Fish baked in a salt crust...

[qmax]

Tried this for the first time last night.

Got a couple of whole striped bass, about a lb each.

Cavity stuffed with fresh thyme, rosemary and crushed garlic. Then encased in a thick layer of kosher salt mixed with egg whites, almost like a cement.

Baked for a bit more than 25 minutes.

Ended up with fish that was completely cooked but unbelievably moist and flavorful, not salty at all.
The salt crust kept the moisture and flavor from the herbs and garlic in the fish. A little browned butter, squeeze of lemon, completely fabulous.

Anyone else tried this?

 

[Ekim]

Sounds very good. I heard of a similar technique for cooking steaks before, but not for fish.

 

[Chopstix]

Yes, I've done this before with great results as well. What happens is the fish gets steamed inside, while the steam rising out of the fish is absorbed away from the fish skin by the salt crust which is in turn getting baked dry and not turning soggy. All this results in a fish that's moist inside but perfectly dry and not soggy outside (as would have resulted if the fish were simply steamed naked.)

I've done this process for whole chicken as well as whole beef tenderloin too with incredibly good results.