Baking in salt is not difficult. You may have seen it presented in a restaurant by a waiter working table-side. The salt crust is cracked and removed with flourish. Inside the white salt dome lies perfectly cooked, moist fish. Baking fish in a salt crust creates a sort of oven within an oven. The salt seals in moisture steaming the fish inside. Because the salt absorbs the moisture, the texture of the fish is more like roasted than steamed fish.
Begin with the freshest fish you can find. Ask the fishmonger to clean the fish but leave on the head and tail. Good choices include: Tilapia, Striped Bass, Trout, Red Snapper and Salmon.
Use Kosher salt. For one whole fish 1.5 to 2 lbs pounds you will need several cups of salt up to 2 lbs, depending on how thick you mound the salt.
Place a layer of salt in the bottom of a roasting pan, jelly roll pan or half sheet. It should be firm, place your fish on top. Add whatever herbs you’re using to the cavity of the fish. Mound the remaining salt over the fish covering completely.
For about 2 lbs of fish, plan on roasting in a 400° oven for about 30 minutes. Checking with a thermometer during cooking time there is a risk of breaking the crust. If you uncertain, wait until the end of the cooking time and check it only one’s.
When the fish is done, remove it from the oven. Using your beautiful hammer and gently break the top crust and remove the skin. Brush and gently roll the skin will be easy to remove. Your top fillet will now be exposed and you can lift it right off the bone, to a platter.
Next, you should be able to lift the tail of the fish pulling toward the head. Now, you can remove the bottom fillet to the platter. A pastry brush can be used to gently brush away any salt that remains. A perfect sauce for this fish is a simple herb garlic olive oil mix with fresh lemon wedges, and you are done.
The beautiful town is Alghero situated an the west coast of the island of Sardinia, Italy
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Adri, this photo collection is so exquisite! Thank you for this terrific information as well.
My pleasure Amy! And thank you as always.
Adriana, thank you for sharing this photos. You know the more I look at your photos, the more I say… Thank you for your time for that interview… we will have another one some time :)
Thank you for your time.
-Neel
You are most welcome Neel. And thanks, always good to talk to you!