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Fillets of Flounders
Bone the flounders by splitting down the back and removing the backbone, running the boning knife under the small bones and taking the flesh off clear and whole; or the dealer will do this. Cut the flounders into four fillets, after discarding head and tail. Wash in cold salted water and wipe dry. Crumb them by dipping in egg and fine bread crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper and a little minced parsley. Fry (saute) in hot drippings until a rich brown, and serve with maitre d'hotel or tomato sauce, or any well-seasoned fish sauce. Or make a sauce as follows: Take 1 cup of rich cream sauce or drawn butter, add a tablespoonful of chopped pickles, a teaspoonful of finely minced parsley, a teaspoonful of mustard, a tablespoonful of crushed capers, the yolk of a hard-boiled egg (mashed smooth), and a tablespoonful of lemon juice. Beat thoroughly together, and serve either hot or cold.
A straightforward pan-fried flounder with a choice of sauces; the only real skill is in the boning, and a fishmonger will do it in a minute.
- The hinge: dry fish, hot fatFlounder fillets are thin and wet, and a crumb coating slides off damp flesh. Wipe them thoroughly, and get the fat hot enough that the crust sets on contact rather than steaming.
- Cooking timeThese fillets are thin, so a couple of minutes a side is usually enough to brown them; they are done as soon as the flesh turns opaque, and longer will dry them out.
- DrippingsThis means saved beef or bacon fat. Clarified butter, or butter cut with a neutral oil, gives the same browning without the meaty note.
- Four fillets from one fishA flatfish yields a fillet from each side, and each of those can be split lengthwise, which is how one flounder gives "four fillets." How many fish you need depends on their size.
- Drawn butterA period sauce of melted butter thickened with a little flour and hot water or fish stock, not simply melted butter. A thin bechamel or the cream sauce given as the alternative works in its place.
- Maitre d'hotelHere it means butter creamed with lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper, set firm and sliced onto the hot fish, where it melts into a sauce.
- The cold sauceWith chopped pickles, capers, mustard, mashed egg yolk and lemon, this is essentially a tartare built on cream sauce rather than mayonnaise. Season it after the mustard goes in, since mustard and capers both carry salt.
- Crushed capersSmall nonpareils need only a rough chop, and the brine should be drained off so the sauce does not thin.