The Unofficial Cook

A Canadian friend of ours gave us two cedar planks for grilling salmon on. That was about 2 years ago.  For one reason or another, we never tried to do the whole “grilling on a plank” thing….it just seemed like too much fuss.  But the grill was hot from our Fourth of July lunch and I thought this dish would qualify as a good blog experiment.

BTW, lunch was so good I didn’t have time to take photos.  It was a fantastic frozen Pinoy? pork barbecue I got from the Peterson AFB commissary. We had it with some grilled zucchini and asparagus.  The barbecue was just right, garlicky enough, without that garish red color of banana ketchup.  The veggies were perfectly juicy and smoky from the coals.  I marinated the veggies in a little red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and some extra virgin olive oil and  was grilled quickly over high heat - just right.

Back to the salmon though, that is the main object of this post after all….

Spouse was kind enough to help me out and re-started the coals while the fish fillets were marinating.  And I prepared the Pinoy Potato Salad which I had intended to be a plain, old German Potato Salad….but got carried away as usual.

We’re not totally enamored of this method of grilling.  Cedar doesn’t seem like the kind of wood to flavor your salmon or any food for that matter.  That’s just our opinion.  Cedar is the kind of wood you  put in your closets to keep moths away from your clothes.  It’s the kind of wood to build log cabins with.  But for barbecue, I don’t think so.

What happens in the grill is, the cedar plank will burn slowly at the bottom and emit smoke. Meanwhile, your salmon steaks are sitting on the top of the plank, almost poaching in the marinade and picking up that cedar-smoke flavor.  The usual barbecue woods  are cherry, mesquite, oak and hickory - all these woods make for great flavors for just about anything you barbecue.  We grilled the steaks on a very low flame, and they come out perfectly juicy.  The cedar flavor ruined it for us though…even with the flavorful marinade we used.  Some of you may disagree and love this dish. It’s a matter of taste.

So, if you want to try it, here’s the recipe:

For starters, soak your cedar planks in a shallow dish for about 2 hours. Marinate (at least an hour) a pound of salmon steaks in:

1/2 c. chopped shallots

2 tbsps. real maple syrup

1/4 c. BBQ sauce (mesquite or smoky flavor)

1/2 tbsp. red pepper flakes

1 tbsp. brown sugar.

Heat up the grill  and place the marinated salmon on the plank.  Pour half of the marinade onto the salmon.  Put plank directly on the heated grill.

Close the lid and cook as slowly as possible for about 25-30 minutes.  Pour the remaining marinade over the salmon halfway through cooking.

Keep a water spray bottle on hand to diffuse flames while grilling.