Have you ever tried to wrap a beef fillet in a salt crust and bake it in the oven? If not, I highly recommend doing it. First of all, it’s a nerve-wrecking adventure, second, if you get it right, you’ll be able to serve a world-class meal: meat so tender and regularly cooked that you won’t believe it; a texture so soft and yet firm that you’d need to invent new words for describing it; a roast so spectacular that it makes you sing and hum while chewing on it. No kidding!
Beauty or beast? Only in the end, you'll know.
You’ll need a lot of salt, A LOT of salt. For a roast of 1.5 kilograms think of buying 2.5 kilograms of sea salt. It has to be coarse sea salt, don’t use the snow-white refined one. You mix the salt with some egg whites, some water (you could add herbs, if you liked to) – and then work the crust. Bring out a thick layer on the tray, pose the meat, then use your hands to cover it entirely as above. Pre-heat the oven until very hot, 240°C (460°F). Put the beast into this burning hell. But for how long? Well, that’s the nerve-wrecking part.
You wouldn’t like the idea of ruining such a noble and expensive part of meat, would you? And this is a technique you rarely use, so you shouldn’t trust your good cook’s intuition at all. That’s why I recommend using high-tech-equipment for temperature control:
Don't trust your intuition: cooking thermometer.
You can, roughly, count 30 minutes for a big piece of meat like the one I’ve used. But you should control the core temperature or should I say: closely monitor it?, beginning after 25 minutes. Here’s the basic rules: at 55-60°C (140°F) core temperature the roast is rare (really rare, what the French call “bleu”). Between 60 and 65° it’s perfect, I’d say, rare to medium, at 70° and more you enter the well-done section (=ruined).
This rules applies to any beef roast, with or without a crust. But beware: When you pull out the roast (to let it rest for at least 20 to 30 minutes), the core temperature is still slightly on the rise. In other words: When you measure 60°C and pull it out of the oven, it won’t simply stop there, it’s still cooking for a while! So here, in the end, your intuition is needed again.
PS: My friend Michael does the salt-crust thing with whole chicken. I’ve been lacking audacity to try it so far. Yet Michael swears that the results are fantastic…
We’ve done fish, chicken, pineapple and beef, but without a thermometer!!!!
Congratulations! Was it ALWAYS good? I’m not a fan of thermometers myself. Beef fillet is delicate though. Why would you risk a 80-Euro-piece?
What I forgot to say: there’s an easy rule for fish in a salt crust: 12 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes resting time outside the oven!
I am starting my sodium diet…but this is too crazy to pass by. I read about salt crust concept before, but this one really inspire me to actually DO IT…. I will do it this weekend, have it for dinner, and let you know how it works…
I am starting my sodium diet…but this is too crazy to pass by. I read about salt crust concept before, but this one really inspire me to actually DO IT…. I will do it this weekend, have it for dinner, and let you know how it works…What part of beef (what cut) would you recommend?
What piece to use? Hard to say hence every country has its own butchers’ traditions. In any case you need a “noble” part, Sirloin, fillet or alike…and make sure that it is thick like a small roast and as regular as possible. Good luck!