Cedar Planks for Grilling

Haven’t tried this yet, but it sounds really good. Any reason you can’t just pick this up from Menards/Home Depot and cut it yourself vs. paying to buy a couple of small, pre-packaged sections off the shelf? Any tips (soak boards first, direct vs. indirect heat, etc.)? Are most of you sticking with just salmon or are you using them with other meats, as well?

Thanks,

Jim

><(((>

I got this trick from a Aluet (Sp) indian when we were in Alaska. Soak the Cedar Plank (any you can get from HM-Menards etc) in water, or sugar water, or salt water overnight. Put Salmon on planks, and grill.

She also smoked all her salmon on cedar planks. She said then you don’t need much heat, and gets better flavor.

And after seeing her, I don’t think she went hungry very often

done this a lot. Works well with halibut, salmon, whitefish, even walleye. I build decks and have numerous left-over 1X cedar scraps at the end of every job. Makes for a lot or wood duck and blue bird houses…. and of course cedar planking. Use western red cedar(more fragrant than white cedar). Soak it at least 4hrs but up to 24 if you remember or its convenient. I soak it right in a 5 gallon pail. place pieces vertically in the pail and weight them on top to keep them submersed. You can add orange or apple or even cranberry juices to the water for a little bit differnt flavor(match with the seasoning used). Start grill until desired heat med to med-hi(400 to 450 deg). Place plank on grill for about 5 minutes until it starts to appear dry on the top surface then dribble olive oil on top of the plank add seasoned or rubbed fish on top of oiled plank. cook until fish flakes. 10-15 for smaller pieces(walleye, pike) 20-30 for larger chunks of salmon, whitefish or halibut(by far my favorite cedar planked fish). Try it let me know how it works. Keep in mind it does smolder a piece of wood and it gets really smoky. dont do it right next to open windows(experience) or sliding glass door. your grill will smell like cedar for awhile but well worth it.

I’ve looked at these cedar planks before, and I sure will give them a try. I know they can be used a few times before they need to get put into the fire. I do have a problem using cedar decking pieces, isn’t this treated wood?

Some people use treated decking, but the majority of decks are made with standard Cedar (untreated). If it looks slightly green , don’t use it If you want something to grill on, use Cedar Shingles.

Good Luck

Mouth is watering…thanks for the replies

Jim

><(((>