Salt crust enhances savory salmon dish
I can’t think of a dish, savory or sweet, that is not enhanced by a few grains of salt. Dug from the earth or harvested from the sea, salt has a billion-year-old history that only grows richer as we continue to learn about and appreciate its endless merits.
By mixing a few cups of kosher salt and some egg whites, you can create a salt crust in which to encase chicken, fish or vegetables. Although this technique has been used for centuries, it has recently garnered renewed popularity in restaurant and home kitchens. Many cultures claim to have invented this baking method — Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Iraq, China, to name a few.
The salt and egg white mixture becomes hard and seals the food as it bakes. The result is intensified flavor and moisture. Plus, it’s fun to get your hands into the salt dough (sort of like building a sandcastle) and it’s exciting to break the food out of its salt shell. With so much salt, you might think the food would be overly salty, but it is not. This process is used most frequently to roast whole fish, but it also adapts well to fillets. You can use just about any fish, but make
sure it is gutted so you can fill the cavity with herbs and citrus. Brushing olive oil over the exterior of the fish aids in preventing the salt from penetrating the skin. A chicken encased in salt remains juicy and full of flavor. Salt roasting vegetables such as beets and sweet potatoes keeps them moist and seasoned from the outside in. Potatoes baked in a salt crust have a moist creamy interior and crisp skin.