Off-Heat Poaching

[carla]

I read about it years ago in the LA Times and haven't made salmon any other way (well, I have grilled it once or twice). I'm lazy - I figured I'd get the answer here.

Poach the fish for a minute or so, then remove from heat and let it cook off heat. Makes a luscious, rare poached fish.

Is there a culinary term of art for this technique?

Hope I'm in the right place to post this question. ;-)

(hmmm, the "cool" smiley face doesn't quite do it.)

[Fat Guy]

This is known as coddling.

[lturley4]

And, excepting eggs and fish, what can effectively be coddled?

All I have utterly failed to coddle was eggs. Probably lucky, though, since I detest coddled eggs.

[Fat Guy]

It doesn't strike me as a technique with which there has been much experimentation.

[Sandra Levine]

This is more or less the way I make corn on the cob.

[carla]

Aaaaarrrggghhhh

I know the term "coddling." Coddling was not mentioned in the long-ago LA Times article about cooking salmon that I read. I obviously haven't made coddled eggs. I feel like an ass. Hee haw. Thanks for the input.

[Suzanne F]

There is a similar way of cooking chicken with Chinese seasonings. I've always wondered how safe it is, though: the chicken sits for about a half hour, cooking but also cooling, mostly in the danger zone.

[Bouland]

Suzanne F: I've used this method for years when making certain cold, Chinese chicken dishes. Since the surface of the meat being cooked is exposed to water in excess of 161°F for greater than 15 seconds, the bacteria present is dealt with. As long as the meat is protected from a new contamination, there shouldn't be any problem.

Fat Guy: this is an efective way of reheating pre-cooked sausages, such as bockwurst, boudin blanc, etc., without heating the center past 160°F and without the sausage bursting. I place the sausages in water, bring to a near boil, and immediately remove the saucepan from the heat, After sitting for 10 minutes, the sausages are heated through without becoming dry.

[Jon Tseng]

could "steeping" also fall into this category?

on the eggs side the Delia Smith Infalliable Poached Egg Recipe involves bringing saucepan to boil, taking off heat, crack in eggs, cover and leave ten minutes... voila!

on a related note have a feeling coddled eggs are when they are still in the shell (fr. oeuf mollet)

on the wurst - yeah, definitely works with franks (although nowadays much wasier to microwave)

cheerio

j

[Jinmyo]

Jon, both ouef moules and en cocette involve taking the eggs out of their shells and cooking them in molds. Coque and mollet are both soft-cooked (boiled) but the latter involves taking the egg from the shell after it is cooked and serving it like that. (This last is what my mother used to call coddled and what I usually think of informally as coddled.)

ediot:

"Latter", not "later".

[polly]

I think i'd go with Jon Tseng and call it steeping, b/c that's what it's called when you cok chicken that way. Although, steeping kind of implies a soaking up of flavours from the liquid as well.

Interesting question...

[Jinmyo]

Yes, I think steeping might be appropriate except for that. Or even that that which is steeped is releasing flavour, as with tea.