Salt Dome Red Snapper

A few days ago, I was at home, and That Wife texts me:

"Bought a whole red snapper.  Start researching how to cook it"

He does not look happy about this

I have never cooked a whole fish before, but I've watched enough Food Network to be dangerous.

So, after Googling it a while, and That Wife saying 'no' to the en papillote idea, I decided to go nuts and try a technique I had seen and never tried- Salt Dome. 

So, after looking up a bunch of recipes and burning an offering to Alton Brown, I went for it.

Preheated the oven to 450

Mixed 2 pounds of Kosher salt with 1/4 cup of water and made a dry paste.

Grabbed a disposable aluminum baking pan (In case we screwed it up, we could just throw the whole thing out and order chinese), and put down a thin layer of the salt paste

Put slices of lemon inside the body cavity of the fish, and cut off the dorsal, pectoral, and anal fins with kitchen shears

Covered the fish with the rest of the salt paste.

 Threw it in the oven and cooked it for about 40 minutes. Of course, with the fish completely encased, when it came out, it was a leap of faith that it was "done" since I could not use the instant read Thermometer

So, we cracked open the dome.

Looks... like a fish!

It turned out delicious.  Soft, moist, and with a great flavor.  Not salty at all (except a small part where the salt got inside the body cavity- be careful with that.), and not fishy.  the salt dome hardens into a rock, and traps in the steam, and just steams the fish to completion. 

Try this if you get a chance.  The disposable pan made clean up a breeze- just throw the whole thing out.