A Fish Worth Its Salt

Salt Crusted Striped Bass.  Photo:  Paul Giannini

Pouring over cooking magazines for inspiration, I recently came across a recipe for a salt-crusted standing rib roast.  I was intrigued.  While doing research for the Feast of the Seven Fish, I learned that fish baked in salt (Pesce Al Sale) was a common dish on the Italian table – especially in the Liguria region.  I sensed a theme!

You’d think this technique would render the fish too salty but, unlike a salted fish like Baccala/Salt Cod, this method of cooking produces an immensely tasty fish that retains all its natural flavor.  The salt forms a hard crust around the fish that seals in moisture and basically steams the fish inside. Because the fish absorbs the moisture, the texture is more like a roasted fish.  Once the fish is baked, the salt crust is cracked and removed, revealing the most perfectly cooked, moist and flavorful fish I’ve ever tasted.  I’m hooked!

Now, I will tell you, cooking a whole fish terrified me a bit.  I like cooking on the edge but I’ve never cooked a whole fish and the concept of a head on fish makes me a bit queasy.  Plus I was doing this for an audience and I really didn’t want to mess up such a dramatic dish.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained and this dish is easy peasy.  So began my search for the perfect fish from the perfect fishmonger.

I was in DC at the time and had discovered and fell in love with the Maine Avenue Fish Market on a previous visit.  This place is the bees knees.  They’ve got an immense selection of fish and the quality is great.  If you go, bring a camera to capture the interesting mix of function, nostalgia and kitsch.  Maine Avenue Fish Market For this recipe, sea bass or salmon is typically recommended but I wanted to go with something local and just plucked from the water. The owner recommended the local rock fish that had just come from the Chesapeake Bay a few hours earlier.  Rock fish, he told me, is what the locals call striped bass.  Game on!!  He put it on ice for me and pointed me in the direction of a little shack where a bunch of comics dressed as fish cleaners gutted and scaled my prize catch for $1.   Oh, and the 4lb. fish cost me $11.  Move over Whole Foods, I’ve got a new DC fav!!

Note: This cool technique has an easy-but-dramatic factor that’s sure to impress!  You’ll need at least a 4lb. fresh whole fish.  You can also use salmon, tilapia or your favorite local fish but be sure to make sustainable choices to help keep our oceans plentiful. Sustainable Seafood

Recipe:  Salt-Crusted Striped Bass

Serves 4:  prep time about 10 minutes, bake time 30+ minutes

4 lb. whole striped bass, cleaned, gutted, scaled, fins removed, head and tail on

3 fresh rosemary sprigs plus 2 tbl. chopped rosemary

Salt & pepper (to flavor cavity of fish)

8 lb. box of coarse sea salt or kosher salt (you’ll probably only use 6)

1 ½  c. all purpose four

¼ - ½ c. water

½ c. extra virgin olive oil

2 tbl butter

4 tbl. fresh lemon juice (you can also use Meyer lemon for a more interesting flavor)

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400º.  Season the cavity of the fish with salt & pepper and a spring of rosemary.  Cover the bottom of a large oval casserole Cavity of fish, put sprig of rosemary  and sprinkle salt and pepper.  Cover the  bottom of a large oval casserole with sea or kosher salt and lay fish on this, placing one sprig of rosemary underneath it and one on top.  Cover the fish completely with the rest of the sea salt.

Mix the flour to a thin paste with water.  Brush the surface of the salt with the paste.  Bake fish in preheated 400 oven until the crust begins to brown – about 30 minutes

Bring casserole to the table and break the salt block.  Remove fish and transfer to a serving platter.   Remove the head and tail and remove the spinal bone of the fish by locating the “t” bone just below the head and gently cutting away the spine.  Or check out this video for the process:  You Tube Video.

Heat the oil and butter, before they begin to sizzle, stir in salt, pepper, lemon juice, and rosemary.  Drizzle over the fish and serve extra on the side.

(If you’re still not sold on the whole fish idea, grab your favorite white filet at your local market and use the sauce above as a marinade and topping.)