Fish baked in salt, how to cook it in a salt shell flambé Step-by-step recipe for fish in a salt crust in Thai

Oven-baked fish is one of the easiest and healthiest dishes. Every housewife knows how to cook fish in the oven: on a bed of vegetables, in foil, whole or in pieces, in sauce or oil - there are many options. But have you ever tried salted fish, which is baked under a thick layer of sea salt? No? Then you should definitely try it!

What fish should I choose for this dish? Any fish can be cooked in the oven, but medium-sized and not too large fish are suitable for cooking under a salt crust. The classic choice for this dish is perch or pike perch, but other fish that don’t have a lot of bones and weigh 1-2 kg will also work.

Those who love fish, nature, river and sea trips will be interested in going on a real cruise along rivers and lakes. “Your River Agency” offers cruises on the motor ship Sergei ESENIN and other comfortable vessels. On such a trip you will not only be comfortable, but also interesting.

But let's return to our recipe for fish under salt in the oven. Properly cooked fish should not only taste good, but also look beautiful. This is why this recipe uses a large amount of salt and egg white, which help form a salt cocoon. Fish baked in salt looks very aesthetically pleasing, and that is why it is served in restaurants, putting on a whole show.

We first gut the fish, but do not remove the scales. It is the scales that prevent excess salt from getting inside.
Inside (in the abdomen) we put herbs - parsley, dill and rosemary, as well as unpeeled garlic cloves.
Mix sea salt with egg whites. Place part of the mixture on a baking sheet, put the fish on top, and cover with the rest of the salt mixture. The carp should be completely buried under salt.
Place the carp in the oven at 185 degrees. Baking fish in the oven takes only 30 minutes. The salt shell will take on a wheat color and become very hard.
In parallel with the fish, bake the potatoes directly in the skins.

The recipe for mushroom sauce from champignons will come in handy with fish baked with salt. Fish, potatoes and mushrooms are a classic, one might say traditional, combination. For this sauce, I prepare mushroom broth, which remains after boiling porcini mushrooms and butter. Believe me, this is something that should never be thrown away. You just need to freeze it in cubes in ice trays, and then cook delicious dishes based on it all winter.

Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry finely chopped champignons and onions in it.
Add butter and flour, mix well and fry for no more than a minute.
Add mushroom broth, stir well, bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
You can add chopped herbs to the finished sauce. The sauce is poured over portions of cooked fish and baked peeled potatoes.

The whole fish is baked in the oven, which means you need to divide it into portioned pieces ready-made, which greatly simplifies the matter. The scales will be removed along with the skin, and the bones will easily come away from the meat. You can divide the finished carp into portions using two forks.

Fish baked in salt is a recipe not only for restaurants, because everyone can afford to buy a whole pike perch, carp or perch. The ingredients for such a dish couldn’t be more affordable, and the ease of preparation will please everyone who doesn’t want to clean fish and wait a long time.

Also, many interesting recipes for cooking fish and more can be found at https://prosti-recepty.com/

Tags: carp, fish, fish in shell

About the author: porezeptu

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Recipe for oven-baked whole fish in salt.

6-8 servings

45 min.

Not difficult

In southern Italy, they often cook whole fish, and they especially like to bake it in salt. Any whole fish can be baked in salt, but first it must be gutted and cleaned. Make sure that the salt does not get into the cavity of the fish or under the skin. And most importantly: salt in this case is not used as a seasoning, it helps during baking. What happens is that in the oven, the salt turns into a dense crust, while the fish meat is protected from drying out. And the fish turns out very juicy, full of flavors.

The basic method of baking in salt involves adding a small amount of water and then coating the fish with the resulting mixture. If you are going to cook small bream, mullet or sardines, the layer of salt should be 1 cm thick, and for a large fish, about three kilograms (sea bass, for example), the layer of salt should be about 3 cm. I decided to add an egg to the salt to “case” ", in which the fish is baked, became very dense and hard. I also add fennel seeds along with lemon and orange zest to give the fish, among other things, a slight citrus flavor.

1Preheat the oven to 220°C. Stuff the fish with the herb mixture and lemon slices. Mix salt with orange and lemon zest, egg and fennel seeds. Pour in some water and stir. The mixture should look like wet sand. Sprinkle a 1cm layer of salt into the baking dish, making sure there is enough for each fish. Grease the fish with oil and place in the pan. Sprinkle the remaining salt on top and press with your palms. It is not necessary to cover the tails and heads.

2Bake the fish in the oven for 20-40 minutes. The duration of baking depends on the thickness of the salt layer, your oven, and the type and size of fish. Calculating the cooking time 100 percent accurately is quite difficult. So you'll have to try. Pierce the thickest part of the fish with a fork, hold it there for 10 seconds, then very quickly remove the fork and apply it to your lip. If the fork is warm, the fish is ready; if not, you need to wait a little longer. If you are still not sure, rake the salt and check if the meat comes off the bone well. If not, put the fish back in the oven. Serve directly in the form as is. Break the salt layer so that guests can witness this action (and prepare a separate container where you will put the salt).

For a festive lunch or dinner, you may like to serve cooked fish - having different sizes and depths. Beautiful designs and shades on the plates will satisfy the demand of any, even the most picky buyer.

The process of preparing fish in a salt shell:

Step 1. Clean and rinse the fish. Remove all entrails. You can leave the head.

Step 2. Line a baking dish with parchment and lightly grease it with oil.

Step 3. Mix salt and water in a deep plate.

If dry herbs are used when preparing salt-shelled fish, they can be added directly to the salt. Some recipes advise adding egg white to the salt, but even without this ingredient you can make a shell from wet salt. Add water in small quantities, while kneading the salt with your hands.

Eventually the salt should look like wet snow.

Step 4. Place a layer of salt on the parchment.

Step 5. Place the fish on the salt and cover it with salt, making a salt shell.

Step 6. Place the dish with the fish in the oven, preheated to 200 degrees. Bake until the salt turns brown. Typically this takes 20-30 minutes.

During this time, fish weighing up to 800-1100 grams has time to cook. If the fish is larger, then it is worth increasing the time by 10-20 minutes.

All! The fish in the salt shell is ready!

Before serving, the salt shell is removed and the remaining salt is shaken off.

Fish prepared in this way not only has excellent taste, but also elastic meat that easily separates from the bones.

Peculiarities

Initially, only poor fishermen prepared such fish, but thanks to its amazing taste, baking in salt became popular in the best restaurants in the world.

To prepare this dish, you need to know some features of product selection. Of course, it is best to purchase a fresh fish carcass, but you can also use fresh frozen fish. Species of marine fish with thick skin are considered more suitable:

mackerel;
catfish;
dorado;
chum salmon;
sea bass;
pink salmon.

Of the freshwater species, carp can be distinguished.

Mackerel

Chum salmon

If the fish is fresh, it is sold without packaging. This makes it possible to evaluate its smell. It shouldn't be too strong or fishy-sweet. Such meat is stale because it has already begun to decompose. It is better not to eat it. In addition, the surface of the fish should not be covered with a large amount of mucus. This is also evidence of its staleness. A high-quality carcass will be slightly moist and shiny, and the eyes of such a fish will be bright. Only spoiled carcasses have cloudy pupils.

If the product is freshly frozen, then it is often possible to evaluate only the appearance

Then you should pay attention to the color. It should be uniform, without yellow spots

The integrity of the carcass is also important. If it has dents, large chips, or is simply unattractively frozen, this indicates staleness and repeated defrosting.

After purchasing a product, it must be properly prepared. Frozen fish should thaw best naturally without water or a microwave. It will be enough to leave it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for several hours.

Then the carcass is cleaned of entrails and gills, which can cause the finished dish to taste bitter. Depending on aesthetic preferences, you can separate the head, trim the tail and fins. The film that covers the abdominal cavity from the inside is also removed. At the end, the fish is washed under running water.

Salted fish recipe

There are recipes for cooking dishes that are both simple and quick in the way they are prepared, but this does not mean that these dishes are in any way inferior in taste to more complex ones.

Today we will talk about one of these delicious dishes, namely fish in salt or in the shell!

The history of this recipe is associated with poor Italian fishermen who cooked freshly caught fish right on the shore.

The bottom of the pot was lined with salt, then the fish was placed, and a thick layer of salt was covered on top, then the pot was hung over the fire for 30-40 minutes.

Thus, during the cooking process, the fish ended up in a dense salted shell, sealing all the juices and aroma in it, baking from the inside.

The beauty of this recipe for fishermen was that there was no need to scale the fish, it didn’t take much time to prepare it, and the taste was simply amazing.

Nowadays, fish in the shell is served in good expensive restaurants, and this dish occupies a very honorable place.

What is the best fish to bake in salt?

For cooking fish in the shell, sea fish is better suited, since its thick skin will prevent the fish from being over-salted, acting as a barrier and a guarantor of its level of salting.

It is important to choose the freshest fish; the following are good for our recipe:

pink salmon,
salmon,
coho salmon,
chum salmon,
sea bass,
catfish,
flounder,
dorado,
mullet,
mackerel and others.

What salt should you use to cook fish in the shell?

To cook fish in salt, you need to use a mixture of fine and coarse sea salt (1:2). Add some water and egg whites to the salt.

How to bake fish in salt?

Place the carcass of fresh fish, cleaned of entrails (no need to peel the scales) and stuffed with spices, on a baking sheet onto which we have previously applied a thick layer of salt.

Cover the top of the fish with a thick layer of salt.

The salt should completely cover the fish so that not a single hole remains. Only in this case the fish will retain its juice and aroma as fully as possible.

Some cooks, to enhance the effect, also use foil, i.e. they lay salt - fish - salt on foil, compact it, and then wrap everything tightly - cover it with foil.

Usually fish in salt is baked in the oven; you can also cook this dish over a fire.

Typically, fish in salt is baked in the oven at 200C for 15 minutes for every 450 g of weight.

The readiness of such fish can be checked this way: pierce the salt and fish with a metal skewer, and then apply it to the chin for a few seconds - if the metal is very warm, the fish is ready.

For more details and clarity, watch this video.

How to bake fish in salt in the oven?

To prepare fish in a salt shell, prepare the following ingredients:

fresh - 1 piece (weight approximately 700-800 grams);
egg whites - 2 pieces;
lemon - 3-4 slices;
rosemary - 1-2 sprigs;
thyme - 1 sprig;
white pepper - to taste;
ground sweet paprika - less than 0.5 teaspoon;
coarse sea salt - 1-1.5 kg;
fine sea salt - 1 kg.

Cooking process:

Step 1. Preparing the fish: gut the fish, remove scales and rinse well.
Step 2. Place lemon slices, rosemary, thyme inside the belly of the fish and season with pepper.
Step 3. Preparing salt: mix coarse salt with fine salt, add paprika and add egg whites and 70-80 grams of water to moisten the salt (the key to good bonding in the oven), mix everything thoroughly.
Step 4. Divide the appropriately prepared salt mixture into two parts, place one of them on parchment lined on a baking sheet in the shape of a fish, put the fish on top, and cover it with the rest of the salt. In the oven, the salt mixture will set and form a shell.
Step 5. Place the baking sheet with the fish in the oven and bake at 200 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.
Step 6. The fish is ready, tap the shell so that it cracks and carefully remove the fish, place it on a plate and enjoy the taste!

The dish can be served with or without a side dish; boiled potatoes with butter and herbs are a good side dish; you can also grill vegetables, such as bell peppers, broccoli or cauliflower, the choice is yours.

Bon appetit!

How to cook “Fish baked in salt”

We wash our fish and dry them with paper towels.

Now let's cut the fish. We rip open the belly with a knife and take out absolutely everything from it. It is imperative to remove the gills, which give a bitter taste. They definitely need to be pulled out. It is not necessary to remove scales from the fish.

We wash the fish again (from the inside too) and dry it. Place lemon and seasonings inside (no need to add salt!).

Place baking paper on a baking sheet and pour salt onto it. Place the fish on the salt.

Cover the fish completely, except for the head and tail.

Place the fish in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for about 40 minutes. Serve fish with fresh herbs and cool white wine or beer.

The fish turns out very tasty and not too salty (as you might think). I wish you bon appetit

Important Tips and Recommendations

Sea fish is best suited for baking in salt, as its skin is thicker.
For this dish you need to mix coarse salt with fine salt. Small grains will fill the space between large ones.
You should not choose seasonings with different flavors. It will saturate the fish and kill its natural flavor.
It is recommended to choose sea salt, but you can also use regular salt. The main thing is that it is not iodized.
When placing a fish carcass in the shell, you need to be careful and attentive so that there are no gaps or holes left.
Do not put salt on the head of the fish; you can judge the readiness of the seafood product by the eyes. If the eyes turn white, the dish is ready.
And don't be afraid to over-salt the fish. If everything is done correctly, the dish will never become salty and will delight you with a delicious taste.

How to bake fish in a salt shell - original recipe

Cooking time: 1 hour
Number of servings: 5
Type of dish: Hot
Cuisine: Italian
Difficulty: Medium

Surely many of you have heard about an amazing recipe for preparing fish - fish in salt, fish in shell or fish baked in salt.

In this article we will teach you how to do it correctly.

Cooking fish in shell

Place foil on a baking sheet and spread half of the salt paste evenly onto this foil. Place the fish on this pillow, having first stuffed its belly with dill and parsley. Cover with a “blanket” of the second half of the paste. Do not cover it with foil under any circumstances; this may cause over-salting. Preheat the oven to two hundred degrees, place the dish to bake. Cooking time can be from half an hour to an hour - it depends on the size of the fish.

After the fish is baked, it must be cleaned of the salt crust. This crust may be quite hard, so first try removing it with a fork and knife. If that doesn’t work, take a kitchen hammer and gently tap the “shell.” Remove it completely from the fish and serve. Fish baked in salt in the oven in this way will become a real highlight of the table. Believe me, all your friends will ask for this recipe! Don't share, let it be your little secret.

Fish in salt in the oven - a recipe for cooking fish in a salt shell

This is one of the most original baking recipes. It is more expensive and labor-intensive than the previous one, but the effort is worth it. In the salt shell, even dry fillets turn out incredibly tender and tasty!

You will need:

1 salmon;
1 kg of coarse rock salt;
9 proteins.

For the sauce:

1 glass of white wine or champagne;
1-2 tbsp. capers;
125 g butter;
½ lemon;
salt to taste;
1 handful of tarragon leaves.

How to cook:

1. Combine the whites with salt and mix well.

2. Cover a baking sheet with wax paper and place the salt mixture on it, 3 cm thick. It is not necessary to lay out the entire bottom - the length of a section equal in size to the carcass is enough.

3. Gut the salmon, decapitate it, salt it inside and place it on the salt. Cover it with the remaining mixture on all sides, leaving only the tail outside.

4. Preheat the oven to 200°C and place a baking sheet in it. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

5. While the carcass is in the oven, prepare the sauce for it. Add capers to the pan and fry them for 30 minutes.

6. Pour in the wine and reduce it to half volume.

7. Add butter and stir until smooth. Add tarragon and juice of half a lemon. Add salt, stir and remove the sauce from the heat.

8. Remove the salmon from the oven and let it stand for 10 minutes. Crack the shell and remove it. Remove the skin from the carcass, separate the fillet from the backbone into portions.

Pour the sauce over the meat and garnish with herbs if desired. Serve to the table!

Preparation

1. Heat the oven to 200 C

2. Place the washed, paper towel-dried fish on baking paper and place on a baking sheet.

3. Sprinkle the fish thickly with salt. So that not a single uncovered area is visible.

4. Place the fish in the oven. It can stay there for 10-20, or maybe 40 minutes, depending on its size. If the fish is thick and large, it is necessary that, having baked on one side, it should be promptly turned over to the other. (I’ll say right away that I didn’t turn it over)

5. Flat fish is usually baked without turning for a maximum of 25 minutes. During this entire time there is no need to watch and monitor the baking. You just need to accurately note the time when the fish is placed on the sheet, and then look at its condition after 15 minutes. Subsequently, experience will tell you how long it will take to bake a fish of any size. The breed doesn't matter. It all depends on the size.

6. The main indicator of readiness is the hardening of the crust on the fish, which is checked by tapping it with any object: fork, knife, stick. Another visual indicator: drying out of the salt, some yellowing around the edges and in places where the salt layer is thinning, and sometimes even browning.

7. After removing the fish from the oven, do not rush to open it.

8. Place on a plate and let cool for 10-15 minutes.

Then break off the head, carefully remove the surface crust, trimmed from an alloy of salt, scales and skin.

10. Before you will be a clean, sparkling white surface of the fish, as if boiled in appearance, but different in taste.

11. After removing the crust from one side, do not rush to turn the fish over. Carefully free it from the insides first. Since they are lined with a special film that insulates them from the meat, with careful handling you can remove the insides so easily and cleanly that nothing will get on the meat.

12. Only after the insides have been pulled out can you turn the fish over onto the other side, but onto a clean dish in which you will serve it. Place the peeled side on the dish and remove the remaining crust.

13. The fish will be whole, but clean, naked, but ready for eating, and for use in other component dishes - salads, main dishes, appetizers.”

Now I want to add a few words from myself. This baking method is very unusual, but quite realistic, giving a very good result.

The taste of this fish is very soft and unobtrusive. There is no unpleasant odor or excess fat. The pieces are very juicy and structured. They don't turn into mush. But keep in mind that the fish is not salted at all, so you need to season the top with a sprinkle of lemon juice.

What initially confused me was that you couldn’t clean the insides. But, to my surprise, this did not affect the taste in any way. Indeed, the film that separates the entrails from the meat protects it from the penetration of odor and bitterness.

Will I cook this way again? Yes, definitely. But next time I’ll conduct an experiment and bake the fish, stripped of its entrails. Let's see what happens. And will there be a noticeable difference? It's no secret that William Vasilyevich sometimes likes to exaggerate and give greater significance to processes than they really are.

In my opinion, the best option is to use such fish in composite dishes that do not require heat treatment, or with a minimal amount of it.

Fish baked in salt - simple recipe in scales

You will need:

Fish.
Salt - I used 2 packs. I took the cheapest, largest one, and then threw it away.

Cooking fish:

We won’t clean the fish, if you desperately want to, just cut off the fins, but sometimes I don’t do that either. Wash it and start cooking.
Make a mattress for the fish on a baking sheet - add salt. The thickness of the layer is approximately a centimeter.
Place the fish on the salt (you don’t have to dry it), and make a blanket for the beauty on top - cover with another layer of salt. There is no need to completely cover - leave the head uncovered so that you can judge the readiness of the baked fish by looking at the eyes.
If the salt crumbles on the sides and does not want to completely cover the fish, lightly sprinkle with water, it will stick.
While you are fiddling with the blanket, turn on the oven and let it heat up to 200 degrees. Place the pan for about half an hour.
The time for baking fish in salt depends on the oven and the size of the heroine. In mine, 30 minutes is enough, you depend on the situation. The fish weighs two kilograms and takes 10 minutes longer to bake.

Or rather, look the fish in the eyes! just don’t expect her to wink – the fish has no time for that. The fish is ready when the eyes turn white.

Free the finished fish from salt. Clean it – not the most pleasant moment, I’ll be honest. Using a knife and fork, separate the skin along with the scales and open it. Remove the entrails, bones and head.

I can’t leave without advice, so I’ll share a useful trick for baking in salt:

Place several whole lemons on a baking sheet next to the fish. Baked lemons are delicious! Pour their juice over the finished dish - the aroma will fill the whole apartment!

What to serve baked fish with: Without bothering too much, I eat it with a vegetable side dish and salad. You can drizzle with olive oil and add a little pepper. There is no need to add salt as some of the salt will end up on the fillet. You can add potatoes baked in the oven as a side dish.

The best recipe for fish baked with salt in the oven

This is my favorite recipe to cook with. The meat turns out tender, juicy and even a little sweet. And most importantly, baking does not require complex components and extra effort.

Ingredients:

1 large fish (sea bass, dorado or carp);
1 kg of coarse salt;
0.5 bunch of dill.

How to bake:

1. Gut the carp and put greens in its belly.

2. Sprinkle salt thickly onto the baking sheet so that it covers the bottom. Place the carcass and sprinkle a thick layer of salt on top, covering the carcass completely on all sides.

3. Place the baking sheet in the oven, preheated to 180°C, and bake for 50-55 minutes.

4. Remove the cooked carp from the oven. Directly on the baking sheet, use the back of a knife to beat off the salt crust from the carcass. Remove the skin, remove the greens and separate the fillet from the bones.

You can serve the whole carp on a platter and cut it up after serving. Couscous with vegetables or boiled rice is perfect as a side dish.

And for starters, I really like river fish soup. The richness of the broth, the softness of the potatoes and the sweetness of the vegetables. Yum-yum, I recommend trying it