Jumping fish

Fish in salt crust

Watch our video!
Watch our video!
Close
  • 4 persons
  • cooking time: 60
  • difficulty

Ingredients

  • 1 whole fish of 53-ounce, cleaned (for example redfish or sea bass) or two smaller ones of 26 1/2 - 31 3/4 -ounce, cleaned
  • 1 fennel, chopped
  • ½ lemon, sliced
  • bunch of parsley, finely chopped
  • ½ bunch of dill
  • zest of ¼ orange
  • 88-ounce coarse sea salt
  • 4 egg whites
  • olive oil, extra virgin
  • Maldon sea salt

How to prepare

Christmas is around the corner. Time to get festive! And is there anything more festive on the Christmas table than a salt-crusted whole fish? It doesn’t only look amazing, it’s also super delicious and easy to prepare. Because of the salted crust, the flavour stays preserved, the fish won’t get dry and the texture is divine.

The article is written by Bart van Olphen in collaboration with Culy.

Preparation

  • 1 Preheat the oven to 355 Fahrenheit. Pay dry the fish. Fill the belly of the fish with fennel, lemon slices, parsley, dill and orange zest.
  • 2 Mix the salt with the egg whites and a few drops of cold water until it resembles moist sand. Add half of the mixture in an oven tray and place the fish on top. Cover the fish with the rest of the mixture. Make sure the fish is fully covered in salt. Place the tray in the oven. Bake the fish for 30-35 minutes (when the fish is around 35 1/3 -ounce) or 20-30 minutes when you have a smaller fish.
  • 3 Remove the fish from the oven. Carefully crack the top of the crust with the end of a big knife. Remove the salt and discard the skin from the top of the fish. Fold its skin to the side and carefully scoop out the fish. Make sure the fish and the salt stay apart when scooping.
  • 4 It might sound strange, but we promise you, it's very delicious: sprinkle with Maldon sea salt and olive oil.