Sea Bass in Salt Recipe
On
a recent trip to Cordoba Kirsty and I were staying out in the El Brillante
district to the north of the city centre.
We were walking into town one lunchtime and spotted a row of small
bars on a side street offering menús
del día so
we decided to try one.
The owner, Pepe, suggested we try the lubina
salteado
as it was the speciality of the house.
It certainly looked impressive on the plates of other customers so
we took his advice.
What
a magnificent choice.
I’d seen it in other restaurants but never really fancied it
because I thought it would be terribly salty but that just isn’t the
case. The
salt hardens in the oven allowing all the tasty juices inside the fish to
be retained then the salt breaks off in big chunks after cooking which
leaves a perfectly cooked fish with hardly a trace of salty flavour.
The
dish is very simple to make using an ancient technique common to many
cultures:
Gypsies
have put hedgehogs in clay and baked them over a fire.
Maoris have dug pits in the sand, wrapped pigs and fish in banana
leaves and cooked them over hot sticks.
Chinese and Indians have used terracotta bricks.
Ingredients (Serves
4)
1 x 1.25kg (31b) bass or bream,
scaled, gutted and washed
2.75kg
(61b) coarse sea salt
Melted
butter and wedges of lemon, to serve
Instructions
 Put
a layer of salt in a big, deep casserole up to a depth of 3cm (I'/,
inches) and lay the fish on its back on top.
Cover completely with the rest of the salt.
Bake in a very hot preheated oven, 220'C/425'F (gas mark 7), for
about 35 minutes.
When
you remove the casserole from the oven knock the bottom of it to loosen
the salt block.
Then carefully knock the salt from around the fish.
Serve at once with the hot melted butter and lemon wedges.
If
you want to add extra flavour simply add a combination of butter,
tarragon, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper into the belly of the fish and
close the opening before cooking.
This
method of preventing the flavours of the fish from escaping could be used
for cooking many other fish and meat dishes.
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