Dorada a la Sal Murciana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Sturdy rimmed baking tray, about 40 by 30cm
• •Baking parchment
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Heavy serving spoon for cracking the crust
• •Dry pastry brush
• •Fish slice or broad spatula

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the bream

   Heat the oven to 200°C conventional or 180°C fan. Check that the bream has been gutted and that the gills are removed, but leave every scale in place. Rinse the cavity only if needed, then dry the fish thoroughly inside and out. Put nothing in the cavity and add no salt to the flesh. If the belly was slit during cleaning, press the cut edges together so coarse salt cannot be packed inside.

2. 2

   Make the salt crust

   Tip the coarse salt into a large bowl and work in the 200ml cold water with both hands. The salt is ready when a squeezed handful holds together like damp beach sand without dripping. Pésalo, no lo adivines. Too dry and the covering falls apart; soaking wet salt dissolves against the fish instead of forming a firm shell.

   Use sal gruesa or another coarse sea salt. Fine table salt makes a dense, overly salty paste and is much harder to lift away cleanly.
3. 3

   Seal the fish

   Line a sturdy baking tray with parchment. Spread about one third of the damp salt into a bed 1cm thick and slightly larger than the fish. Lay the bream flat on top, then cover the head and body with the remaining salt, packing it into an even layer 1 to 1.5cm thick. The tail fin may remain outside, but seal the salt firmly around its base. Pat the surface smooth and close every crack. That complete seal is what keeps the fish moist.

4. 4

   Bake to the centre

   Bake on the middle shelf for 30 minutes, then test the thickest part just behind the head with an instant-read thermometer pushed through the crust from above. Continue baking until it reaches 63°C, usually 30 to 35 minutes for a 1.4 to 1.6kg bream. The crust should be firm and dry, with a faint beige colour at its highest points. Remove the tray and rest the fish for 5 minutes.

5. 5

   Crack and clean

   Tap around the crust with the back of a heavy spoon until it breaks, working near the outer edge rather than striking down into the fish. Lift the salt away in large slabs. Before touching the skin, brush off every loose crystal with a dry pastry brush or folded kitchen paper. Do this patiently. Salt left on top will tumble onto the flesh as soon as the skin comes away.

6. 6

   Lift the fillets

   Cut through the skin along the back and behind the head, then peel the upper skin away. Lift the two top fillets from the backbone with a fish slice and set them on a warm platter. Remove the head and backbone in one piece, then lift the bottom fillets. Spoon over the olive oil and offer lemon at the table. Add no more salt. You have already used 2.5kg, which ought to settle the matter.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the fish before you buy anything else. A fresh dorada has clear, rounded eyes, bright red gills, firm shining skin, and a clean smell of the sea. Wild dorada is especially good in autumn, but a very fresh, responsibly raised fish is better than a tired wild one. Sourcing wins.
• •Tell the fishmonger exactly what you need: gutted through the gills if possible, gills removed, scales left on. The scales form the useful barrier between the salt and the flesh. A fish scraped clean for ordinary roasting is the wrong fish for this method.
• •No dorada where you are? Use a whole lubina, European sea bass, weighing 1.4 to 1.6kg and cook it to the same internal temperature. The flesh will be slightly softer and milder, but it belongs naturally under a salt crust.
• •Use a thermometer the first time. Fish shape and oven accuracy matter more than a neat minutes-per-kilo rule, and the tiny hole in the finished crust costs the dish nothing.
• •Serve with a dry Macabeo from Jumilla or another young, clean white wine. The fish needs freshness beside it, not oak or sweetness.

Advance Preparation

• •Have the fish cleaned up to 4 hours ahead, dry it well, and keep it uncovered on a tray in the coldest part of the refrigerator. The dry skin helps keep the salt shell from dissolving against it.
• •The salt can be measured earlier in the day, but add the water and build the crust only when the oven is hot. Damp salt left standing begins to compact.
• •This dish should not be baked ahead. Rest it for 5 minutes, crack the crust, and serve at once. Cooked leftovers keep covered in the refrigerator for 1 day and are best eaten cold rather than reheated until dry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 170g)