@baldchefnick Salt Baked Fish Recipe
I first had salt baked fish in Spain with my father 30 years ago in a restaurant on the beach in Benalmadena. We were given a 5lb sea bass as they didn’t have the 3lb we ordered and fortunately for us at the price of the 3lb. It was and still is my favourite food memory with my Dad and of course the best sea bass I have ever eaten.
Salt-baking is popular the world over. It is the method in which you surround your ingredient completely with salt, making a hard salt shell that encases moisture during the cooking process, it adds and retains flavour and cooks the food evenly.
Here I bake a fabulous Red snapper.
Serves 4
Prep time 30 mins
Cooking time 40 minutes (probed inside of the fish reaches 57c)
Ingredients
- 2 kg Sea Salt
- 8 Eggs – separated (use egg whites)
- A large bunch of Basil
- A large bunch of Parsley (chopped)
- A 1.5 kg whole Red Snapper (with or without scales and gutted)
- 2 Lemons and two Limes (sliced)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180c Fan and line a large roasting tin with foil. Mix your egg white into the salt adding slowly until the mixture is a damp sand/snow type texture and mix in the chopped parsley.
Spread 1/4 of the salt mixture into the centre of your tin lay your fish on top of it and fill the fishes cavity with sliced lemon, limes and basil.
Pack the remaining salt mixture around the fish to completely cover it.
Bake the fish for 35 – 45 minutes, until your inserted reads 57c.
Take the fish out the oven and allow to stand for ten minutes.
Crack the top of the salt crust and place the shards of salt in the bin. Dust off any excess salt with a pastry brush and remove the skin from the top. Filleting the fish carefully place fillet on a serving plate. Then turn the fish over and repeat.
Serve with wedges of lemon a drizzle of olive oil and a nice fresh salad.
Baldchefnicks tips n tricks
It can help you to keep the scales on some fish to remove the skin easily. Check the size of your tin fits the fish. Line it or your tin will be ruined. All fish vary in size and weight so definitely probe it at its thickest point until it reaches 57c.
Serve the delicate fillets with a wide spatula. Try baking root veg and even chicken and if you’re brave a beef fillet. Its messy but so worth it.
