Mallorca Feeling: Fish in Salt Crust
Last year we celebrated the birthday of a dear friend in Mallorca near Pollenca.
We surprised the passionate hobby cook with a private cooking course in our finca.
Of course the dish should be a typical Mediterranean dish and one that you don’t serve every day.
We decided on a fish in a salt crust, in addition pan potatoes and self-picked tomato-herbal salad from the organic garden of the finca as well as lots of Majorcan wine.
LUBINA AL SAL
Due to the preparation in the salt jacket, the fish cook gently and remain juicy and tender. The herbs give it a very special flavour. The beauty of this dish is that you can prepare it together and then eat it together.
Chef Michael Reljic, who has been living and working in Mallorca for several years, showed us how to prepare the fish correctly.
Michael has travelled the world a lot and has specialised in Mediterranean, Asian and healthy ecological cuisine.
He provides us with this wonderful recipe, which you can find below as a PDF to save and print:
Sea bass in a salt crust from the grill or in the oven
(This recipe is only suitable for whole fish, not for fillets!)
INGEDIENTS (for 4 persons):
- 1 sea bass (wild caught) approx. 2,2-2,6 KG- gutted but not scaled
- Approx. 7 kg coarse sea salt
- 2-3 Egg white
- 2 organic lemons, roughly diced
- 2 sprigs rosemary, the needles roughly chopped
- 4 sprigs thyme, coarsely chopped
- 2-3 branches/leaves herbs as desired for the filling
- 1 Chilli sliced
- 1 tuber of ginger, chopped or grated
Mix the egg whites and the chopped herbs as well as the ginger and chili with the salt.
Wash the fish, dab dry and fill with lemon and herbs. Besides rosemary and thyme, parsley and bay leaves are also suitable for the filling.
For preparation in the oven:
Preheat the oven (top and bottom heat) to 200-225 degrees.
Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and baking paper again, so that your baking tray is spared from any possible leaking liquid which could burn in and the fish can be easily removed from the crust later. Lay out the salt mixture and put the sea bass on it. Cover the fish with the rest of the mixture and put it in the oven.
The baking time is about 40 minutes plus 10 minutes rest time, depending on the appliance.
Then comes the big moment everyone has been waiting for:
Carefully break and open the salt cover, first at the sides and then take it off.
Enjoy the fish with its wonderful flavours!
For preparation on the grill (in roof tiles):
For this special preparation method you need:
Two large terracotta roof tiles (you are also called monk and nun) and a thin wire without insulation.
First heat the grill so that we have nice embers & fire afterwards.
Line the roof tile with the salt mixture, then place the fish filled with the lemon and herbs on top and spread the remaining mixture nicely evenly on top, then cover with monk or nun.
And tie it with the wire so that we can turn the fish over, we need stability.
Spread the embers a little bit. Put the fish in the tiles on the embers or fire for about 40 minutes. Also cover the top with some embers. We don’t want to turn the fish too often, because the tiles might break.
Download the recipe as PDF here
It is possible that some lemon juice leaks out and may be responsible for the bricks getting cracked.
Therefore a little tip: You can also use more egg whites, so the mass holds together better, even if the bricks break.
After the 40 minutes, take the bricks out of the fire and let them rest for another 10 minutes.
Then remove the salt cover as described above and enjoy the fish with its wonderful aromas!
Tip: You also want to celebrate a party in Mallorca? Then I recommend Michael Reljic Privatkoch & Catering
We have already celebrated several parties including our wedding on Mallorca and we are planning another party on the island for next year.
Especially the otherwise so big celebrations, like round birthdays or weddings, we prefer to celebrate in a small frame. So you can exchange your thoughts and experiences much more intensively, create common memories (also of the dish cooked together) and the moment gets a different quality than a party with hundreds of friends & relatives.
What do you think about that? Are you rather team “Big Party” or team “Small Circle”? Have you already celebrated a party on Mallorca?
