Salt Packed Awesomeness

[merkaba93]

A very specific sized small adult chinook. I had 26 inches of pan and 26 inches of fish.
Lemon, Dill, Grapefruit, Tarragon and Fennel bulb in the cavity.
Par boiled new potatoes and onions to make a salad.
Beurre Blanc sauce.

[Skillet]

Interesting... Any more details about the treatment after the salt?

And, just curious - where did you source the fish? 

Thanks-

[merkaba93]

Interesting... Any more details about the treatment after the salt?

And, just curious - where did you source the fish? 

Thanks-

So it's a ratio of 10 cups sea salt (with some black peppercorns) to 1.5 cups water, looking for the consistency of wet sand. With this size fish I had to do multiple batches.
So with a normal baking sheet Id go ahead and bake it in the oven at 400 for 45-60 min. My original plan was to use the wood fire pizza oven to bake it since it wouldn't fit in the normal oven, but since it was so bitter cold out I decided to use Weber (that was being stored in a well vented garage).
When its done just crack open the salt and start peeling it off.

I caught the salmon this fall and vacuum packed it. It wasn't a particularly great year for salmon fishing for me. But I caught enough to leave the smallest one whole and do something new with it (though I have salt crusted fish before, just not salmon, and usually with a Thai twist to it). I was hoping for a super jack like 23-24 inches. But you get what you get.

[Angry Perch]

How much of the salt gets into the food?

[merkaba93]

How much of the salt gets into the food?

None really. As long as you don't scale the fish. So you're not eating the skin in this preparation. The potatoes have a small film of salt, but overall perfectly seasoned in my book.
Essentially you're creating your own clay pot around the fish. It insulates the meat so it cooks gently and comes out extremely moist and cooked evenly. 

[NOCK NOCK]

Interesting, That's my only way to do a rib roast, never thought about doing a fish that way. Will be trying it out.
Thanks for posting that.