Try Mark Bittman’s Salty Spin On the Classic Fish and Chips

This recipe calls for salt-baked white fish and oven-roasted sweet potato fries — plus a refreshing fruit slush just for two

Mark Bittman,

AARP

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Published May 05, 2025

Mark Bittman with sweet potato fries, fish and a fruit slush

Mark Bittman’s Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Fries, Salt-Baked Whole Fish With Aioli, and Fruit Slush.

AARP (Courtesy Mark Bittman; Burcu Avsar and Zach DeSart; Aya Brackett; Jim Henkens)

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Salt-Baked Whole Fish With Aioli • Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Fries • Fruit Slush

In many ways, fish and chips is the ideal dish. It incorporates so many good things — an excellent piece of protein (flaky white fish, well-sourced, is hard to beat), a super crisp outer “shell,” just the right amount of salt to make your taste buds sing, and a tangy sauce.

Of course, deep-fried food isn’t perfect. It’s certainly not something you should be consuming every day, and when doing it at home, it can be intimidating. There are ways, though, to get some of those deep-fried qualities — the crust, the salt, the oceanic vibe — at home, without the mess, without so much oil.

The old technique of wrapping food and a little liquid in a package, called en papillote, is still a valuable one, especially with some modern tweaks. My Salt-Baked Fish is a classic cooking-under-wraps preparation, only instead of seasoning the fish, I aggressively season the crust. Once it’s done, you serve it with aioli and sweet potato homefries, and you’ll have your own home-cooked version of the British standby.

Once you’re done, a fruity dessert will be much needed to cap off the meal, and the fruit slush we’re presenting you with today really could not be easier (and I’m pleased to say that it fits in nicely with a theme that is decidedly seaside). And, of course, each of the three easy recipes is perfect for two. Enjoy!

Salt-Baked Whole Fish with Aioli

Mark Bittman’s Salt-Baked Whole Fish is a classic cooking-under-wraps preparation — but instead of seasoning the fish, you’ll season its crust.

Aya Brackett

Time: About one hour

This recipe is a take on cooking-under-wraps, only instead of seasoning whole fish before sealing it in paper, I aggressively season a salt crust used to seal and steam the fish, which in turn gently infuses it with flavor and cooks it perfectly.

Ingredients

2 bay leaves, broken into pieces
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds
2½ cups (about 1½ pounds) kosher salt
1 egg white, beaten or whisked until foamy
About 1 pound whole white fish (usually 1 medium fish, like trout or bass) scaled and gutted, with head on
Lemon wedges
1 recipe Aioli (recipe follows), for serving

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Directions

Heat the oven to 400°F. Put the spices in a spice or coffee grinder and pulse a few times, working in batches if necessary. (If you don’t have a spice grinder, put the spices in a sandwich bag, seal carefully, and whack with a rolling pin to crush the spices as best you can. You won’t be eating them, so big bits are OK.) Put the salt in a large bowl, add the ground spices, and stir. Add the egg whites and mix thoroughly.
Line a medium rimmed baking sheet or ovenproof skillet with parchment. Put a layer of salt roughly the shape of the fish on the pan, then put the fish on top. Mound the rest of the salt on the fish, gently packing it onto the top and sides so the fish is completely enclosed and there are no gaps in the crust.
Bake undisturbed until you can smell the fish and the salt crust is hard and golden, 50 to 60 minutes. Bring to the table right away, and crack the crust with a serving spoon. Lift off the crust, then portion the fish and serve, passing the lemon wedges and aioli at the table.

Garlic Mayonnaise (Aioli)

Time: Five minutes

This aioli is strong and so good, you will want to make it all the time. It’s perfect with fish, or you can use this garlic mayonnaise as a base for creamy chopped salad dressings, drizzle it on simply cooked grains or beans or leftover roasted vegetables, serve it as a dip for crunchy raw veggies or cooked shrimp, or even swirl it into pasta right before serving to amp up the creaminess factor.

Ingredients

½ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon minced or crushed garlic, or more to taste
1 teaspoon lemon juice or sherry or white wine vinegar, or more to taste
Salt and pepper (optional)

Directions

Put the mayonnaise in a small bowl with the mustard, garlic, and lemon juice or vinegar. Add a little salt and pepper if you’d like and stir with a fork to combine or mix in a food processor. Then, taste and season as needed; the flavor will mellow a bit as the aioli sits. Adjust seasoning, adding more garlic, lemon juice or vinegar, and salt if necessary. Refrigerate until ready to serve. (This aioli keeps for several days.)

Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

These Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Fries are a healthier alternative to traditionally frying potatoes.

Burcu Avsar and Zach DeSart

Time: About an hour

These are not as crisp as French fries, but close, and much easier and lighter.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more as needed
About 1 pound sweet potatoes (1 large or 2 medium potatoes)
Salt and pepper

Directions

Heat the oven to 400°F. Grease a rimmed baking sheet with a little of the oil (or line it with parchment paper). It should be large enough to hold all the potatoes in a single layer without overcrowding.
Scrub the potatoes; peel them if you like. Make sure they’re fairly dry. Cut them into French fry-style batons and put them on the prepared pan. Toss the potatoes with the oil and decide if you need a little more; they should be shiny all over. Spread them into a single layer without crowding.
Roast, undisturbed, for 15 minutes before checking the first time; you’re looking for a crisp and golden exterior and fork-tender inside, but you can let them brown more if you like. Overall cook time will be 20 to 30 minutes. When the potatoes are ready, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot or warm.

Fruit Slush

To cap the meal, make this decidedly seaside Fruit Slush.

Jim Henkens

Time: 30 minutes

Imagine a cross between a snow cone and granita made with frozen fruit in less than 10 minutes. All it takes is a food processor with a grating disk and a bag of frozen fruit. To expand your options, you can cut fresh fruit into chunks and freeze it for several hours before grating. Ditto for swapping in other flavorful liquids; see the first variation to get you thinking in that direction. Serve in bowls or, for a state fair or urban street corner experience, in little paper cups.

Ingredients

1/4 lemon
2 tablespoons sugar, plus more as needed
8 ounces frozen fruit (any combination)

Directions

Freeze a medium mixing bowl for a few minutes so it’s ice cold. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into the bowl through a strainer or your fingers to remove the seeds. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
Fit the food processor with the grating disk and turn it on. Push the frozen fruit through the feed tube a few pieces at a time. When it’s all grated, work quickly to transfer the fruit to the bowl with the sweetened lemon juice.
Stir gently with a fork to combine and serve right away.

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For more than three decades, Mark Bittman has been leading voice in global food culture and policy, in addition to his work at The New York Times, where he created The Minimalist, was the Sunday magazine’s lead food writer, and became the country’s first weekly opinion writer at a major publication to concentrate on food. He’s the author of dozens of books, including Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food from Sustainable to Suicidal and the How to Cook Everything series. He’s editor in chief of The Bittman Project, a membership-based platform that includes a newsletter, website and the podcast Food With Mark Bittman.