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SALT ROASTING.
In the second cooking adventure of the weekend, I finally got around to trying a recipe I'd long wanted to attempt: Salt-roasting. The LA Times article where I originally found it made the product sound mouth-watering and the process seem very cool. Essentially, you gather an obscene amount of salt, mix it with water and fresh rosemary till you form a paste, cover the bottom of a baking dish, place your food on top of it, layer the rest of the mixture over your food, and shove it in a very hot oven. From there, it forms a hard, super-hot shell around your meal, creating a sort of oven within your oven. It comes out looking like this:
Then you crack the salt shell, extract your food, brush it off, and serve. The result is remarkable. The original article put it best: It's food that tastes exquisitely like itself. I made pork tenderloin and fingerling potatoes and the meal tasted like...pork tenderloin and fingerling potatoes, but more so, and more fresh and moist and fragrant than you knew it could. Here's what it looked like:
One of the best meals I've had in some time. Recipe below.
Note: The pork may be seared in advance.
2 tablespoons snipped rosemary leaves
6 cups coarse salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (1 1/4 -pound) pork tenderloin
1 pound fingerling potatoes, scrubbed but unpeeled
1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon minced shallots
1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the rosemary and the salt in a large mixing bowl and stir in 1 cup of water until the texture is that of gritty snow.
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil until the surface ripples. Pat the pork tenderloin dry with paper towels and sear it in the hot oil until it is browned on all sides, about 8 minutes.
3. While the pork is browning, spoon a layer of salt about one-fourth-inch thick in the bottom of a gratin or baking dish just big enough to hold the pork and the potatoes in a single layer.
4. When the pork is browned, pat it dry with a paper towel to remove any excess oil and place it in the gratin dish, laying it down the center. Arrange the potatoes around the outside and cover everything with the remaining salt.
5. Roast until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees, about 20 to 25 minutes. At this point, the pork will be quite moist but still a little pink. If you prefer the pork to be more cooked, push the temperature to 150, about 5 more minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and set aside 5 minutes to finish cooking.
6. With a sturdy metal spoon or chef's knife, chip a crack around the base of the salt crust and carefully lift off the top. Use a dry pastry brush to brush away any salt on the surface of the potatoes or the pork, turning the pork over to brush all sides. Transfer the pork to a carving board. Slice the pork into medallions one-fourth-inch thick and arrange on a serving platter. Place the potatoes in a medium bowl and toss with the shallots and butter just until coated, discarding any excess butter. Arrange the potatoes around the outside of the pork and serve immediately.
COMMENTS (26)
salt-baked fish is good too.
but, yes, definitely the best way to make taters.
Posted by: Atrios | December 16, 2007 11:37 PM
Pork?! Couldn't you at least call it "white steak" like they do in Israel?
Posted by: Lux | December 16, 2007 11:41 PM
Salt crusting was a frequently-used technique on Iron Chef (the Japanese one, not the lame American knockoff).
Posted by: Matvey | December 16, 2007 11:42 PM
Pork?! Some Jew you are.
Posted by: wareq | December 17, 2007 12:32 AM
I'm more a "media controlling" Jew than a Kosher Jew.
Posted by: Ezra | December 17, 2007 12:37 AM
Back in the day, you would have to be, like, Louis XIV to be able to eat a meal like that.
Posted by: Jason C. | December 17, 2007 1:08 AM
This approach is spectacular with fish, especially delicate-flavored low-oil fish, because it really saves them from getting dried out without changing their taste.
Posted by: anonymiss | December 17, 2007 1:22 AM
In my Jewish opinion, modern-day Jews should focus on not eating fast food over not eating pork.
Probability of getting trichinosis
And a comment from Atrios?? You've truly made it, Ezra.
Posted by: Media Glutton | December 17, 2007 1:25 AM
well at least you seem to have used kosher salt.
does the food taste salty? why does this method work so well? it kind of reminds me of brining.
Posted by: paul | December 17, 2007 7:44 AM
I'm more a "media controlling" Jew than a Kosher Jew.
Posted by: Ezra
Can't you be a "pulling the strings of our economic system" Jew, at least for a little while? It's kinda messed up right now, and could use a helping hand.
Posted by: low-tech cyclist | December 17, 2007 8:54 AM
">Speaking of pork.
Posted by: Gore/Edwards 08 | December 17, 2007 9:24 AM
i'm more a media-controlling jew
well, i guess there wont be meat and fish grinders on your wish list for making gefilte fish and chopped liver!
what, no recipes for noodle kugel?
and a good thing too...if you get into the art of ancestral cooking, you would hardly have a minute to blog...and the cholesterol!
oy vay!
Posted by: Anonymous | December 17, 2007 9:26 AM
Gary Taubes Salt Wars
Posted by: Floccina | December 17, 2007 9:37 AM
and also, that dinner did look beautiful, ezra!
...i always thought of roasting in an embankment of snow-white salt as a wonderfully serendipitous recipe..
others like that would be spinning sugar into bird's nests....years ago, i saw julia child creating caramelized, spun sugar bird's nests...it was miraculous.
also the jewel-like creations of marzipan fruits and vegetables are works of art by true pastry chefs.
also,floating islands are magical too!
and..buche du noels!
merry thoughts for the holidays from an armchair cook!
Posted by: jacqueline | December 17, 2007 9:43 AM
For those interested, Alton Brown has a recipe for this, with a lsightly different take.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_26998,00.html
Posted by: Ronnie Pudding | December 17, 2007 10:26 AM
OK, dumb question but can you somehow reuse the 6 cups of salt? 6 cups must be an entire 5lb box of kosher salt, no?
Posted by: eric | December 17, 2007 11:27 AM
So... can you re-use the salt? Or what? I imagine you'd have to grind it up somehow? But I'd hate to think that you have to just toss 6 cups of salt...?
Posted by: Nate | December 17, 2007 11:29 AM
Nate: you could use the salt, but it'll be flavored. If you want to make a poultry broth it might be good to throw a little in your stock.
I'm not a huge fan of salt-roasting, however. I've always found pre-roast searing to do the job fine, with much less hassle.
Posted by: Fnor | December 17, 2007 12:26 PM
You could put the used salt on your sidewalk to melt the ice...
Posted by: Spike | December 17, 2007 12:41 PM
If one is a kosher Jew (or, maybe is only half-assed about Kashruth but will soon be marrying a kosher Jew) ... would the salt in the roasting process be sufficient to kasher the meat or should I use pre-kashered meat?
Would pre-kashering the meat work better or worse anyway? I know when broiling in the style they use in fancy steak houses, the meat is best pre-kashered anyway, but I'm not sure how that translates to other cooking methods (I know kashering does stop the aging process which is why old-fashioned, kashered at the slaughtering house kosher beef is so crappy), except for in grilling where you don't want the meat pre-kashered ...
Maybe asking such questions at a site with so many pictures of pork products and other non-kosher foods is not the best way to get info, though.
Posted by: DAS | December 17, 2007 1:52 PM
This may be a little OT, but DAS, like you I married a kosher Jew. In twelve years of keeping kosher, I have never seen an unsalted kosher-slaughtered steak. I've been told they make 'em that way anymore. Anyway, even if you did find unsalted kosher meat, Ezra's method wouldn't meet the specs.
As you seem to be discovering, most kosher meat isn't very good. This is in part because the best cuts aren't koshered (for arcane reasons too involved to get into here).
In the years ahead, when you miss eating pork or a decent steak, do what I do, take yourself out to a restaurant.
Good luck and mazel tov on the upcoming nuptials.
Posted by: Ohio Mom | December 17, 2007 4:51 PM
Ohio Mom,
Thank you for the info on Ezra's method. And baruch diev to you.
You can readily find unsalted kosher meat (of course instructing you to salt the meat if you don't grill it) in NYC, where I'll be moving (as my fiancee lives there) as soon as I can get a job there.
Kosher beef, actually, except for the inability to obtain certain cuts, like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead: when it is good, it is very, very good but when it is bad it is horrid.
AFAIK, this is because beef requires some degree of aging to taste good and kosher meat is often salted (which stops the aging process) too soon. If you can get kosher beef that is salted at the proper time, it is quite good (indeed, AFAIK, when fancy steak-houses make steak they salt the meat in a manner similar to kashering ... essentially it accomplishes the same thing that people do when brining turkeys: which is why kosher turkeys and chickens, where aging's not an issue, are so good ... if you don't mind the inability of kosher poultry concerns to properly remove feathers): my parents, who do not keep kosher, find the kosher beef at Trader Joe's (they live in So.Cal.) to be quite yummy.
Posted by: DAS | December 17, 2007 6:08 PM
I am so trying that roast pork recipe. I had some memorable salt-roasted prime beef many years ago in Seattle, and I've always wanted to see if I could make it work.
Thank you!
Posted by: Teresa Nielsen Hayden | December 17, 2007 10:55 PM
An old friend in LA made the tastiest roast beef by coating the roast in a paste of mustard and kosher salt. Mmmmmm. So tender and juicy!
Posted by: Tracie | December 17, 2007 11:18 PM
That sounds good.
RE: reusing salt: it would taste of whatever you cooked in it. but considering the season, you CAN re-use it on the walks. Or re-use it for similar cuts of meat.
Posted by: dragonet2 | December 18, 2007 12:24 AM
Re-using salt: it's not for food, but you could use it to brighten fabric dye. Just make sure to wash the meat juices off the fabric, afterwards... : )
Posted by: Mary | December 18, 2007 10:46 PM