A Bass in Salt

A fresh bass is a beautiful fish, and this is a very stylish way of cooking it whole. The thick white flakes, tinged with browns and pinks, are mouth-wateringly juicy and the whole affair is somehow sultanic in splendour.

You want a whole fish, with its head and tail, gutted but not scaled – the fresher the fish, the more scales it will retain. If they slide off en masse beneath your fingers, it is not fresh enough.