If you have some of the above attributes but are not a geezer nor even approaching pre-geezerhood, thank God for that, press on regardless, and welcome.

                         This is not a Website for food phobics or wellness hypochondriacs

Salmon Filet in Beer

Fresh farm raised salmon filets are not all that expensive, especially if you find them in a big box grocery outlet. Whenever I go to Costco, I get a nice small salmon filet for about $12US. Eating alone, I saute half of it in EVOO and serve it with clarified butter infused with a few washed capors, maybe. The next morning, I smoke the rest with the stove top smoker and eat it with crackers as an appetizer or put it together with salsa as a salad. This time around however, the sauteed salmon was so good I decided not to smoke the rest but make another dinner out of it.

But how not to reprise yesterday's repast? Easy! Poach it in beer. Fill a saute pan with two bottles of a good hearty beer and poach the salmon filet until done--about two minutes a side. (Carbonated beer wants to foam up and boil over, so watch for that.) Then remove it to a heated plate and season it with salt and pepper. I had the fish with French fried sweet potatoes, made by the Alexis people and a ginger wasabi sauce out of a bottle from somewhere in the fridge. Quick, simple, delicious.

Some Sous Vide Numbers

Over the last few months, I have put my sous vide to some use. Making good food. In all events, I have placed a product in a vacuum bag, added seasonings and butter, sealed them with the Food Saver vacuum machine and then placed them in the fridge until ready. I have kept a record of the temperatures and times, since sous vide books are fine but real cooking yields real numbers. Here is what I have so far:

• I've done a lot of lamb chops--usually two in a bag but as many as six. I am now confident that a water temp of 144°F and an immersion time of 55 minutes yields chops at a perfect pink 137°F. Every time!
• One guest wanted lamb chops well done, so 165°F for 60 minutes produced two nice moist chops well done without a trace of redness.
• A two inch thick choice sirloin at 135°F for 46 minutes yields a rare steak at 129°F.
• Boneless veal shank (two pieces glued together) took four hours at 185°F to become tender and flaky.
• A one inch thick prime veal chop at 140°F for 50 minutes comes out rare at 126°F (Christmas day dinner).
• A 7 ounce filet of halibut was unbagged with a nice core temp of 125°F after 27 minutes at a water temp of 132°.
• Four cleaned and halved leeks, seasoned with herbes de Provence and butter, came out tender but not falling apart after 50 minutes in 185°F water.

In general, premium cuts of meat, done sous vide, need a water temp about 5% higher than the desired core temperature of the meat, when cooked for 50 minutes. Tough meats like veal or lamb shanks take a long time. Hearty veggies need a temperature of about 185°F for 50 minutes. All the meat products, when removed from their bag,were browned in a hot iron skillet with their sauces added at the last minute or heated aside.

Coconut Clouds (rev)

I've always been fond of coconut macaroon snowballs. We bought some at the Williamsburg farmers' market awhile back but I couldn't finish a whole one. It was just too sweet and heavy. Maybe they were made with sweetened coconut (since the unsweetened variety is hard to find). Whatever. . .

So here we have something lighter made with Italian meringue:

Coconut Clouds (rev)

Yield:  about 30 cookies
See Abbreviations, if needed

1.25 C sugar
3/4 C water
3 egg whites (ambient)
8 oz unsweetened finely grated coconut
1 oz unsweetened coconut flakes (for garnish)

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1. Preheat oven to 325°F and prep sheet pans with super parchment paper or silicone pads
2. Place sugar and water in sauce pan, heat slowly and stir gently until sugar is dissolved
3. Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites in a stand mixer until stiff peaks form
4. Once the eggs whites are ready (and not before), quickly turn up the heat on the sugar water to high and bring it to 235°F
5. Set the mixer to high rotation and then carefully pour in the hot sugar mix (don't splash it onto the rotating whisk)
6. Continue to whisk at high speed until the meringue has cooled to near-ambient
7. Slow the mixer and pour in the coconut and mix briefly
8. Use a kitchen table spoon and tap-drop batter onto the sheet pan about 2 inches apart. Insert a few flakes of coconut into the top of each cookie for texture and color
9. Bake about 12 minutes until the cookies appear firm enough to be lifted off the pan without breaking up
10. Let cookies cool for about 4 minutes, then transfer them to a rack using a wetted spatula
Note: Thanks to Ruth Reichl and The Gourmet Cookbook for inspiration.

A New Cookie Paradigm?
When is a cookie done? 

In school we were instructed to look for a trace of browning around the edge of the cookie. Corriher says the same thing.  Reichl says 'until golden.'  I'm now convinced that waiting for evidence of browning results in an over baked cookie:  one that dries when cooled and gets hard when stored.  The 'until golden' works better for white sugar than brown sugar'd cookies. The conundrum is compounded in a convection oven, which shortens baking time by 20%, for sure, and maybe more.  Which also means that the time to take out the cookies comes sooner and passes faster.

So . . .

I just baked a batch of Pantry Cookies and a batch of my new Nut, Coconut and Health Bar Cookies.  I took them out when they appeared set.  That is, when they were fully shaped, with a dry surface top and with edges sharply defined and not clinging to the silicone pad.  No evidence of browning.  The result:  moist, chewy cookies!

This is heavy...but a change is required on all my cookie recipes.  Got to do it.