I wanted to offer this recipe mainly in order to be able to brag a little. Last week I caught a 20-inch flounder aboard “The Gamecock” with Capt. Ham (my son-in-law). It was one of the largest flounder I’ve ever caught.
We were fishing out of Wise Point near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel on the Eastern Shore. We put in at Wise Point ramp, back in the creeks and did floats on a gentle incoming tide. My big ‘un took a white Berkley Gulp Jig and was invited to dinner at our camp site.
The only way to do justice to a flounder this large (he would have served 6 people) is to stuff it with crab meat and bake it in the oven.
Scale and clean the fish, but remove the head. With a sharp filet knife ( I cut myself twice while doing this, really), cut to the bone down the center on the dark side, then work the filet knife under the skin both sides along the backbone to create a cavity.
Use fresh crab meat, not pasteurized. Claw meat works, backfin is better but more costly. Eight ounces is enough, but there is no such thing as too much fresh crab meat. Pile it high if you’ve got it. I like to first put the crab in a sauce pan with the juice of a fresh lemon and 2 T of butter, plus a sprinkle of garlic salt and maybe a tablespoon of Old Bay. Let that blend for a minute, then stuff into the cavity of the fish. Rub the top of the fish including the fins with some butter so it will brown. Put it the fish in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes and you have a meal fit for a king. The hard part is catching the 20-inch flounder. After that, it’s pretty easy.
Crab Stuffed Flounder
1 large, whole flounder (18-inches or more)
2 T stick butter
8 ounces fresh crab meat
½ t garlic salt
1 whole lemon squeezed
1 T Old Bay