Steelhead Trout Baked Whole in Sea Salt

Name: Steelhead Trout Baked Whole in Sea Salt
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 1 steelhead trout, scaled and cleaned; Salt and freshly ground pepper; Salt and freshly ground pepper; 2½ lb (about 7 cups) natural coarse sea salt; A large bunch of fresh fennel leaves and stalks

Preparation info

Serve
4 to 6
unless otherwise stated.

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Two Fat Ladies Obsessions

By Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright

Published 1999

About

I think it was the Chinese who first cooked a whole fish, or indeed a whole chicken or other type of poultry, in a mountain of sea salt. It looks very impressive, and in the case of fish makes it a lot easier to get it right and not over-cook your fish. It is very important to use coarse sea salt, or it will not form a crust.

Ingredients

1 steelhead trout, scaled and cleaned
Salt and freshly ground pepper
A large bunch of fresh fennel leaves and stalks
2½

Method

Season the inside of the trout well with salt and pepper, and fill the stomach cavity with the fennel leaves and stalks (unchopped). Cover the bottom of a large roasting pan with a layer of salt, ½ inch deep. Place the trout on top of the salt. Pile the rest of the salt over the fish so that it is completely covered by at least ½ inch all over. Don’t worry if the head and tail protrude slightly