Salt-Baked Whole Black Sea Bass with Cranberry–Sweet Chili Glaze

Chatham Harvesters
Dec 7
2 min read

Certain cooking techniques that feel almost magical, not because they’re trendy, but because they’ve stood the test of millennia. Salt-baking a whole fish is one method.

Imagine: a whole fish, wrapped in a cocoon of coarse sea salt, roasted until the flesh inside becomes impossibly moist, tender, and aromatic. When you crack open the hardened crust, after a soft plume of steam escapes, a perfectly cooked fish is revealed, that requires almost nothing to shine.

This method isn’t new. In fact, humans have been doing it for thousands of years.

Long before ovens were precise and recipes were written down, coastal cultures, from ancient Egyptians and Greeks to later Mediterranean cooks, learned that salt could do far more than preserve their catch. Packed tightly around a whole fish, salt created a natural oven within an oven: a sealed chamber that gently steamed the flesh while infusing it with subtle, clean seasoning.

At Chatham Harvesters, we love honoring traditional methods like this, especially when they highlight the quality of our local catch. But we also love Cape Cod flavor, and nothing says Cape more than cranberries. So we’ve paired this ancient method with a modern, unexpected twist: a cranberry–sweet chili glaze that brings sweet heat and tang to beautifully cooked Chatham fish.

This recipe is dramatic, delicious, and deeply rooted in history, yet totally approachable for home cooks.

So let’s take this journey from antiquity to Cape Cod, and get cooking.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Prep the Fish

For this recipe, we used whole black sea bass. However, whole scup and mackerel would work great! If frozen, allow the fish to thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Rinse the fish, and pat it dry. Stuff the cavity with orange slices and herbs, like rosemary, sage, and thyme.

2. Build the Salt Crust

In a bowl, mix

4 lbs coarse salt
3 egg whites

It should feel like damp sand. This is the technique Renaissance cooks used to harden the crust.

Spread a 1-inch layer of the mixture on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Lay the fish on top, then bury it in the remaining salt. Pat it down firmly.