You know when a restaurant charges you $40 for the whole grilled fish? That’s a complete waste of my money. Whether it’s a waste of yours depends on your income, inheritance, budget, your home’s proximity to a good fish shop and the restaurant’s sourcing and belief in sustainability, freshness and flavour.
Because once you have a decent fish at your home, any idiot can make this dish, as my mom would say.
And it’s going to cost you far less than at the restaurant. Because there are only two to three ingredients: fish, salt and optional egg white. So if your fish costs less than about $30, even including2 cups of coarse salt and labour costs (your own labour, that is), you’re still better off making this at home.
You can bake it or grill it. It doesn’t matter. The smokiness doesn’t get into the fish because it’s basically a fish mummy, coated as it is in salt.
You can even skip the egg white, which is what keeps the salt paste together, and just use more salt. It’s not as awesome when you crack open the fish after cooking, but it’s just as tasty. I only think this is important if you have a giant fish, like an eight-person fish, like a fish that could eat eight people.
And if you’re still not convinced by the math, go to your best fish shop and see what whole fish looks good. It could be anything: trout, cod, halibut, branzino, salmon, mackerel, yellow dory, whitefish, bluefish, striped bass, seabass, red snapper, orange roughy, Pacific cod, black cod, sardines, porgy.
Then check the price range. These’ll run you from $8 to about $35 depending on the fish, and you know most restaurants aren’t using the high-priced ones. And if they are, they’re not using large ones.
Oh, and I ate it with this Spanish, natural, private import wine from Carlania Cellar, which I bought from Origines:
80% macabeu and 20% trepat. Here’s the tech sheet for more info.
Preamble done.
Salt Baked Fish
Serves 2-4
About 2 cups coarse sea salt or kosher salt
4 egg whites, optional
1 large whole fish, cleaned (or 2 smaller fish, like trout or mackerel)
Combine the coarse salt and egg whites in a bowl. Place about a third of the mixture on a large baking sheet big enough to cover the bottom of the fish. Place the fish on top. Cover the rest of the fish with the rest of the salt.
Bake the fish for about 30 minutes at 400˚F.
You can wait 5 minutes here or not (if you’re not quite done making whatever you’re having for dinner; the fish won’t cool off too fast. I just roasted some green beans in the same dish).
Crack open the salt crush and remove the flesh from the skin. If you eat the skin, it’ll be incredibly salty. I like to pick off tiny bits of salt to season any fish flesh that needs it. It’s a good hit of umami. So. Delicious.
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