New Year’s Eve, often referred to as “amateur night” by many in the restaurant business, mercifully will find this seasoned chef at home with family and friends, calmly celebrating the end of another year with lots of good food and plenty of good cheer. It’s been a good year.
This New Year’s Eve I’m looking forward to the fun I’ll have in my kitchen as I tinker with an age-old method of cooking that promises to yield a tasty, elegant fish dish. It’s called “salt-crusting,” a method of baking food wholly encased in a layer of salt, which seals in all of the food’s natural juices. It’s become quite stylish to cook in this manner, but the Chinese came up with the idea well over a thousand years ago. Once again, I’m captivated by the realization that what is old is new again. And, as always, I marvel at the simplicity that lies at the heart of the best cookery.
I’ve decided to salt-crust an absolutely delicious fish called Branzino, a European sea bass that I had for the first time at La Piazza in Forest Park. Chef/owner Gaetano DiBenedetto features this great tasting fish as a daily special (when available), and he does it superbly.
If you want to try salt-crusting at home, you can get Branzino at L. Isaacson and Stein Fish Company on the corner of Halsted and Fulton streets (just north of Lake Street) in Chicago. If you haven’t been there yet, go. The huge selection of fish and shellfish is absolutely fresh and the price is better than you’ll find at any supermarket. Branzino last week was only $5.95 per pound.
Other fish, such as red snapper, can be salt-crusted, and you can even salt-crust a whole chicken or a beef rib roast. It’s also a great way to do whole new potatoes. Here’s how I do the bass. And have a Happy New Year!
Salt-crusted Branzino
pound butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 (1 pound) whole Branzini, scaled and gutted
2 pounds kosher salt
3 (or more) large egg whites
2 tablespoons cold water
2 sprigs fresh thyme
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Melt the butter in a small sauce pan and cook until it browns slightly.
Whisk in the lemon juice and set aside in a warm place.
Rinse the fish and dry with paper towels.
Place a sprig of thyme in the cavity of each fish.
Whisk the egg whites in a large mixing bowl with the water and salt. It should look like wet sand and hold together when you press it. If not, add another egg white.
Place 1/3 of the mixture on the bottom of a baking dish that is slightly longer than the fish.
Place the fish on top of the salt mixture.
Cover each fish completely with the remaining salt mixture and pat it down firmly.
Bake the fish in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes (until an instant read thermometer reads 125 to 130 degrees).
Bring the fish to the table, crack the salt crust with a mallet or small hammer, and discard the salt.
Carefully lift the fish from the bones and serve with the melted brown butter.