Salmon

Don Neuman of Longview, Wash., was looking for a recipe he has lost for salmon chowder. He said that the recipe came from the label on a can of Veg-All back in the 1950s. As he remembers, the chowder was made with canned salmon and also called for a can of Veg-All and other ingredients he cannot recall. After some research, I learned that Veg-All is the brand name for canned mixed vegetables that has been around since the mid-1920s. The product is still being made today. Unfortunately, a search of the Veg-All website did not turn up a recipe for salmon chowder.

Here is an intriguing recipe: Take an ordinary Atlantic salmon, add hormones from a Chinook salmon and an eel-like fish called an ocean pout, and voila ! You have a super-sized salmon, one that grows twice as fast as normal. This recipe has the producers of the fish, the Massachusetts firm AquaBounty Technologies, salivating, promising as it does a plump product in record time. It also has its critics, who have questioned whether it is safe for all consumers and who have raised concerns about its effect on the environment.

Eris Weaver from Cotati, Calif., was looking for a recipe for a pasta salad made with salmon, peas and cottage cheese in the dressing. We had no luck locating the actual recipe, which the reader said came from a newsletter put out by Pacific Gas and Electric sometime in the mid- to late-1980s. However, it seemed like it was worth some research to try and find something similar. This is the time of year when cold pasta salads can make for a wonderful meal, and the combination sounded appetizing.

Sous Vide Salmon 2 5-ounce boneless, skinless salmon fillets Olive oil Sea salt Fresh ground pepper 2 fresh thyme sprigs Season the salmon with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Place a fresh thyme sprig on each fillet. Place the fish inside a gallon-sized zipper freezer bag. (Non-freezer plastic bags will be too thin.) Space the fillets at least 1 inch apart and press as much air as possible out of the bag. Submerge all but the top of the still-unsealed bag in a heavy pot of cool water.

In Alice Sebold's best-selling book "The Lovely Bones," after 14-year-old Susie Salmon is raped and murdered by her next-door neighbor, she ends up in the afterworld: not quite heaven, but a sort of cosmic way station that looks much like Susie's old terrestrial stomping grounds - a typical American suburb, with a junior high school, subdivisions and a mall. In Peter Jackson's film version of "The Lovely Bones," which opens today in Baltimore, Susie's netherworld is an extension of her subconscious, full of trippy dream imagery of extraordinary mountains and forests, giant camellias, mammoth boats in glass bottles and a spooky gazebo in a field of corn.

Two brothers from Frederick overcame underdone lamb and an errant salmon bone to advance to the "Top Chef" finals. Bryan and Michael Voltaggio are among four chefs still in the running as Bravo's reality cooking show moves from Las Vegas to California's Napa Valley on Dec. 2. "I just jumped up and said, 'Yes! The brothers are in,' " said Lucinda Weimer of Frederick, one of many hometown fans rooting for the Voltaggios. The competition began with 17 chefs, and each week one has been told to pack his or her knives and go home.

Talara, the new ceviche and tapas bar in Harbor East, is a four-star restaurant if you eat before 7 p.m. and don't order dessert. Why the deadline? Well, if you usually take into account what you paid for your meal when you judge it, as I do, Talara's Monday-through-Thursday happy hour has some of the best food around. (The same deal is available from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday ) I didn't have high expectations for Talara. It seemed to be a place where alcohol and loud music were going to be at least as important as the food.

There are some items that even small families or couples might consider buying in bulk, provided they have some storage space. It always makes sense to buy the stuff that takes up a lot of real estate in the grocery cart: toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, napkins. If you are a young parent, add diapers and juice boxes to this list. If you are older, add oatmeal. It's the only thing you're allowed to eat in large quantities. Something that I don't recommend buying in bulk is Nova Scotia lox. I don't really know what possessed me to pick up the package at Costco.

With warm weather comes delicious fresh wild salmon. Sockeye is in season from mid-May to September, but any variety, wild or farmed, will work in this simple recipe with Mexican flavorings. The salmon can be grilled or broiled, depending on the weather. It's paired with a zesty pineapple salsa. If you like, you can add more zip to the dish with a seafood rub for the fish. Place the salmon skin-side down. When it's done, it should lift easily from the skin. Switch the herb in the salsa (to cilantro or basil, for instance)