Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Here is something I stumbled across on the web whilst researching trout salt levels

Salt Crusted Trout

3 kg cooking Salt
6 egg whites
Trout (cleaned)
Herbs and butter etc. as required.

Place salt in a bowl and add ½ herbs and egg whites – mix until damp and sticky
(add a little water or another egg white if necessary)
Pack cavity of fish with remaining herbs and butter etc.

Cover base of baking tray with a thin layer of mixture.
and place fish on the tray
Smother fish with remaining salt mix so fish looks mummified

Bake in oven at 220 degrees Celsius for 25 mins per kilo of fish
When cooked remove from oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes
Crack open hard salt crust with a hammer and remove chunks before serving.


Photo's courtesy of the WWW.

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How was it?

That looks like a lot of salt. 3 kg for one trout?

I reckon I will stick to wrapping the fish in foil

Yeah, I recon I'll use sea salt.
$0.33 / kg from Bunnings.
It'll cost more for the eggs.

Recipe also called for 2.5 kg of trout so there will probably be too much mix for a single fish.
(Photo's and recipe were stolen from seperate websites.)

Zman, Havent tried it yet. have heard this works well with chicken as well.
The salt aparently does not flavour the meat, it just goes hard and forms a casing to steam in

3 Layers of foil instead of the salt does the trick too = Nice moist flesh.

Yep, works really well with fish and chicken. Did it on a lamb leg once too - also very nice.

Just use pool salt, it's fine !

Dies anyone have a recipe for the chicken one?

I know Embi does, but maybe try a google search of salt crusted chicken and see what pops up, there is sure to be something.

If the salt isn't flavoring the fish any, then you can get the same effect using clay. Somewhere in the US there's a restaurant that charges $200 a plate for clay-baked fish, but you can use any cheap clay you can find, even dig it out of your back yard if you want

I knew a potter that liked to roast whole chickens in clay. She was always raving about how good it was.

And the best pork and fish I ever ate came out of the ground. ie a fire pit where you bury the food under banana leaves in Papua New Guinea.

Perhaps there's something in it, but the second best came from a webber (BBQ with a lid).

I suspect it's just the ritual that makes it taste so good. That's why I drink so many toasts before my evening meal

A salt crust is a occaisionally used on the worlds best cooking show: IRON CHEF

I'm curious . If the salt does not have any effect on the flavour why put herbs in the salt mix ?

Have eaten whole snapper cooked in this way and it is amazing. The salt does add to the flavour of the fish slightly but it is actually quite nice, well it was with the snapper and I could imagine it would be even better with trout.