Baked Sea Bream in Salt Crust

Baked sea bream in a salt crust is a classic of Mediterranean cuisine that enhances the delicate flavor of the fish by keeping it juicy and moist during cooking. Here’s how to prepare it:

Ingredients

• 2 sea breams of about 400-500 grams each, gutted and scaled
• 3 kg of coarse salt
• 2 egg whites
• Herbs to taste (for example, rosemary, sage, thyme, lemon slices)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
2. In a sufficiently large bowl, mix the coarse salt with the egg whites. Also add a bit of water, if necessary, to get a moist consistency but not too wet, almost like wet sand that can be shaped.
3. Rub the inside of the sea breams with the chosen herbs. You can also insert some lemon slices or aromatic herbs inside the fish’s belly cavity for an extra flavor.
4. Create a layer of coarse salt on the bottom of a baking dish, thick enough to accommodate the sea breams without them directly touching the dish.
5. Lay the sea breams on the salt layer and cover them completely with the rest of the salt, pressing lightly to ensure that the fish is completely sealed by the salt crust.
6. Bake the sea breams at 200 °C for about 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the sea breams. A good rule of thumb is to cook about 10 minutes for each 500 grams of fish.
7. Once cooked, break the salt crust with the help of a kitchen mallet or the back of a spoon, taking care not to break the skin of the sea bream.
8. Carefully remove the salt, take the fish out of the crust and serve immediately, perhaps with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of pepper.

Trivia

The salt crust baking is an ancient technique that allows to cook the fish uniformly while keeping its natural juices. Additionally, the salt creates a barrier that prevents odors from dispersing, concentrating the flavor inside the fish. There is no need to add extra salt to the fish as it absorbs the right amount of salt from the crust.