I would never eat them, or try to cook them, out of fear of disease.” I wonder if I could cook it, or how would it taste?′ Well, maybe not the wild ones. But, I mean, when I see a bird in the wild, of course the thought crosses my mind like ’Hm. When you see a bird on the street or in the wild, do you get the sense that it recognizes you? Like, is there a look of fear or respect in its eyes when it realizes that you’re The Prince of Poultry? They could be as cheap as chickens, if more people were raising them, but the economics are just different.” Not too many people are raising them for consumption, so it’s more of a specialty bird. You can get frozen squab relatively easily, but quail is a bit more expensive, surprisingly. Mainly because they’re not always affordable. I’ve eaten plenty over the years, but I haven’t actually had a lot of experience of doing them on my own. “I would like to do more small birds like squab and quail. I was just like, ‘Oh, so that’s how you do it.’”Īre there any birds you haven’t had an opportunity to work with? well, not normal, but watching my mother slit a chicken’s throat and drain the blood - that didn’t seem to freak me out as a kid. “No, but I’ve watched my mother process chickens since I was a kid. Have you ever killed a chicken with your bare hands? My family comes from very humble farmer backgrounds in China, so if we wanted to eat meat, it’s probably going to be either fish or chicken, because those are the smallest animals you can kill, clean, and break down. Like, chicken is the protein of choice in Chinese cooking. “Growing up Chinese, chicken always had a very - how should I say it? - strong presence. you’re saying that your deep, intimate knowledge of poultry is not the product of Tilda Swinton-esque magic? And after two years, I was still doing that - I’m pretty sure I’ve hit 10,000 chickens by now.” Breaking that down, that’s like 200 birds a week, so, like, 1,000 a month. Some days we would cook, like, 30-40 chickens in a day. I mean, back at Side Chick, we were cooking seven days a week and working long hours, and we always had to have the dish ready. Like, when we had your duck the other day, we genuinely thought to ourselves “What this man does with poultry is not normal.” I subscribe to Kanye’s philosophy of ‘It’s OK if other people call you great, but if you say it yourself, you’re an a**hole.’” I’ve always thought that it was very, like, egotistical to give yourself a title. Johnny Lee: “I mean, to be honest, the whole ‘Chicken Whisperer’ thing - I’ve never even really acknowledged it. Infatuation LA: We’ve referred to you as “The Prince of Poultry” in our Instagram stories and throughout the website. An Interview With the Prince of Poultry □ Here’s our chat with LA’s Chancellor of Chicken (sorry, Johnny). Oh, and he also answered so many (dumb) questions about birds that, if this whole “world-class chef” thing doesn’t pan out, he could definitely launch a career as an amateur ornithologist. Yet despite the nickname we here at The Infatuation singlehandedly foisted upon him, Lee was still gracious enough to speak with us about his rise to fame, the challenges of churning out 1,000 chickens a month, and the inner-workings of basic quail economics. Johnny Lee doesn’t love being known as the Prince of Poultry, but that’s kind of what happens when your resume includes stints at Eggslut and Side Chick, and your current gig - chef and owner of Pearl River Deli in Chinatown - involves making the best Hainan chicken in Los Angeles.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |