Kitchen

Salt-crust baking completely encases food — most commonly whole fish — in a thick shell of salt bound with egg whites, then bakes it in a hot oven. The salt hardens into a rigid dome that seals the food inside, creating a self-basting, high-humidity micro-environment. The food steams in its own juices while being gently heated from all sides. The result is a purity of flavor and silkiness of texture that no other cooking method replicates.

Filleting a whole cooked fish is the skill that bridges cooking and service. For salt-crust dishes, it's the final act: the crust is cracked in a dramatic reveal, and then clean, bone-free portions are delivered to each plate without mangling the delicate flesh. Speed, the right tool, and one confident motion along the spine are all you need.

Garlic-oil infusion is the process of gently heating sliced garlic in oil to extract its flavor compounds into the fat. The two-stage variant adds a critical refinement: the garlic is infused and removed before higher-heat cooking begins, then returned at the end. This preserves both the infused oil and the garlic's texture, preventing the most common failure mode — burnt, bitter garlic in an otherwise perfect dish.