Baked in a Salt Crust. That's quite a phrase to me. It appeals to the eater in me, who also happens to be the cook at my house. I like it because it's such a simple cooking method. But the results will amaze you. The flavor of whatever you cook in a salt crust gets amplified. The crust keeps things moist, but surprisingly not at all "salty" or at least not too salty because everything is so well seasoned. I cannot say exactly why this is, because salt often draws all the moisture out– at least in the short run. So I am going to guess our old friend osmosis is at work here. Maybe the juices are drawn out by the salt during cooking and then sucked back in (nicely seasoned) by Mr. Osmosis in the resting phase... maybe.
Anyway, salt crusts work. You have seen it done with fish, I do it regularly with fingerling potatoes, but the Italians have a classic version with a whole chicken baked in a salt crust. I have come across many recipes for chicken cooked this way. They all seem to have lots of the the traditional flavor accompaniments you might expect: Herbs, Spices, Citrus. But my version is very pared down. In fact I have removed all the herbs and other seasoning except thyme, a little pepper and of course the salt.
