Red Snapper in Salt Crust

Salted Snapper Recipe

Salted whole red snapper before being cooked. Recipe and photo submission by a Salt River Lobster customer.
Prepared salted snapper after being cooked, skinned and filleted. Recipe and photo submission by a Salt River Lobster customer.

This recipe comes to us via customer Irene Glowinski, who brought our attention to it with pictures of her preparation, which was actually a six-pound whole snapper!  The source blog, with a review of the cookbook containing the recipe, can be found here.

Red Snapper Ingredients

Yield: about 2 servings, more with a larger fish

  • Lemon slices
  • Several sprigs of flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 Sea bass or other suitable whole fish, about 1.5 pounds, cleaned and scaled
  • 4 cups sea salt or kosher salt
  • 3 Egg whites
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Lemon wedges  

Red Snapper Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  
  2. Tuck the lemon slices and parsley sprigs into the cavity of the fish.  
  3. Combine the salt, egg whites, and a 1/4 cup of water in a bowl, mixing well until the salt has the consistency of damp sand.  (If the mixture feels too wet, add more salt; if too dry, stir in a bit more water).
  4. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet (or any other baking dish) with foil or parchment paper. Using half of the damp salt, form a bed for the fish. Place the fish on top, and pack the remaining salt over it to form a covering.
  5. Bake the fish to an internal temperature of 135 – 140 degrees, for about 25 minutes. You can just poke an instant-read thermometer right through the salt, and into the fish. Remove the fish from the oven and let it stand for 10 minutes.
  6. With the back of a wooden spoon, crack and remove the hard, pale brown crust of salt.  Remove the skin and fillet the fish.  Serve with your best olive oil and lemon wedges.