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I can do it faster myself."

4 cardamom pods, crushed.Three 2-inch cinnamon sticks, 2 sticks broken into pieces.

Four 6-ounce boneless skin-on duck breasts, trimmed of excess skin and fat.1 teaspoon whole cardamom pods.2 cups coffee beans.

1/2 cup Ruby Port or Madeira.Pear and Fingerling Potato Ragout.

Combine the hot coffee, crushed cardamom pods and the whole cinnamon stick in a bowl.

Let cool.. Prick the skin of the duck breasts all over with a sharp kitchen fork.This one's about a precocious 26-year-old with almost no formal experience.

Meet Jonathan Yao, one of the most imaginative, natural-born cooks we've ever encountered., Yao interprets the flavors he grew up with as the son of Taiwanese immigrants in the San Gabriel Valley—booming and fading the levels of burnt shallot, sweet soy, basil, and Chinese celery.Three-cup chicken may be the "Free Bird" of Taiwanese cuisine; if you only know one thing about the island's food culture, this dish—seasoned with equal parts soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine—is probably it.

Yao's three-cup cover takes the form of a paste, rubbed into curls of octopus or painted on buckwheat crackers sandwiching sweet raw scallops.Thick corn soup is a Taiwanese lunch-box staple; Yao also borrows from congees and egg drops for his luxe rendition, which surrounds a brilliant yellow yolk.