Mmmm Salt Encrusted Baked Fish

"Nope - not salty & unbelievably easy! Bonus - cracking the salt shell at the table (dramatic in itself) reveals a perfectly cooked whole fish that retains its beautiful coloration! This is a great recipe for anyone trying to get the essence of fresh fish (salt or fresh-water) with the bonus of no added fat & ease preparation (yo! - beginner cooks & those with kids who want to help!). You can leave fish unadorned or add lemon & fresh herbs (fresh baby chervil, thyme, oregano, Italian parsley, chives, garlic cloves or scapes all work well). Directions are explicit & thus appear long - but really truly easy! Mmm good--there are so few foods that are so good & low calorie!"
 
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Ready In:
55mins
Ingredients:
5
Serves:
4
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ingredients

  • 3 lbs whole fish (gutted, scaled & gills cut out)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 14 cup fresh herb
  • 8 lbs kosher salt (not rock salt)
  • 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
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directions

  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • Line a pan 2 to 3 inches longer than the fish with aluminum foil (I have used cookie sheets covered in aluminum foil with aluminum foil lips for larger fish).
  • Pour the eggs whites into a large bowl. Add salt--goal is consistency of wet sand.
  • Layer 1 to 2 inches in pan. Make this layer several inches larger than the fish.
  • Rinse fish & pat dry, then lay onto salt.
  • Sprinkle 1/2 T zest over area fish will rest.
  • Stuff fish with herbs &/or diced lemon (pith removed from lemon first).
  • Lay fish onto salt bed, laying so that abdominal incision is covered (to avoid being filled with salt).
  • Pack wet salt mixture on & around fish. Pat down gently.
  • Bake 40 minutes (I add 10 -12 minutes for each additional pound of fish).
  • Remove from oven & let sit for 10 to 15 minutes (perfect for last minute table arranging).
  • Crack the salt shell with a mallet or heavy spoon & peel off chunks of shell to expose the fish.
  • Inhale! Admire the color of the fish (red snapper, sheepshead, strawberry grouper & Spanish mackerel all look brilliant) then lift top fillet from bone & serve (some small bone from fins will be in fillets). Don't forget the cheeks! Mmm!
  • Lift tail to remove back bone (often with the head) to get to the other side.
  • Clean up is to lift the foil & throw salt crust, bones & skin away.

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Reviews

  1. This is quite similar to my good ol' standby recipe from Patricia Wells' *At Home in Provence* cookbook and you are SO right that this is the only way to cook a fresh fish! Now, I do things a little differently: I squeeze a fresh lemon into the fish cavity, and stuff him (her?) with sprigs of whatever herb is handy in my garden---usually rosemary, parsley, thyme. Haven't used the egg whites, but that sounds as if it would bind that salt crust well. And I don't use quite as much sea salt---mainly because I never seem to have enough on hand! But less seems to work, and there is simply not a better way to enjoy a fat fresh fishy! Love your Buster photo, and your memoir about him, by the way. I'm a major kitty-lover myself.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>First about Buster: Buster moved onto whatever comes next on February 26, 2008. He was just shy of five years old. I miss him terribly. <br />He came into our lives when he ran out in front of my car late one night as I was driving home. A just under 4 pound ball of kitten fluff, complete with an ostrich boa tail that stayed straight up as he assessed his new domain. He became a 19 pound longhaired beast who guarded our house (he followed any new guests or servicepeople the entire time they are on the property) &amp; even killed copperheads (among other things with his hunting buddy, Fergus the short-tailed)! Friends never saw his formidible side as he smiled at them &amp; uttered the most incongruent kitten-like mews as he threaded legs! He liked to ride in the car &amp; came to the beach. <br />There are Buster-approved recipes in my offerings - however, HE decided which he wanted to consider - Buster demonstrated he liked pumpkin anything - ALOT -LOL!!! <br /> <br />Copperhead count 2006 - Buster 2 <br /> (10 inchers w/yellow tails) <br /> 2007 - Buster &amp; Roxie 1 <br /> (a 24 incher!) <br />Buster woken from beauty sleep - <br />http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/62264/DSCN0335.JPG <br />Big whiskers - <br />http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/62264/DSCN0333.JPG <br /> <br />For those of you who gave kind condolences - thank you so very much. <br />http://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=250301 <br /> <br /> <br />I love to cook &amp; incorporate techniques from Southern/Mid Atlantic roots (grits, eastern NC BBQ shoulders, Brunswick stew, steamed crabs &amp; shrimp &amp; shellfish, hushpuppies, cornbread, greens, shad roe, scrapple) with Pacific Rim foods &amp; techniques aquired while living in Pacific Northwest, fish &amp; game recipes learned while living in Rocky Mountain region &amp; foods/techniques learned travelling to the Big Island &amp; up into BC &amp; Alberta &amp; into the Caribbean. The Middle Eastern/African likes I have are remnants of my parents who lived for many years in North Africa &amp; Mediterranean before I was thought of. Makes for wide open cooking! <br /> <br />Since moving back east we try to go annually in the deep winter to Montreal (Old Montreal auberges &amp; La Reine) &amp; Quebec City (Winter Carnival &amp; Chateau Frontenac)- for unctuous foie gras &amp; real cheeses, French &amp; Canadian meals prepared &amp; served exquisitely, fantastic music &amp; wonderful people - with the cold helping burn off some of the calories! <br /> <br />I love putting in our aluminum jonboat &amp; heading across the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) to the barrier islands for foraging &amp; exploring! Bodysurfing is a lifelong sport for me - one that a person's body never seems to forget how to do, once the knack is learned (thank goodness!) <br /> <br />I especially miss cool summers &amp; foggy/drizzly days &amp; fall mushroom foraging/anytime of year hot springing in WA, OR, MT, ID, BC &amp; Alberta.</p>
 
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