Salt Baked Salmon | Jamie Oliver

We are going to cook a whole fish, in

salt

. It's a crazy old school method, you can do it at home and it's also great for cooking for a lot of people, let's do it. This dish is spectacular, your friends and family will love these bright, fresh flavors. A 5 kilo loaf like this will feed about 20 people. I bought a lot of rock

salt

, buy about 4 or 5 kilos or enough to cover the fish you are going to cook. So first, a little bit of water so that just a couple of eggs were cracked like this, just drag them out.

Just a little egg will allow the salt to become really firm like a shell. The salt will completely cover the fish, sealing in all the juices inside. Let's talk about our fish, I'm going to cook a big and beautiful one, a

salmon

. Just look at that, the gills are super red, the eyes look at the ones you know are fresh. Leave the scale set to cook in salt whenever I have it gutted, we don't want the salt to get into this cavity. So we're going to grab any fresh herbs we can get, so I've got fennel here, just tear it up.

I have a little bit of marjoram, some parsley, some chives, then I take a little bit of lemon that will create a little bit. humidity in the air is that simple. Get yourself a nice big tray, create a little base for the fish to go in, this is a big boy, but I'll do it at an angle, corner to corner and then just go over the top with the salt. You want about 2 centimeters of salt under the fish and on top and around the fish because when you heat that salt it will harden, it creates a kind of cocoon, a cave and then you take it out.

The oven continues to bake in the salt because this is an oven, this will be an oven. So when you look inside, you'll have the silkiest, most melt-in-your-mouth, juiciest fish you've ever seen and you'll think I'm mad, but when you see what it looks like when it's cooked, everything will change. We put it in the oven for 40 minutes and take a look, goodbye, fish. While it is cooking at 200 degrees Celsius, I am going to make the ultimate accompaniment: let's make proper mayonnaise. I'm going in with an egg yolk. Let's start blending this, I'm going to add a teaspoon of mustard.

You want to add about half a pint of oil; if you add it too quickly it will break, trust me. After the smooth oil, start adding a good extra virgin olive oil to liven it up and whatever you do, keep whisking. When you start doing this, you will cross the pain threshold, then you will be able to hold it differently and do more shoulder movements, of course, and you will undress again and then do more, a little bit of wrist action. Shoulder, wrist. Now squeeze in a little lemon juice and a splash of good quality vinegar and then season to taste.

But there's a secret: I have a little trick to make this Mayo stand out from the crowd: basil. What I want to do is get the basil essence out, okay. So I'm just going to break it up, put a good pinch of salt on it, and mash it up. I'll put a little bit of oil in there and then I'll have to sift out all those little bits and squeeze all the good stuff out of it. Normally I'm a little lazy: smash it, smash it, give it a big flavor, I don't care about all that, pork chop, but we're not in that place today.

I just did an impression of myself, and it was a hit. Well, back to this mayonnaise and look at the color change Homemade Basil Mayo, well, now back to the fish. It's been 40 minutes so test it with a knife. Hold it close to your lip, if it's warm and I mean a cup of tea for 10 minutes warm, beautiful, you don't want it hot because that means you've overcooked it. Then, let the fish continue to cook gently in its own salt cave for another 30 minutes - time to make an amazing sauce! You guessed it, I know, chile.

The punchy kick of the chili will work wonderfully with the fresh mint, in almost equal amounts, yin and yang. Add vinegar and olive oil and season, taste a little, HOO-HOO! Yeah! Now when it comes to serving, this meal really makes the entrance. What's for dinner? Salt fish. Sorry what? Yeah, fish in salt, and you just go and everyone's like, what's going on? And then you start dismantling this cocoon and everyone freaks out and then you start peeling off the skin and everyone goes ahh and then you start dividing it into portions and everyone goes ooo, anyway, move on.

The herbs here have kept the salt out and then they just peel that skin off, absolutely amazing, and look at that, by cooking it in salt, all the moisture has been sealed inside. It really is the juiciest fish you've ever had, Basil Mayo absolutely delicious, taking it to the next level and then our chilli oil. Every party has to have someone who's a little rude, you know what I mean, some dirty jokes, and this is our friend. You don't want it everywhere, but just in a corner of the table next to your mother-in-law is fine. And that, my friends, is fish cooked in salt, with amazing ninja mayonnaise!