Dominique Crenn’s Canary Melon Recipe

Dominique Crenn is an award-winning chef and advocate for sustainability and equity in the culinary world. Growing up in the Brittany region in northwest France, Chef Crenn spent many hours working in her grandmother’s potato fields, foraging for mushrooms with her father and brother, and partaking in her family’s Sunday dinners. Her father’s best friend, a restaurant critic in Brittany, sometimes brought her along on his tasting trips. These experiences sparked her imagination and taught Chef Crenn to think of cooking as a form of storytelling. All of these memories, and the familial and communal love they evoked, would become touchstones in her cooking.

Though she is now among the world’s most celebrated chefs, her path to culinary greatness was not without its challenges. After being turned away from many French culinary schools due to antiquated opinions about female chefs, Chef Crenn set out for California, where she forged her own culinary identity rooted in personhood, memories, and mindfulness.

In San Francisco, Chef Crenn honed her skills at fine dining establishments before eventually opening her own restaurant, Atelier Crenn, in 2011 (named for her father’s painting studio in Brittany). Atelier Crenn’s reputation grew year by year: It received one Michelin star in 2011, two in 2012, and finally, the highest honor of three stars in 2018. At the restaurant, diners receive a poem instead of a menu, with each dish represented by a line of poetry. Chef Crenn describes her practice of tying food to language as “poetic culinaria.”

Canary melon (Cucumis melo), also known as Brilliant melon, is a winter melon with bright yellow skin (like a canary bird) and pale green inner flesh. Also known as casaba, Santa Claus melon, and Spanish melon, the fruit’s hard rind has a smooth, waxy feel, setting it apart from the rough-textured cantaloupe. Though they have a sweet flavor, Canary melons lack the fragrant, floral aroma of cantaloupe and honeydew melons, making them an excellent option for more savory preparations, like this grilled-and-roasted fruit salad recipe from Chef Dominique Crenn.

As a winter melon, these fruits have a longer shelf life and later growing season, like pumpkins—you’re more likely to find them alongside pumpkins than watermelons.

Before carving, gather two large bowls: one for the melon meat trim and seeds and the other for the melon rind. Here’s how to carve a melon:

1. 1. Remove the ends. Using a chef’s knife, cut both ends off the melon, then place it flat-side down on a cutting board.
2. 2. Carve away the rind. Holding the top of the melon still, slice downward along the curve of the melon’s flesh to carve away the rind. You can reserve these trims for use in a melon vinaigrette later, if desired, by placing them in one of the large bowls. Next, turn the melon to continue carving the next section of rind. Trim any areas from the melon that feel hard or look lighter in color.
3. 3. Halve the melon. Place the skinned melon on a clean kitchen towel to prevent sliding, then cut the melon in half.
4. 4. Remove the seeds. Using a spoon, scoop out the interior seeds and place them into the other large bowl.