Salt-covered Fish
Can’t believe I did this. I’ve seen it many times on cooking shows, but have been wary of trying it until now. Anyway, while shopping a couple of weeks ago at Costco, I bought some whole black bass. Gary asked, “what are you going to do with those?” I don’t usually cook whole fish. Then last night, he found out! I felt adventurous and pulled up a recipe from “Food Network”, courtesy of Anne Burrell.
I was really apprehensive about encasing the fish in a “salt dome.” (Gary’s a salt snob.) Not to be detoured by that, I moved forward. It was a lot of fun to do, but kind of a mess. When Gary got home and saw these two mounds of browned salt, and began the traditional rolling-of-the-eyes, big! Ha…
During the “attack of the dome” (aka breaking the salt from around the fish), salt went hither and yon; over cabinets onto the floor, behind the cutting board and so forth. (Next time, I’ll remedy this problem.)
Now the fish is exposed, and I’m thinking … ok Anne, come and remove these filets! ha So, being as gentle as possible, I removed the lemons and thyme from inside the cavity and began to peel back the skin. Pretty easy. Pulling the filets from the backbone was not hard, but does take some skill. I have not perfected this skill, as of yet, so our filets were … let’s just say, not in one piece. (Babyfoodish.) It was easy to pull out the backbone after the first filet was removed, to get to the back piece of fish.
The results were fabulous! We both were amazed at how mild, moist and flaky the fish was. Not too salty, great flavor. I even got a “high five!” I really need to work on presentation!
Cooking to Eat Well 