From Julia · 2022-2023 · Reconstructed
Loup en Croûte
Serve when
Serve as soon as the pastry is sliced open and the fish inside is revealed whole and moist.
In the series
Season 2
- S2E1 · ~00:33:00 Working with Simca in France on the second volume of their cookbook, Julia falls for a whole sea bass baked in pastry — a dish her old teacher later has to help her reverse-engineer
In the series
The dish stands in for everything Julia is chasing in France with Simca — technique so precise it looks effortless, and a partnership that's fraying under the pressure of getting it exactly right for the page. The whole fish revealed intact under the pastry is the payoff neither of them can quite agree on how to reach.
Ingredients
Method
- Season the fish inside and out with salt and pepper, then stuff the cavity with the softened butter mixed with the herbs.
- Roll the puff pastry into two sheets, each large enough to fully wrap the fish with overlap.
- Lay the fish on one sheet, cover with the second, and trim and crimp the edges tightly to seal — a fish shape cut from pastry scraps for scales and a tail is the classic flourish.
- Brush all over with egg wash and chill for 20 minutes to firm the pastry.
- Bake at 400 F until the pastry is deeply golden and the fish is just cooked through, about 35 to 40 minutes depending on size.
- While it rests, reduce the wine by half in a small saucepan and swirl in the butter to finish a simple sauce.
- Slice the pastry crosswise at the table to reveal the whole fish inside.
Substitutions
- Sea bass: any firm, whole white fish of similar size — branzino or striped bass — works in its place.
- Puff pastry: good-quality store-bought puff pastry is standard practice even in professional kitchens here; there's no shame in it.