Let’s Make Salt Baked Whole Fish!

~ Cantonese Style Salt Baked Kee Fish ~

You have probably heard, cooked or eaten Salt Baked Chicken before but Salt Baked Fish? For sure, the same technique used for whole chicken can be used for whole fish too. If you have unheard of this dish before, this is simply a large amount of salt covering a chicken or fish. There are, of course, more than one approach in making a Salt Baked dishes.

A more Western way will be to create a salt paste around the food. When baking is done, the layer of salt hardens and becomes crusty. The salt crust has to be broken with a knife in order to remove the baked food item(s).  The Cantonese Style involves a good kilogram of coarse salt used to cover all over a paper wrapped whole chicken or fish. As it may sound crazy to be using as much as a kilogram of coarse salt in the recipe, this unusual cooking method supposedly does not leave food salty. When fish is carefully unwrapped from the thin layers of paper, the “end product” will remain intact without salty coarse salt sticking to it.

My mum introduced the Cantonese Style of salt baked dish to the family since I was very young (perhaps 8 years old). She made Salt Baked Chicken with her very first AMC Wok unit on a gas stove. I can’t remember my exact age back then but I still remember the aroma from the baked salt was so good and the whole chicken drumstick was so succulent with sticky juices flowing down my little fingers to my palm.

In this recipe, instead of chicken, I am sharing Salt Baked Fish which I have tried out over the weekend. It is exactly the same method used for both, except that a whole chicken may require about 15 – 20 minutes depending on its size. A whole fish of 600 grams in room temperature requires 10 minutes baking time at a temperature around 98°C. The salt-baked aroma captured within the packed coarse salt leaves the fish flavourful, juicy and tender. It is so good! So next, I will be trying Salt Baked Chicken!

Cantonese Style Salt Baked Kee Fish Recipe (Serves 3-4) :

1. 1 600 grams Kee Fish (cleaned)
2. 1kg Coarse Salt
3. Some Black Pepper
4. 3 sheets Parchment Paper 30cm x 45cm
5. 2 sheets Aluminium Foil 30cm x 45cm

AMC Healthy Cooking Method :

1. Marinade Kee fish with black pepper.
2. Line the aluminium foils (shiny side down) to the bottom of an AMC 28cm Hot Pan unit. Pour half of the coarse salt into the lined pan unit. Spread evenly with a spoon.
3. Line the parchment papers on the coarse salt. Place fish on the parchment papers and wrap fish. Pour the remaining coarse salt onto the wrapped fish. Wrap all tightly with the aluminium foils.
4. Switch on Navigenio to automatic mode, “A”. Turn on Audiotherm and set 10 minutes to bake. Activate Audiotherm for automatic baking by attaching it on the lid knob and indicate 80°C or “Carrot Window”.
5. When Audiotherm beeps, turn off both Navigenio & Audiotherm.
6. Carefully unwrap aluminium foils (not to stain the pan with coarse salt), remove coarse salt covering the wrapped fish (not to tear parchment paper) and unwrap fish from parchment papers. Dish out the fish and serve warm.

Tips :  All AMC pots and pans units are made of 18/10 stainless steel materials. All stainless steel materials react when in contact with high amount of salt or acid. Too much salt or too much acid may lead to small, dot-shaped depressions in the pot base. It will not affect the functionality of the pot or hazardous but only appearance. Hence, be very careful handling the pots and pans when you are making Salt Baked dishes or any other dishes with high sodium or acidity levels!