Sea bream baked in a salt crust
Ingredients:
- Whole sea bream (2 × 600–700 g)
- Coarse sea salt (2.5 kg)
- Water (150–200 ml)
- Lemon (1)
- Parsley (6 sprigs)
- Olive oil (2 tbsp)
Method:
A salt shell that keeps the fish beautifully moist
Salt-baked sea bream looks like a small occasion, but the preparation is wonderfully simple. The crust traps moisture around the whole fish, leaving the flesh delicate and clean-tasting. Two sea bream of 600–700 g each serve four; allow about 50 minutes. Ask the fishmonger to gut them through a small belly opening, leaving the scales, skin, heads and tails intact. The salt is a cooking shell to discard, not a seasoning to eat.
Prepare the fish and salt
Heat the oven to 200°C, or 180°C fan. Pat the cleaned fish dry inside and out. Cut half the lemon into thin slices and put them in the belly cavities with the parsley. Close the belly edges together so salt cannot enter. Do not score the skin or add salt inside the fish.
Mix the coarse salt with 150 ml of water, adding a little more only if needed. It should feel like damp sand that holds together when squeezed, not a wet slurry. This version uses water alone, without egg whites. Line a large baking tray with parchment and make two beds of salt about 1 cm thick, slightly larger than the fish.
Build the crust and bake
Lay one fish on each bed and cover with the remaining salt, pressing it into a continuous shell about 1 cm thick. Keep the two mounds separate. If your tray or fish needs more coverage, use a little extra coarse salt rather than leaving gaps over the bodies.
Bake for 25–30 minutes, beginning to check at 25 minutes. Insert a probe through the crust into the thickest flesh behind the head, avoiding the backbone; aim for 63°C. Larger or thicker fish need longer, so use temperature rather than the clock alone. Leave the tray to rest for five minutes before opening.
Open and serve carefully
Crack the shell gently with the back of a spoon and lift away the pieces. Brush loose salt from the skin before peeling the upper skin back. Lift the upper fillets onto warm plates, remove the backbone and check for smaller bones, then lift the lower fillets away from their skin. Keep salt fragments away from the exposed flesh.
Finish with the olive oil and a little juice from the remaining lemon. Serve with boiled potatoes or a simple salad. Discard the crust and skins; the reward is the tender fish inside, which needs very little else.