Baking fish in coarse salt is one of the finest, simplest, and most flavorful ways to prepare it, for the salt crust acts as a moist “oven,” enveloping the entire fish and baking it gently and evenly.

Prepare for cooking:

Preheat the oven to 500°F. Cover the bottom of a baking dish just large enough to hold the fish with a ½-inch layer of:

Pat the fish dry and lay it on the salt. Pour enough salt over and around it to cover all of its surfaces by at least ¼ inch. Bake for 30 minutes. Poke through the salt into the thickest part of the fish with a thermometer. Remove the fish when it has reached 120°F; it will likely take 10 to 15 minutes more to reach this temperature. Remove the dish from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes (the fish will continue to cook).

Crack through the salt and carefully uncover the fish, brushing off all the salt. Transfer with a spatula to a serving platter. For serving whole fish, see here. Drizzle with:

Serve with: