171/18 – Salt Baked Celeriac:

Ninth cook from Root and Leaf by Rich Harris, this time it was Salt Baked Celeriac.

When I saw the photo of the salt baked celeriac in the book I knew I had to cook it! On the morning of the cook I stopped by my local fishmonger to see what he had in that day. I soon spotted John Dory fillets which I hadn’t cooked before so bought four for about £10.

The Prep:

I fired up the Kamado Joe Big Joe with a full basket of Holm Oak from London Log Co. Second time cooking with this and as before, it lit easily, smelt great and was easy to control.

With the KJ heating up I made the salt dough: flour, salt, egg whites and water. Once smooth I rolled it out, placed the celeriac in the centre and wrapped it with the dough.

Pretty good for a first time!

The Cook:

When the KJ settled at 160C I placed the celeriac in. For some reason I had added some Oak chunks without thinking the smoke wouldn’t penetrate the dough! Ah well, it smelt good whilst cooking!

After 90 minutes I added 2 lemon halves rubbed with olive oil. Everything back in for another hour.

Celeriac out and left to rest for 15 minutes.

Deflector plates out on one side and the half moon cast iron slotted in. It wasn’t long before the Holm Oak was blazing hot. I added some Steenbergs Madras Curry Powder (45g for £2.60) to each John Dory fillet. Not having cooked John Dory before I had a quick look online and it’s listed as a white, boneless, meaty flesh. I spotted a recipe which suggested adding curry powder so I went with it. With the cast iron sizzling the fish went on.  

Whilst the fish was cooking I popped open the celeriac. What a glorious sight!

View from above.

The dough was pretty easy to get off. The Celeriac smelt fantastic and was very soft to the touch.

Easy to slice.

Time to Serve:

Lemon dressing: The lemons from earlier were chopped up and mixed with olive oil, water, Dijon mustard and salt. A big dollop on each slice of celeriac then topped with Dukkah: pistachio nuts, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, sesame seeds and sea salt.

It looked and smelt fantastic! 

The fish only took a few minutes each side and lifted easily from the cast iron.

This was all that was left of the dough:

SUMMARY:

What a great dish this was! I don’t think I have salt baked anything before so it was good to try the technique and I was proud of my first salt dough and the wrapping!

The Kamado Joe is a joy to cook on every time, such a massive surface area to cook on but so easy to control. Really nice to switch from a slow cook to searing without any fuss. The Holm Oak was fantastic, as I said above it lit quickly, smelt great and was easy to control. Loads left at the end of the cook so it’s a slow burner which is good.

I haven’t eaten celeriac for a while and on it’s own it’s a slightly odd taste but combined with the lemon dressing and dukkah it was fantastic. I couldn’t eat much as it seemed to be quite filling.

The John Dory was nice, not sure I have eaten it before let alone cooked it and it’s nice to try new things. The fish itself was top quality and very fresh as always from my fishmonger. Not sure it’s worth £30 per kilo though, there are plenty of similar and cheaper fish out there which would work as well. Still, good to try it.

Loved this cook, plenty of new things to experience and cooking on the KJ always puts a smile on my face!

Cook Difficulty:	3/5
Cook Duration:	Long: 4/5
Cook Equipment:	Kamado Joe Big Joe
Cook Method:	Indirect
Charcoal:	London Log Co Holm Oak
Smoking Wood:	Oak (not required!)
Cook temperature:	160c
Cook time:	2h30 plus 15m rest
Internal temperature:	N/A
Notes:	No major changes

This recipe is from Root and Leaf by Rich Harris:

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