Your halibut needs this vintage Alaska recipe for lemon sauce with buttery cracker crumbs

Perhaps my family’s most diligent fisherman is my Aunt Barbara, my father’s older sister, one of nine O’Malley kids, who still lives in the house where they all grew up on 10th Avenue and Cordova Street.

In summertime, a person like me might get invited to walk over to sit at the long table that extends into the living room for a fish dinner. It’s the sort of menu you understand if you’re from here: grilled or baked fish, rice, salad, bread and, specific to her house, always broccoli with hollandaise sauce.

It was at one of these dinners that I tasted this brilliant, addictive halibut with a lemon-wine sauce and buttery cracker crumbs. When I asked for the recipe, she led me to a spiral binder and paged to an ancient piece of notebook paper where instructions had been written cryptically in pen. It was the sort of old recipe that falls right in line with Alaska’s cooking traditions from the last 100 years because it uses wild food plus refrigerated goods that keep, and pantry staples.

“It’s marvelous!” my aunt said. “You’ll eat it the next day for breakfast!”

She’s not wrong. That’s if there’s some left over.

We should also have some real talk about halibut. If you get one, you end up with A LOT. And then you have to figure out how to eat it all. And inevitably you get tired of it and run out of recipes and ask yourself if you even like it. But now you’ve got one more halibut trick up your sleeve. Allow it to help you to get closer to the bottom of the freezer.

A few notes. Ritz crackers are essential — no other cracker is as good. Fresh lemon juice is also essential. You can also throw in some zest, if you’re a lemon enthusiast. You may, if you’d like, substitute a couple of cloves of grated garlic for the powder, but the garlic then becomes more of a main flavor player, so it’s more of a lemon-garlic cracker halibut. Try not to overcook the fish. I write this so much, I’ve considered making T-shirts. I recommend using a thermometer and pulling it from the oven at about 130 degrees. It continues to heat on the plate. But use your judgment — thinner fish cooks much faster and a big granddaddy halibut will take a little longer. Also key: Don’t put the acid into the sauce until you’ve taken it off the heat and allowed it to cool slightly.

Aunt Barbara’s lemon-cracker crumb halibut

Serves 4, generously

Ingredients:

2 cups, or two sleeves of Ritz crackers, crushed

About 2 pounds halibut, cut into four single-serving portions, patted dry

Salt and pepper

1 stick of salted butter

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons dry white wine

Juice of one lemon (roughly 2 to 3 tablespoons)

Parsley or other chopped herbs for garnish

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the cracker crumbs in an even layer on the bottom of an ungreased baking dish that can fit all the fish. Lay the halibut portions on the crackers. Season well with salt and pepper. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter with the garlic powder and flour, whisking constantly, until it’s well combined and just beginning to bubble. Remove from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice and wine. The sauce should thicken. Spoon the sauce over the fish and slide into the oven. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until it’s opaque at the center and measures 130 degrees on a thermometer. Allow to rest 7 to 10 minutes before sprinkling with garnish and serving.