Favorite Best New Chef Recipes

These salmon cornets (tuiles shaped into tiny cones and topped with crème fraîche and fresh salmon) by Thomas Keller (an F&W Best New Chef 1988) are a famous kickoff to his luxe and whimsical meals at the French Laundry in Napa Valley.

This eggplant Parmesan from F&W Best New Chef 2008 Ethan Stowell is all it should be: delicate slices of fried eggplant nestled in a bright, tangy tomato sauce, layered with gooey fresh mozzarella. The best part is the exceptionally crisp topping, made with dry bread crumbs.

F&W Best New Chef 2005 Shea Gallante brushes his meat loaf with a red wine glaze, which caramelizes as it bakes. The glaze also makes the meat loaf especially easy to pair with red wine.

"I love quiche, but it has to be several inches high and made right," says F&W Best New Chef 1988 Thomas Keller. This high-rising version, which is adapted from a recipe in his Bouchon cookbook, just might be the perfect one, and it's well worth the time it takes to prepare. Layering the sautéed mushrooms and shredded cheese ensures that they're nicely distributed throughout the silky egg custard.

Daniel Boulud, an F&W Best New Chef 1988, makes this oozy appetizer with Vacherin Mont-d'Or, a creamy cheese sold at top cheese shops. Camembert is as rich and runny as Vacherin Mont-d'Or, but much easier to find.

This hearty pasta dish from F&W Best New Chef 1996 Maria Helm Sinskey is studded with chunks of Italian sausage and mixed with a quick garlic-infused tomato sauce. It's then topped with dollops of fresh ricotta and a sprinkling of both mozzarella and Parmigiano-Reggiano, which form a cheesy layer as the pasta bakes.

In Italian cuisine, a sugo is a gravy or sauce. Here, F&W Best New Chef 2008 Ethan Stowell prepares a pork sugo by braising pork shoulder until it almost falls apart, shredding it in a food processor and mixing it with a red-wine-and-tomato sauce; then he bakes it with orecchiette under a topping of Parmigiano cheese until crispy.

Thomas Keller's scrumptious recipe combines three of the world's most popular sandwiches—bacon, lettuce and tomato; fried egg; and grilled cheese.

F&W Best New Chef 1988 Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in Yountville, California uses panko bread crumbs to give chicken a crunchy crust. "Pounding chicken breasts to a uniform thickness cuts down on cooking time," he says.