Sea Salt Crusted Pickerel With Shallot Sauce

By JimMac

Ingredients

• Pickerel
• 1 whole pickerel, 18″ long, cleaned and gutted
• 3 kg course sea salt
• 3 kg fine salt
• 6 egg whites
• 1 cup water
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1/2 bulb fennel, sliced
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 leek, sliced
• 2 sprigs thyme
• peppercorns
• Sauce
• 8 medium shallots, diced
• 60 g butter
• 2 Tbsp dry white wine
• 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 cups whipping cream

Details

Adapted from thefoodchannel.com

Preparation

Step 1

Pickerel
1. In a large bowl, combine salt, egg whites and water. Mix thoroughly.
2. Stuff cavity with herbs, lemon and fennel.
3. On a large baking sheet, pour 1/3 salt mixture in a bed the size of the fish. Place fish on top and cover with remaining salt.
4. Form a fish shape by pressing salt into fish and imprinting with a spoon for the scales and peppercorns for eyes.
5. Bake in a 300˚F oven for 2 ½ hours. Do not overcook—Chef Gojko says it’s better to serve the fish undercooked, than overcooked. The texture of the overdone fish will be compromised.

Sauce
1. In a small saucepan, sauté shallots in butter until translucent.
2. Add mustard, white wine and cream. Reduce over medium heat by 40%.
3. Season with salt and pepper and pass mixture through a fine sieve. Set aside.

Serving the Fish
1. With the tip of a sharp knife and a mallet, crack through the salt crust— being careful not to pierce the skin. Remove the fish from the salt crust and serve with shallot sauce.
Yield 6 servings