In fact, I almost reached for a pinch of salt when I finally got to eat it. You may be thinking that packing a fish in three pounds of salt might make the fish too salty. The yellow color in the salt is from the egg whites cooking Isn’t it too salty?

The egg whites help it to bind and also help it to keep its shape in the oven: without their proteins cooking and binding together, the salt would dry and fall apart. This version also calls for the addition of egg whites, which is also in line with ancient methods. Its texture makes it better for packing and forming into the bed and dome of salt. Granular table salt won’t cut it, but kosher salt-often labeled as “coarse kosher”- is what you want. And, in fact, one of the earliest records we have of this method-a fragment by Archestratus in the 4th century BC-is about cooking fish just like this. That even cooking lends itself particularly well to fish cookery. The salt diffuses the high heat and the water in the salt turns to steam, which all results in the food being cooked gently and quite evenly. Salt-crust cooking is an ancient method that has been independently developed in cuisines around the world wherein salt is moistened and packed completely around and on the food to be cooked before it is placed in a hot oven. Really the only trick to it is making sure the fish is cooked properly, and the ChefAlarm ® and Thermapen ® can make that almost certain. Salt-crusted snapper is a dish that is sure to make you look like a pro, but is actually extremely easy to make. If you’re cooking at home for Valentine’s Day 3 and want something that is fun, impressive, tasty, and intriguing, not to mention easy, I’d like to suggest you try salt-crust roasted snapper.

Whole red snapper recipes