"The Price of Salt?" Nope: just a crust for fish

Those "in the know" will recognize the allusion. "The Price of Salt" is a novel that Patricia Highsmith, whom most of you DO know, wrote under a pseudonym. In it's time, it was a sensation, because (i) it was a lesbian themed novel (ii) that had a happy ending. If you look at the literature of the period, it is filled with suicides and despair. This one is not. And with Ms. Highsmith writing, you know it is well written.

Well, this has absolutely nothing to do with the recipe, except for the inclusion of salt. Baking under a crust of salt has a long tradition, in the same way that baking in clay does. I guess it was a way to preserve things from air, and keep them fresh, and also, because you could cook things for a long time, at a slow temperature, it was ideal. This recipe does not use a low temperature though; however, it does produce a delicious product that may overcome the fear that some of you have, in working with whole fish. Ready to get started?

First, get a whole fish, or a couple of whole fish, from your monger. Don't go for anything bigger than about 2 pounds or so. That's big enough for two people with good appetites. If you have more people than that, get more fish. The monger will gut and clean the fish for you, but leave the head and tail on. Have him or her scale it if you want, but you don't have to because... well, you'll find out.

When you're ready to cook, wash and dry the fish, and put it aside for a minute, and crank up the oven to 450. Now, make your crust. This is simple: you need plain old salt, flour and water. The ratios are 2:1:1, sort of. Two pounds of salt, 1 cup of flour, and 1 cup of water. Scale up or down as necessary, but keep that ratio. A pound of salt with half a cup of flour and half a cup of water will do a one pound plus fish nicely. Mix the dry ingredients and the water together. You'll get something like wet beach sand.

Put the fish on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then, put the salt mixture over the fish and encase it completely. Pretend you're in a Wagnerian opera and you're trying to hide Freia from the giants with piles of gold (obscure, I know, but you're smart. You'll get it).

Put this into the oven, and let it bake for 30 minutes. This is ideal for those of you who are scared of cooking a whole fish, because using this method, it's just about impossible to overcook the fish.

After the 30 minutes or so , get ready to do what is my favorite part of the recipe: take a strong object, like a meat pounder or a rolling pin or something like that and WHACK the salt coating, which will be dry, hard and slightly brown. The paper will p robably be slightly singed as well because - ok, let's review, what's the temperature at which paper burns (Sue, put down your hand. We know you know: here's a hint: Ray Bradbury wrote a book with the temperature in the title. It's about burning books. It's wonderful and scary. READ IT).

The crust will fall away and it will take the skin with it. It will leave behind what may very well be the moistest fish you have ever eaten, and it will NOT be salty. Don't believe me? Try it and send hate mail if it is.


Then, just cut the fish away from the skeleton and serve it forth, preferably with some pickled vegetables. I made pickled ramps and fiddleheads, using the bulbs of the ramps I used to make the pesto for the cheese fritters.

Oh, you want the pickling recipe? SURE. I'll give it to you next time around. I promise.

Give this a try. The price of salt is not high, and you'll have a wonderful, fancy presentation that will astonish people. You can smile at hoe easy it was , whisper "Grazie Annalena" and go on with your life.