What does salt baking do to fish?

Technique and foods Typically delicate foods such as fish, chicken/poultry or vegetables are cooked using this method. In each case the aim is to lock in moisture, protect the food from drying, ensure even cooking, and maximise the flavour.

What is the best salt for cooking fish?

Ingredients you'll need Kosher salt : Use your favorite kosher salt, be it Morton or Diamond. Egg whites: The egg whites will serve as the glue that holds the salt crust together as the fish bakes. Citrus and herbs: You can use any combination of fresh herbs and citrus.

How long should you soak salt fish for?

Place the fish into a large bowl and pour boiling water over the fish. The water should cover the fish. Cover the bowl and let the saltfish soak overnight .

What is the salt baking technique?

Use your hands to mix the salt with egg whites in a large bowl until it feels like damp sand . The egg helps the salt form a hard shell during baking, making it easier to remove in large pieces. (If you feel confident, you can moisten the salt with water instead of egg whites, as the fishermen do.)

Is salt baked fish healthy?

It's easy to bake fish in a salt crust, since covering it with salt and heating it will suffice. It's also good for your health since the fish will preserve all its nutrients and flavour .

Is salt baked fish good?

Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff. Roasting a whole fish in a salt crust is an age-old technique. The salt coating seals in the moisture and steams the fish in its own juices, resulting in especially tender, richly flavored flesh .

Should fish be covered when baking?

How long to bake: For fillets and steaks, use a ruler to measure the thickness of the fish before cooking, then bake, uncovered , in the preheated 450°F oven 4 to 6 minutes per ½-inch thickness of fish.

Do you need to soak salted fish before cooking?

Soaking is the most important step in preparing salt cod . Most recipes say to soak for 24 hours. However, this is risky and may leave the fish too salty. About 48 hours is a better bet.

How to prepare salt fish quickly?

Add garlic, tomatoes, hot pepper, and salt to taste. Sauté for 1 to 2 minutes. Add shredded salt fish, tossing to mix, and reduce heat to low and let cook for 5 to 7 minutes, tossing every 2 to 3 minutes. Fold in green onions 1 minute before the dish is finished.

Does salt baked fish taste salty?

If it hasn't cooked through completely, the remaining uncooked egg white/salt mixture could cause the fish to taste too salty. I usually try to spread it ½-3/4 inches thick, but not more than that if possible.

What happens when you bake sea salt?

Unless you're using it as a sprinkling/finishing garnish, I don't recommend using flaky sea salt in baking recipes. Why? The large flakes don't dissolve or disperse evenly in doughs and batters, leaving crunchy, salty pockets in whatever you're baking .

What happens when you salt fish?

In the preparation of salted fish, water diffusing from the fish becomes saturated with the surrounding salt and is termed 'pickle'. Dry-salting results in a rapid loss of the weight of the fish, while with 'wet' salting, after an initial weight loss, there is a gradual weight gain .

Salt Baked Fish Recipe - We are not Martha (2024)

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You might be surprised to learn how easy it is to make salt baked fish... And the results are an incredibly moist and well-seasoned fish with a gorgeous presentation!

Salt Baked Fish Recipe - We are not Martha (1)

This post was originally sponsored by Morton Salt upon the launch of their Salting Sous Chef Alexa skill (which is no longer available to use). It has been edited to remove outdated information.

Jump to:

🐟 Why salt bake fish?
🛒 Buying whole fish
🗒 Ingredients
🍋 What to stuff fish with
🧂 How to salt bake fish
🥗 What to serve with
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

When was the last time you entered the kitchen just a little nervous for your next cooking or baking endeavor? That’s exactly how I felt when I decided to tackle salt baked fish.

I had heard about the cooking method of salt baking fish and had seen beautiful photos of salt baked fish, but I had never even thought about doing it for myself. Now that I have? I'm here to tell you how awesome it is!

I've recently become slightly obsessed with salting my food (thanks in part to Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat) and I've been working to learn all about the different types of salt, when the best time is to salt food, how much salt to use, etc.

When I first saw that you could bake a whole fish in an encasem*nt of salt, I thought it was a bit crazy. But after doing it, I'm now totally get it.

🐟 Why salt bake fish?

You may be wondering why the heck anyone would want to take a whole fish, cover it in salt, and bake it, right?

Well, besides the fact that it looks really pretty (obvi. quite important), the salt coating actually helps the heat of the oven cook the delicate fish evenly and gently without added cooking oils.

The end result is a super moist fish that's perfectly seasoned. And no, it's not overly salty because the fish's skin adds a layer of protection.

This technique is seriously awesome and I hope you'll try it out for yourself.

🛒 Buying whole fish

If you’re like me, you’re probably used to going to the grocery store and buying your fish already cut into filets. Working with whole fish can be intimidating if it’s your first time, but you can have the fish monger do most of the work, so it’s not as daunting.

Obviously, you’ll first have to make sure your local store sells whole fish, but if not, you can likely call ahead and ask the fish monger to save some for you.

I recommend asking them to clean and gut the fish for you, too, so you don’t have to do it yourself and by the time you bring it home, it’s ready for you to get cooking.

This was my first time ever preparing whole fish and I couldn’t get over how beautiful it was.

Salt Baked Fish Recipe - We are not Martha (2)

I got a 1-pound branzino and a 1.5-pound red snapper.

Sea bass, monkfish, or dorade would work well, too.

Salt Baked Fish Recipe - We are not Martha (3)

🗒 Ingredients

The main ingredients for salt baked fish are super basic, but there's lots you can do to add flavor and make the dish your own. Here's what you need for the basic fish (be sure to check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full instructions):

Whole fish like red snapper or branzino: I recommend 2-3 pounds, either 2 smaller fish or 1 large fish, cleaned and gutted
Coarse Kosher Salt
Egg whites

But you'll also want to stuff the fish with some tasty aromatics, including the herbs and citrus of your choice. See the next section for some ideas!

🍋 What to stuff fish with

Before salting and baking, you can stuff the cavity of the fish with anything you want, including fresh herbs, citrus, etc.. I experimented a bit and chose to use grapefruit slices, lime slices, and mint for the red snapper.

And for the branzino, I used onion, lemon slices, and parsley.

But you can feel free to get creative and use any herbs, spices, and citrus that you want! Other ideas include thyme sprigs, bay leaves, rosemary, cilantro, oregano, etc.

Because the fish monger prepared the fish for me, literally all I had to do was stuff it.

Salt Baked Fish Recipe - We are not Martha (4)

🧂 How to salt bake fish

Now it's time to get your salt mixture prepared. It consists of just coarse salt and egg whites.

🥗 What to serve with

Salt baked fish really goes with anything you might serve with regular fish, from salads to vegetable side dishes, and more. Here are some ideas:

Red Skin Mashed Potatoes
Blistered Green Beans
Chopped Kale Salad
Lemon Pepper Asparagus
Roasted Cauliflower Salad
Bacon Parmesan Brussels Sprouts
Sunshine Winter Citrus Salad

Salt Baked Fish Recipe - We are not Martha (11)

For more delicious fish recipes, check out my Grilled Mojito Swordfish and my Fresh Fish Tacos! But I think salt-baked is now one of my very favorite ways to enjoy fish!

Have you experimented with salt baking yet?

📖 Recipe

Salt Baked Fish

You might be surprised to learn how easy it is to make salt baked fish... And the results are an incredibly moist and well-seasoned fish with a gorgeous presentation!

4.50 from 2 votes

Ingredients

2-3 lbs. whole fish like red snapper or branzino (either 2 smaller fish or 1 large fish), cleaned and gutted
¼ grapefruit, sliced into rounds
½ lime, sliced into rounds
6-10 mint leaves
3 lb. box coarse kosher salt
6 large egg whites

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Stuff fish with grapefruit slices, lime slices, and mint leaves (see recipe notes for alternative stuffing)
In a large bowl, mix together kosher salt and egg whites until mixture resembles wet sand.
Spread about 1 cup of the mixture on the bottom of a large baking sheet to create a "bed" for the fish. Lay the fish on the bed. Use the rest of the salt mixture to completely coat the fish, gently pressing down.
Bake fish for about 30 minutes (or until fish has an internal temperature of about 135 degrees). Remove from oven and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
Use a mallet to gently crack the salt coating away from the fish.
Serve fish as is or remove the skin and fillet before serving.