eatingCULTURE/eaten: Salt Encrusted Fish.

Our return to Bangkok was of course an excuse to indulge in some of our old favorite dishes, but it was also an opportunity to try a few things we'd always been curious about. With its body entirely coated in coarse salt, the grilled salt-encrusted fish had always intrigued me, but I'd never found the chance to try it. So when we passed by a stand that seemed to specialize in them, we took the hint, ordered one, and grabbed a table. The fish arrived with its salty-skin already peeled back for us, and accompanied by a small bowl of a spicy chili sauce. The fish's mouth had been stuffed with lemongrass, which gave a gentle flavor to its delicate white flesh. And the salt, somewhat strangely, gave the fish an added moisture-- by first leaching the moisture out of it, and then gently infusing it back in.