How to bake a seabass in the oven

Use an appropriately sized roasting pan, the head and tail may stick out a bit, the rest may not.

Choose a seabass to your liking and ask your fishmonger to gut it for you.

Have your coriander, parsley and basil ready. You can chop it up if you like, but I prefer to keep it whole.

Use unrefined coarse sea salt. Regular (sea) salt just doesn't do the job.

Cut out two slices of lemon and divide them into halves.

Preheat your oven at the maximum temperature possible. I use a convection oven on 220 degrees Celsius.

Grab a large piece of aluminium foil, place it in the roasting pan and let approximately 30 cm stick out both at the top and bottom.

Create a bed of sea salt roughly 2 cm deep. Note that the head and tail don't need to be subdued.

Place the seabass into its bed of salt and rub it in slightly.

Stuff the belly of the seabass with the fresh spices and slices of lemon. Make sure there's no room for any salt to enter the belly, as the fish will become much too salty.

Cover the stuffed seabass in another layer of seasalt. Use the upper and lower portions of the aluminium foil to make a bed and support the salt to prevent it from slipping away.

Place the roasting bin in the heated oven and bake it for 18 minutes per 500 grams of whole seabass.

The final result. Gently scrape off the salt, but make sure the skin is not damaged.

Although the seabass' skin is edible, it's too salty for my taste. Use a sharp knife to cut into the fillet just behind the head and along the back and bottom and peel the skin off towards the tail.