Today I was getting some charcoal for my grill and noticed that the store had cedar planks for grilling on. So I thought I’d try something new tonight and make cedar plank salmon on the grill for dinner. Only problem is I have no idea how to make cedar plank salmon. So I got online and looked for a simple recipe to try. Then I figured I’d take some pics and share it for the next guy looking to try something new.
Cedar plank salmon can be easy from what I learned. Really you just need salmon, cedar planks, seasoning and a grill. Soak the cedar planks first, then season the salmon to your liking. Lastly, put the salmon on the plank and put both of them directly on your hot grill. Close the lid. It’s going to take 20 to 30 mins to cook – you’re looking for an internal temp of 135F.
I found a simple recipe on food network that I tried. So if your looking to do something different for dinner, here’s a link to the recipe and a break down of how I made it with some pictures to help out. (Cedar Plank Salmon)
Cedar Plank Salmon
What you’ll need
2 Cedar Planks
2 Salmon Fillets
Salt & Pepper to Taste
6 Tablespoons of Dijon Mustard
6 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar
Getting Ready For The Grill
Prepping the Cedar Planks
First you need to soak the plank in salted water for 2 hours. If this is your first time working with cedar planks like me, you’re going to want to put something on top of them to weigh them down. Do this before adding water to the pan that you’re soaking them in. Don’t be like me and think of it afterwards and get water all over your floor.
Prepping The Salmon
Now rinse your salmon off with cold water and pat it dry with paper towels. This is a good practice when preparing any meat. It helps remove any contaminants that may have gotten on it during the processing and packaging of the food.
The recipe calls for skinless salmon so the first thing I needed to do is remove the skin from my salmon. If you haven’t ever removed the skin from salmon before, it’s easy. Just use a knife to get a corner free. Now use your fingers to peel it back – it should peel right off. It also tells you to remove any bones, but most store bought salmon should already have the bones removed. However, it’s not a bad idea to double check just in case they missed some.
The next step is to season the salmon with salt and pepper on both sides. I’ve been told I tend to get a bit heavy handed with the pepper so I try to evenly distribute the salt and pepper. After you’re happy with your seasoning, you need to place your salmon on the cedar plank. The recipe tells us to put the side that had the skin down against the cedar plank.
Now that you got the salmon on your cedar plank, you’re going to need to coat it with the dijon mustard. I didn’t measure the 6 tablespoons out. I just added a good amount to the top of my salmon and used a brush to spread it around the top and on to the sides.
Once you’re happy with the layer of dijon mustard it’s time for the brown sugar. The recipe calls for us to place it in a bowl and use our fingers to crumble it up. This is to get rid of any clumps that may be in the brown sugar. If you want, you can use a sifter instead of your hands like I did. Just make sure when you add the brown sugar, you do it over a plate or over the salmon since some will pass right through.
Time To Grill
Now that you got your salmon and the cedar plank all ready it’s time for the grill. This is the easy part. Make sure your grill is up to temp before you add the plank and salmon to it. The recipe isn’t really clear on what temperature your grill should be at. I got my grill to around 400F before adding the cedar plank with the salmon on it to my grill.
I put the plank over indirect heat when I was making mine. Like I said above, once it’s all in the grill it’s going to take around 20 to 30 minutes to be fully cooked through. You’re looking for an internal temperature of 135F. Always make sure your food is cooked all the way.
Direct and Indirect Methods
So the recipe mentions you can use a direct method of cooking if you want to, but it doesn’t go into detail on what the direct method is. What they’re talking about is the heat source. Direct heat would be directly over your charcoal and indirect heat is offset from the charcoal.
They also say if your going to use the direct method to put the planks in the grill by themself first. This is to get the plank to start to get a little smoke coming off of it. This is going to give you more of a smoky taste to the salmon. If you’re going to try the direct method, keep a spray bottle of water nearby just in case the plank starts to catch fire. This way you can put it out without ruining your salmon.
Now indirect is the way we did it in the above article and it’s going to give you more of a natural wood flavor to your salmon. I plan on trying the direct method next time I make this to taste the difference for myself.
Why Soak The Planks
Soaking the plank before cooking on it will stop it from burning when it is on your grill. After I made this recipe I did some research into how long you really need to soak cedar planks for. I found out that a lot of recipes only call for 15 minutes of soaking. So I kept digging and found this WildWood Grilling article on soaking cedar planks. After reading it, it made a lot of sense to me that I probably didn’t need to let them soak for 2 hours.
They did a lot of testing and didn’t find much of a difference between soaking for 15 minutes and soaking for 60 minutes. They even say that there was a considerable drop in water absorption after the first 15 minutes. Interestingly enough, they also found that you can over soak your planks. On a 24 hour test the soaking water changed colors and the food cooked on it was lacking in flavor.
Why Salt The Water
I wasn’t sure why I needed to salt the water so I looked into that as well. Salting the water helps to bring out the flavor of the wood. You have to remember here that you are not trying to smoke the salmon. You are going for the fresh wood flavor. This is achieved by steam coming off the wood and passing into your food. The steam coming off the plank is keeping the moisture in your salmon as well as adding in the wood flavor.
Other Wood Planks You Can Cook On
- Alder planks is less well known, but many cooks prefer it to cedar. This will give your food a stronger, smokier flavor that can have a hint of vanilla as well. Alder planks may be more difficult to find, but it may be worth the effort to give some variation to your plank grilling.
- Cherry planks adds a distinct, sweet flavor to the items cooked on it. Plus, the smoke from the plank will add a nice reddish tone.
- Hickory is best known for smoking meats and using a hickory plank will infuse your food with the same rich flavor.
- Maple adds a spicy, fragrant flavor to food naturally. Use these planks on the grill or in the oven.
As Always Happy Grilling!