The Anatomy of the Hay-Smoked Chicken at Two-Michelin-Starred Mélisse

Before the meal is offered, a captain presents it to the whole dining-room, opening the Dutch stove and significantly launching the hen’s wonderful pastoral scent. (Diners are not aware that what they’re seeing is a rare “show hen,” a bird whose single purpose is to ignite cravings.) It’s a sophisticated yet familiar meal that Citrin believes specifies his culinary viewpoint.

Cook Josiah Citrin isn’t fairly sure why his pair of California French dining establishments in Santa Monica are so elegant. “I didn’t pick to be this elitist. When I started food preparation, this is what there was,” he says. “Individuals weren’t going to put up with laid-back. We were playing rock-and-roll and individuals were like, ‘What the fuck?’ But this is what I such as.”

Matthew Kang
is the Lead Editor of Eater LA. He has covered eating, restaurants, food culture, and night life in Los Angeles given that 2008. He’s the host of K-Town, a YouTube collection covering Oriental food in America, and has been featured in Netflix’s Street Food show.

The 56-year-old chef– that bills $395 per person at his two-Michelin-starred Mélisse and $47 for a plate of lobster Bolognese at his Michelin-starred dining establishment Citrin next-door– sporting activities numerous arm bands and lockets, like a bohemian internet user that arised from the coastline and place on a cook’s layer. A few of his devices are from his late kid Augie that passed away a few years ago, while a glossy green-dialed Cartier Santos watch is a present from his girlfriend. Citrin’s wirey head of wind-blown hair, thick-rimmed glasses, and assertive lisp belie his status as one of Los Angeles’s the majority of embellished chefs.

The internal stress in between the chef’s high end restaurants and his day-to-day personality comes to a head on Mélisse’s nine-course food selection filled with elegant components like wild turbot, place shellfish, and delicacy. The dinner finishes in a hay-smoked poultry recipe that was a pricey add-on in years past however is now the overblown key of the tasting food selection.

Mélisse’s signature roasted poultry takes signs from an old household recipe. Maturing, Citrin’s granny prepared a hay-smoked leg of lamb using a technique she found out in France. “She ‘d prepare it for 7 hours, and it appeared tender and lovely,” he says. Citrin tasted hay-smoked hen for the very first time at Alain Passard’s Parisian dining establishment L’Arpège in the late ’80s, which motivated him to serve it at his dining establishment.

Currently put inside a room cordoned off like the Jerusalem Holy place’s Holy-of-Holies, Mélisse has a Hi-Fi stereo that plays timeless rock records while the tables are organized so that every diner has a prime sight into the intimate cooking area. The rest of the structure is inhabited by the less official a la carte dining establishment Citrin. The chef wants a sought after 3rd star for his front runner but isn’t rather certain what it requires to arrive, so he’s just refining what he’s been providing for the previous 25 years. When I joke that he currently has three Michelin stars throughout 2 restaurants.), (Citrin laughes.

The chickens are wet-brined for 3 hours in hen stock, lemongrass, chile, vinegar, broken peppercorn, thyme, parsley, and rosemary; Citrin lists each ingredient by memory in rapid sequence. When the cook removes the poultries from the oven, their skins are wonderfully gold and radiating like a religious artifact.

Citrin tasted hay-smoked poultry for the very first time at Alain Passard’s Parisian dining establishment L’Arpège in the late ’80s, which inspired him to offer it at his restaurant.

Back at the Mélisse counter, Citrin breaks each poultry down into ideal portions of white and dark meat: the breast piece laid on its side and a knob of upper leg meat covered with crisped skin. Cook Shazad Bhathena, a veteran of cook Corey Lee’s Benu and In Situ in San Francisco, has gone to Mélisse for 3 years and prepares the recipe’s other elements. Bhathena sautes pink oyster mushrooms in butter, lotions spinach just like at Dear John’s, and makes egg-yolk-filled ravioli. The side dishes are outlined in quadrants prior to a server spoons over a velvety Albufera sauce of supply and butter tableside.

The second-to-last savory training course, there’s a consistency between the fragrance of hay and home plate’s stately presentation that might’ve been plucked out of an Alain Ducasse recipe book. The plump chicken pairs with the natural mushrooms, while the creamed spinach adds a freshness. For a specific sort of diner that spends lavishly on dishes of this quality, it’s a refreshingly straightforward throwback to France’s many legendary homestyle meal, the roast hen. Mélisse will serve it for a couple of more weeks, then switch to a dry-aged roast duck for the autumn. The hay-smoked poultry will certainly make a grand return following year.

In the past, the best chicken that Citrin can resource was Jidori, a brand name of “past free variety” birds elevated in The golden state. “He does not desire to get screwed out of his hens, and does not desire various other purveyors trying to get it,” states Citrin.

In the past, the finest chicken that Citrin can resource was Jidori, a brand name of “past totally free variety” birds increased in California. “He doesn’t desire to obtain screwed out of his hens, and does not want other purveyors trying to get it,” states Citrin. The hens are wet-brined for 3 hours in chicken supply, lemongrass, chile, vinegar, split peppercorn, rosemary, parsley, and thyme; Citrin lists each ingredient by memory in quick sequence. Back at the Mélisse counter, Citrin breaks each poultry down into ideal parts of dark and white meat: the bust slice laid on its side and a knob of thigh meat covered with crisped skin.