Aug 21 2008
BBQing with Cedar Plank
For the past two weeks I’ve been cooking fish about every other day on my gas BBQ using a cedar plank to smoke the fish. (See my previous post: Homemade Smoked Salmon.) You heat up the BBQ, place the plank on the grill, give it 5 minutes to heat up, put the fish on the plank, turn the heat down a bit and keep the cover closed for 15 minutes. It cooks the fish perfectly every time, the best fish I’ve ever had. Having done it about 10 times so far, here’s what I’ve learned:
— Salmon, trout, halibut and scallops are perfect for the plank. Cod is most definitely not.
— You don’t have to marinate the fish (the smoke is fine on its own), but it doesn’t hurt.
— Maple planks are inferior to cedar planks. No contest. Don’t even bother with them.
— Avoid the thin planks because they catch fire too easily. The good ones are 3/4-inch thick.
— Soak the plank overnight if you can. The only plank that smoked well and didn’t burn up too much had soaked overnight. The more soaking, the better. 2 to 4 hours should be the minimum.
— Remember to turn the heat down to medium once you place the fish on the plank. You may need to tweak it for the first few minutes, trying to find a low heat that doesn’t burn up the plank, but hot enough that smoke leaks out the side of the BBQ. 550-650 F is a good range.
— Once you put the fish on, don’t open the BBQ unless you have to (or just peak under the cover). Keeping the smoke inside the BBQ is key.
— You should get at least 2 uses out of each plank if you’re doing everything right.
Anyone else having fun with cedar planks on their BBQ? Any recipes? Suggestions? Different types of fish? What about hickory?
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Tags: bbq, cooking
One better respond to Phillip quickly as he will be coming down with mercury poisoning soon and will soon lose gross motor skills…..
ok. how thick is the plank? I have some nice spanish cedar I’ve used to make humidors that’s a good 7/8″ thick.
Advise,
Roscoe
That’s not BBQing. It’s grilling.
Sounds good though, I’m going to try it.
Was introduced to this a few weeks ago shopping at Sam’s. They have the whole enchilada in the frozen section …. 6 Salmon filets with skin still on one side and 6 cuts of Cedar tree. Have cooked one, came out great. I cooked mine in an Iron Skillet in the oven set at 350 for a little more than 20 minutes. I will have to try it on the grille next.
Today, while looking to replace the wire brush for my grille at the Home Depot, I noticed they had Cedar Planks in the BBQ Section. So you can find the Cedar planks easily, gettem now … since the fully stocked BBQ Section is usually seasonal.
I just bought my second plank, because the first one was pretty much destroyed in one use. It had soaked for 16 hours too.
the cost of the damn planks is pissing me off though. $2.50 for a 1-2 use piece of wood, it’s gotta be cheaper to buy an 8 foot length of cedar at a hardware store or something, but i’m still not convinced the store bought planks aren’t treated with tasty chemical brews or something that i would miss out on. What if i got my dad to cut down a big old cedar tree with a chainsaw, and then saw off dozens of 1 inch thick disks of cedar?
I’ve been doing salmon in the grill for many years. It is requested by family and friends as a bring a dish to parties. Forget the plank. Use a fillet not a steak. I put apple cider jelly and a seasoning rub on the salmon meat and cook indirectly and covered at a low temperature (180 to 200 F) for an hour and a half exactly for one pound filet. For smoke I use hickory chips which impart a salty flavor to the meat. This something you do not want to miss. Use aplle jelly or maple syrup in place of the apple cider jelly which is hard to find. The skin may stick to the grill so put a noon-stick spray on the grill first. A mayo and sour cream dip with dill and onion is a great accompaniment. I found this recipe in Outdoor Magazine many years ago.