is specifically for breaking down whole fish; a yanagi, for slicing sushi; a usuba, for chopping vegetables; and a garasuki, for butchering poultry. Wylie says very serious home cooks will appreciate the differentiation in feel and design between the kinds of knives and recommends buying a set from Korin Japanese Trading, an NYCbased company that acts as a middleman for the best artisans and workshops in Japan. Depending on the manufacturer (Korin buys its specialized Japanese-style knives from roughly a half-dozen workshops in Japan), a single knife can range from $600 to nearly $2,000. See: http://korin.com/Shop/Japanese-Style-Knives

7) Liquid Nitrogen This is an ultra-cold liquid stored in refillable Thermos-like canisters called Dewars. Cooks use LN to make ultra-creamy ice cream and to make powders from anything from raw fish to pistachiosbasically it freezes stuff so hard that foods like nuts, which would normally turn into a paste if thrown in a blender raw, will be pulverized, allowing them to become intensely flavorful seasoning powders. Freeze a succulent piece of raw tuna with LN, throw it in a Vitamix, and youve got tuna powder, which tastes perfectly of luscious tuna but delivers a totally different eating experience when sprinkled on a ball of rice. LN can be purchased from welding-supply and medical-supply wholesalers. The nitrogen costs between $1.50 to $2.00 per liter, but the canisters can cost up to $1,000 apiece. Labrepco sells a Dewar for under $500. See: http://store.labrepco.com/ld4-aluminumcryogenic-dewar-4-l.html

See also: www.ehow.com/how_5166410_purchase-liquid-nitrogen.html http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/61827-cooking-with-liquid-nitrogen/ http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001366.html

8) Black Steel Frying Pans Super-strong, durable, and even-heating. These are the absolute best frying pans out there, according to Wylie. The highest-end ones appear to be from JB Prince. Their 11 Black Steel Frying Pan costs $91.60 at jbprince.com. Wylie also recommends the pans from Spring: www.springusa.com.

9) Flattop Grill/Griddle/Plancha Wylie did not specify a brand, and warned that most home kitchens would also need to be fitted with a new exhaust system to accommodate this type of cooktop, but says griddles and planchas are utterly indispensible to his cooking: for everything from pancakes to searing fish. Evo is a major maker of residential flattop grills/griddles in the U.S. They make outdoor versions (which require no exhaust system, obviously) starting at about $2,500. See: www.evoamerica.com/residential-products

10) Volnay Range WD-50 uses a professional Volnay range that eats 500,000 BTUs and includes a double plancha, three solid-top griddles, and two gas burnersand is the size of an entire small home kitchen. For home cooks, Lacanche-Volnay makes professional-style gas-range

ovens for residential use that start at $8,345. See: http://frenchranges.com/col_volnay.shtml

ALTERNATE: Xanthan Gum Its neither expensive nor a piece of equipment, but Wylie thinks it can be truly revolutionary for the home cook. You can easily buy this texture-enhancing agent and thickener online these days, and use it to improve the texture and consistency of salad dressings, purees, sauces, soups, and basically anything where you want more sumptuousness and uniformity. Put some in your vinaigrette, and the oil will basically emulsify with just a shake (xanthan gum is how store-bought salad dressings stay magically emulsified in the bottle). You can buy it in 4-ounce Ziploc bags from Amazon for $12. This web page gives a pretty good sum-up of its culinary applications: http://www.ehow.com/how_5810575_cook-xanthan-gum.html