Grilled Whole Flounder With Sauce Chien Beurre Monté Recipe

Excepted from ‘The MeatEater Outdoor Cookbook’ by Steven Rinella and Krista Ruane

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Published July 02, 2024

Flounder on baking dish with spices and sauce on it and around it

When making the grilled whole flounder, you can omit the butter and go with olive oil or vegetable oil for a lighter sauce.

Courtesy Penguin Random House

Butter sauces pair well with light-fleshed, nonoily fish like flounder. This one is an adaptation of the French West Indies’ sauce chien, or dog sauce, a spicy, herby, garlicky sauce used for fish and meat. Chien actually refers to the knife that is used to chop the ingredients for the sauce. The dog knife, or couteau chien, was created in 1880. It’s a steel knife with a watchdog carved in the hilt and is given out as a wedding gift in the French West Indies. My adaptation of the sauce utilizes the French technique of adding butter to emulsify the sauce and give it some additional richness (see cook’s note). You can omit the butter and go with olive oil or vegetable oil for a lighter sauce. —Steven Rinella

Grilled Whole Flounder With Sauce Chien Beurre Monté

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the flounder:

1 whole flounder (about 2 pounds), gutted
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons neutral oil, plus more for the fish basket

For the sauce chien:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus (optional) zest from one lemon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 garlic clove, chopped (about 1 teaspoon)
1 or 2 habanero or Scotch bonnet chiles, seeded (optional), finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons)
1 shallot, finely chopped (about 3 tablespoons)
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
⅛ teaspoon finely ground black pepper, plus more as needed

Cookbook that says The MeatEater Outdoor Cookbook, Steven Rinella with Krista Ruane; steak in pan on cover

Courtesy John Hafner

Directions

For the flounder, scrub the flounder all over with 2 tablespoons of the salt. Rinse the fish, inside and out, and dry well with paper towels. Place the fish on a baking sheet or baking dish and chill in a cooler or refrigerator while you start the grill or prepare a campfire.

Prepare a grill or campfire with an area for direct and indirect heat. Just before grilling, gently brush the oil all over the fish and season with the remaining 1 tablespoon salt. Place in a lightly oiled fish basket. Place the basket on the hot side of the grill and cook, uncovered, until the fish chars in spots, about 4 minutes. Move the basket to indirect heat occasionally so the fish doesn’t scorch.

Flip the basket and continue to grill for another 4 to 5 minutes, until the fish is cooked through at the thickest area toward the head. Use a small knife to check whether the flesh is flaky and opaque.

For the sauce, bring 2 tablespoons of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until emulsified into a creamy sauce. Keep warm but do not let it boil. Stir in the lemon juice and (if using) zest, chives, parsley, thyme, garlic, habanero (if using), and shallots. Add salt and pepper and adjust the seasonings to taste. Carefully transfer the fish to a platter. Pour half of the sauce over the fish and serve the remaining sauce on the side.

Cook’s note: Ideally, this sauce will remain in an emulsified state. Don’t be too hard on yourself, however, if it breaks, especially when keeping it warm over a fire or grill outdoors. As you can see in the photo, we broke it, too. It still tasted great!

Excerpted from The Meateater Outdoor Cookbook: Wild Game Recipes for the Grill, Smoker, Campstove, and Campfire copyright © 2024 by MeatEater Inc. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.