Ahi tuna and tilapia on salt block

alex_a

Have had my egg now for 5 months and experimented last night with a Himalayan salt block. Went to Whole Foods and purchased a nice yellowfin tuna steak for me and a tilapia filet for the wife.

Brought the egg dome temp to 500 and let the stone sit for 1 hour. Light brushing with EVOO and seasoned the fish with Raging Rivers Rub (which is fantastic!).

Dinner was delicious. There was no heavy salt taste at all! A nice mellow sweetness to the fish was all the block imparted which paired well with the rub which is salt free. Also threw in a red onion though next time I will leave it in longer than the 5 minutes it was in the block and maybe drizzle it with some balsamic vinegar as it cooks on the block.

Total cook time for fish: 2 minutes per side. Flipped once.

Paired the fish with baby spinach lightly dressed with a soy vinaigrette

First time I do seafood on the egg and it won't be the last!!!!

Chubbs

No pictures??

Doc_Eggerton

I have been interested in trying a salt block.  Where do you buy one?  Pics would have been great.

alex_a

Pics were late.  I started the post on my iPad and realized I couldn't attach pics. 

Doc - I got my salt block at Sur la table for 29.95.  They also sold me a salt plate holder for 12.95 to carry the block and it made sense to buy it but i wouldn't buy the holder again.  The block gets so hot that it will have to stay on the grill to cool overnight and by then you don't need the holder.  Also, some of the olive oil dripped between the holder and the block rather than drip to the fire so I had to clean both sides of it this AM rather than one side. 

Eggbertsdad

@alex-a,

How long will a salt block last?

Chubbs

Excuse my ignorance, but what does the salt block do?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Excuse my ignorance, but what does the salt block do?

well....I won't leave you hanging. I don't know either and would like to know.

BYS1981

Looks good, just personal preference.. I like my tuna less cooked lol. Tuna is also my favorite sashimi tho :P. I am with Chubbs, what does a salt block do? I saw on Iron Chef a chef used a salt block for lamb sashimi and had no clue what the purpose was lol.

Doc_Eggerton

It will be OT, but I will try to remember next time we do sushi to post the pictures.  We do shasimi, rolls, and nigiri.

Chubbs

I am assuming it gets really hot so you can do a flat surface sear as opposed to grates, but only an assumption. Does it infuse a salt flavor to the food?

BYS1981

I am hoping Sam's Club close to me does the summer roadshow.. they bring ahi tuna in at $9.99/lb and it is fresh. I love it.

xraypat23

I've never actually cooked on one. But I've heard it doesn't impart a salty flavor to the food. The himylayan salt is more like a rock than salt. Ive seen restaurants get blocks of it very hot and put it on the table to quickly cook thin food by yourself.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCSs1NOJKNQ

Found this. It's a little long winded and there is some potentially dubious information in the video that I didn't verify but you'll get the idea. it's from the dude selling the salt blocks so take that for what it's worth.

All and all...pretty cool. I'll give it a rip

alex_a

The salt block does inpmart a very slight salt taste to the food.  Not much.  Before heating if you handle the plate you can taste salt on your hands/fingers.

I have used himalyan salt in a salt grinder and it certainly tastes like salt but if this makes any sense it is a little less salty than regular morton's salt or kosher salt. 

The block should last a long time - the employee at sur la table said it should last a couple years depending on use. She mentioned that most people come get a new one more often because they drop it rather than it being consumed. 

Chubs - it sears wonderfully!!!  I have not made fish on the egg before but have had it on a variety of grills before.  I feel that the salt block gave me a good sear and left the fish very juicy.  I am not sure I will do fish another way on the grill again.  If I can only find some citrus wood chips to complement my fish!!!!  You would think living in Florida it should be easy to find but no  luck yet.

I am thinking of doing the same fish and also add shrimp skewers and some scallops for my next family gathering. 

 

At 29.95 it was a good gamble as far as an accessory and am glad i got one!  Cheers!

scooter759

@ alex_a - what size did you get? I looked them up on Amazon and there quite a few there. Thanks.

alex_a

Scooter. My block is 12"x8" and it is 1.2" thick. If I was doing a big cook I might need two or a bigger one.

burr_baby33

I didn't know a cooking salt block existed until I read this.  I am going to get one. Will definitely report back. Thanks for the info,

Lit

Just wanted to bump this I got the salt block from Sur La Table yesterday and its pretty cool. The thing was too big to fit in my small so I had to chizzle the corners off but after that it worked great. Made steel head trout rubbed with raging rive and Tsunami Spin that I seared on the block skin side up for a couple minutes and then flipped them skin side down onto the mini at 400 with fig for smoke and covered in diced tomatoes, onions, and feta with lemon juice. Fish came out great and then I sliced a tri tip in about 1/8" to 1/4" pieces and hit them lightly with garlic olive oil and then seasoned with dizzy dust and Jamaican firewalk and seared them about 30 seconds or so a side on the block. After that I seared a couple strip steaks for a neighbor on the block and then finished them in the mini with red oak for smoke. This block is really cool I am just dreading cleaning it as both sides are now black. The small dome was only reading 500 but the IR thermometer was reading between 550-600 the whole cook. For $30 I might go get another today.

Egg Juju

I have one that I got at Steeplton here in Louisville.  I am looking forward to cooking on it in the near future.