It was Friday, an obvious night to cook fish, so I went to the only grocery store in Charlottesville with a decent selection of seafood – Whole Foods. It’s a bear to get to the store off Hydraulic, find a parking place and squeeze through the crowded aisles, but I did, and then scoured the cases for my fish du jour. I was hoping to see some flounder, but I haven’t seen any fresh flounder in Charlottesville for quite some time. But they did have halibut and it was $9.99 a pound, or so I thought. When I got to the checkout, I found I had read the wrong sign. My halibut was actually $19.99 a pound, so Nancy and I would be eating a $20 seafood dinner that evening.
Halibut is actually a giant flounder. They look almost exactly alike except that a big flounder in Virginia weighs 8 pounds and a Pacific halibut can exceed 400 pounds.
I remember a great story from Field & Stream. Two close friends made an annual trip to the Outer Banks every fall and Bill, the flounder expert, always caught the biggest fish, and then needled Steve to no end. One summer, Steve went to Alaska and had the opportunity to go halibut fishing. One of the fish he caught went about 25 pounds, small for a halibut, but a helluva size for a flounder. Steve flash-froze the halibut, whole, and took it back to Carolina. That fall, Steve slipped the frozen halibut out of his cooler, put a hook into his jaw, and let the tide carry the fish out. With Bill far up the beach, Steve yelled, “Fish on!” and then proceeded to reel in what appeared to be a 25-pound flounder. Bill never said another word about being the better flounder-catcher.
But I digress.
I decided to fry, not broil my halibut and it was superb. I used a breading called Louisiana Fish Fry Breading, Seasoned and Crispy. It was lightly seasoned with a little Cajun kick and a perfect compliment to the halibut. Not much to cooking halibut, actually. Just cover the bottom of the skillet with some vegetable oil, rinse and dry the filets, dredge them (they were about a half-pound each) through the cornmeal-based breading and fry on medium heat till a crispy, golden brown on each side. No tartar sauce was necessary. The spicy breading adds all the flavor needed. It was well worth $20.
You know, I sure would like to catch a 25-pound flounder some day.
Fried Halibut
3 T vegetable oil
2 halibut filets, ½ pound each
1 C Louisiana Fish Fry Breading
And a twenty-dollar bill