Cedar Plank Grilled Salmon
Mon, Aug 8, 2005
I’ve been wanting to try grilling salmon on cedar planks for a long time, but never got around to it until last night. It’s actually pretty easy, impressive looking and — thanks to some thrifty shopping — quite inexpensive. If you are not familiar with this technique, it involves grilling salmon directly on cedar planks, allowing the smoke from the cedar to flavor the fish.
First off let me explain that I don’t even really like salmon. Let’s face it, here in Texas we just don’t see a lot of salmon swimming up the Rio Grande. Likewise for salmon’s puny cousin the trout. When we eat fish here it’s bass, or catfish, or crappie, not salmon. And it’s not baked, or grilled, or broiled, or poached. It’s fried. Fried in corn meal or onion ring batter. Period. That’s fish. The smell of salmon on the other hand, just reminds me of canned cat food.
Never the less, my wife and I decided we should broaden our horizons and try some more “exotic” types of fish prepared in healthier ways. Salmon grilled on cedar planks certainly fits the bill down here.
So first things first, the salmon. While we won’t catch a salmon in the river on a tube jig, we can certainly buy an imported one from the supermarket. Here salmon is $10 a pound for wild salmon and $5 a pound for farm raised. Not knowing the actual benefits of one over the other, I succommed to prestige pricing and bought the more expensive wild salmon.
Next, I needed some cedar planks. I saw some at Williams-Sonoma the previous weekend, but they wanted like $20 for 4 planks. However, I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. My yard is full of cedar trees so I know that a 6×14 plank isn’t worth $5. In fact, we put up a cedar fence last year, and I still had some scrap pickets left over that I had thrown in the wood pile. These however were covered with a white fungus of unidentified origin, so after a few minutes of contemplation I elected to seek alternatives.
Aha, the Home Depot! Sure enough, I was able to buy an 8′x6″ cedar picket for $2. First I cut it into 6, 16″ sections. Then, to give the same smooth feel as the fancy store bought planks I applied liberal use of a belt sander to one side to remove the splinters. Perfect. I then set a couple of planks in the sink with a brick on top to let them soak for 3 or 4 hours. This assures they won’t completely burn up in the grill.
When ready to cook, I first let the grill get good and hot. I then removed the planks from their bath and placed them on the grill, which I turned down to low and shut the lid. After about 10 minutes the wood was starting to smolder on the bottom and a distinct smell of cedar was evident. Now for the salmon.
I first gave the salmon a little oiling and seasoned well with salt and pepper. I then covered the top and sides with the fanciest Dijon mustard we had in the refrigerator, and covered that with a layer of brown sugar. The mustard and sugar mixture will melt on the grill, forming a delicious sweet and tangy glaze. I then transferred each fish to a blank and shut the grill lid.
After about 20-30 minutes, the fish had reached a temperature of about 135°, and after a few more minutes where flaking easily and therefore, done. Removing the planks from the grill they were ready to serve. Serving the fish directly off the planks makes a nice presentation, and a whole side of salmon on a longer plank would make a great party appetizer.
So, finally, the taste test. Still tastes like salmon. Or cat food. Sorry. I really tried. I mean I really wanted to like this foreign fish. Don’t get me wrong. This recipe is a good one, the glaze was really good and the fish look wonderful. If you like salmon, I bet you’d like this dish. I’m just hampered by my heritage I guess. I’ll stick to catfish, thanks.
| Tags: seafood |
You have to be careful that the wood is not treated. Maybe it did not taste good to you because you got treated wood from Home Depot (your fence wood would heave definitely been BAD!!) and the formaldehyde infused the fish!! Just spend the 5 bucks, dude.
Wow! I admire your effort…the expensive fish and the labor for the cheap board. You did try, you really tried. How about catfish next time? Pork cooks up great on those planks…and I am with Amanda. Time is money! Are you retired?
I also am not a fan of salmon, but I tried it last weekend with a plank I bought at Whole Foods; I’d never use wood designed for construction because as mentioned above, it contains formaldehyde… not a taste enhancer…
I prepared it much the same as the article, but used tequila lime grilling spice, and the result was amazing… I loved it.
I just want to inform people that CEDAR is not treated wood. It has its own natural detorant,oils, that insects don’t like. So CEDAR from your local lumberyard is safe to cook on.
Cedar is TREATED. ALL wood from home depot is treated actually. NOT SAFE TO COOK ON!
I actually prefer the taste of formaldehyde. Plus, it is rich in Vitamin D and E.
Give me some “proof” that the cedar I would buy at HD or Lowes is “treated”.
As stated, cedar does not require being treated, it has it’s own “preservative” properties.
From someone in cedar country……….
Oh, go ahead use the formaldehyde treated stuff. It’ll save your family from having to have you embalmed when you die (3 days after your salmon feast).
Home Depot’s site says of their Cedar Planks:
“No chemicals added, just the natural wood product”
Dale, I think you are talking about the gilling “Cedar Planks”, which would not be treated as they are specific for cooking.
GOOD LORD PEOPLE! Cedar does NOT need any form of preservative. Why on earth do you think so many fenceposts are made from cedar and locust. You can’t hurt the stuff.
Nooo… Cedar does not need to be treated!
“In fact, we put up a cedar fence last year, and I still had some scrap pickets left over that I had thrown in the wood pile. These however were covered with a white fungus of unidentified origin, so after a few minutes of contemplation I elected to seek alternatives.”
Ive worked in the shipping industry a long time, if the cedar is imported, it was probably fumigated to keep unwanted lifeforms from invading the U.S.
Even China exports western red cedar imported from North America. China, the country that sells us childrens toys painted with Lead Based paint! The country that sold us wheat gluten containing Melamine that killed cats and dogs.
Do you really want to use something in cooking your food that may have come from China and was intended to be used in construction?
If Im going to use a cedar plank to cook food, Im going to buy it from a reputiable company marketing it to use for grilling!
Even if it costs a few bucks more for an item that can be reused several times, its still cheaper than my deductible!
Why take the risk?
Yea but, most reputable companies selling stuff for grilling are actually buying it at Home Depot and cutting it up then sanding it down. That’s what we do.
Tequila and Lime! I’m on it!!
CEDAR IS NOT TREATED FROM THE HOME DEPOT!!!!
as said above it has it’s on natural deterant
Cedar is used specifically here in Texas to avoid problems with bugs and NOT having to have a heavily treated wood. It naturally deters bugs, especially termites.
Cedar is not treated.
Isn’t that Bobby Flay’s recipe…
You might try Johney’s Seasoning Salt, some ground pepper, some thin slices of lemon and then grill.
If it doesn’t help you adjust your taste then just buy the cheap stuff it will probably suit your tastes more and help keep the prices down on the wild stuff for the rest of us
i grew up in texas(30yrs), but moved to the pacific northwest 23 years ago….where western red cedar and alder grow and salmon flourish. i also commercial fished in alaska for salmon 11 years, so i’ve eaten and cooked tons of salmon and know it well
the thing i don’t get is that western red cedar, the type that is used for grilling, contains toxic oils naturally, and i’ve never understood why this is a product that is sold for smoking/cooking on. i’ve known people to get ill from handling cedar too much. alder, on the other hand, makes a lot of sense to be using as planks, seeing as that is the wood quite often used in smoking salmon and has no toxic oils.
as far as using “cedar” that grows in texas….sorry, thats juniper….its just called “eastern red cedar” and i’m betting its oils are toxic also..USE ALDER PLANKS
ok you guys are fricking out.the planks that they sell out there for grill is perfect.i use them all the time and there DONThave any treatment at all.
move on from this topic…………
James, thank you for your inquiry. We use Aromatic Eastern Redcedar to manufacture cedar closet liner. We have not done any testing with use with food. Our product is not treated with any chemicals during the manufacturing process.
Best regards,
Connie Brink
Marketing & Sales Administration Manager
——————————————————————————–
From: James Henderson
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2010 10:16 AM
To: Connie Brink
Subject: General Questions – email from CedarSafeClosets.com
I have a question/comment concerning:
General Questions
Comments:
I like to grill salmon on cedar planks. The process is to char the wood, then place the salmon directly on the char and finish grilling it. It imparts a cedar smoke flavoring to the salmon. Is CedarSafe Natural Closet Liner a food safe product? Is there any part of the production process that might render the product toxic or otherwise unsafe?
———-
James Henderson
Sent from the CedarSafeClosets.com Contact Page
The planks are about 4″ X 3/8″ X 4′. There are about 15 sq ft of planking in a package and a package costs about $23. I bought it at Home Depot.