There’s a great grocery in Hamiton, Ohio, called Jungle Jim’s. The place is several acres under roof, with huge selections of wine, beer, cheeses, meats, seafood and all kinds of ethnic foods (arranged by region/country). My wife and I stopped by over last weekend, and they had a special on some wild caught sockeye salmon that I couldn’t pass up, along with a cart full of English beer and hard cider. You’ve got to love a grocery that has a sign outside saying, “Foodies Welcome”!
My wife and I don’t really celebrate New Year’s Eve. It’s not that we’re old and boring (I am, she’s not); it’s just that it’s never been a big deal to either of us. But we don’t have to go to work the next day, so I usually try to make something good.
Sometimes I feel like I’m something of a rut with salmon, but my wife requested that I cedar plank this, so I did. It’s easy to do and tastes really fantastic! I use the simplest of recipes for this; I’m a believer in using good ingredients that don’t need to be covered up with spices and sauces all the time (though now and then is good). For good salmon, all I use for seasoning is grey salt, black pepper and brown sugar. That’s it.
So here is the list of ingredients:
- 1 salmon fillet
- 1 1/2 teaspoons grey salt (this is along the lines of Fleur de Sel)
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- enough brown sugar to liberally cover the filet (maybe 1 cup)
Two hours before cooking, I put a cedar plank in water to soak. An XL kitty litter box (unused, please!) works great for this. I lay the salmon out to let it get to room temp, about a half hour before putting it on the grill. I don’t season until just before I put it on though.
I also get a chimney of coals going, so they’re good and hot when it’s time to grill. This also simplifies the fire in that there’s no need to worry about making a 3 zone fire; the cedar plank makes all the heat indirect. When the coals are ready, I put them in something of a rectangular shape, right below where I’ll put the cedar plank.
About 5 minutes before I put the salmon on, I spray the smooth side of the cedar plank with veggie oil spray and put the plank on the grate of the grill, about 6″ directly above the fire. It’s ready once the cedar wood starts smoking.
Once I see the smoke coming out of the grill, I put the salmon fillet right on the plank, doing my best to not let it hang over the plank. The lid comes down, and all there is to do is wait.
I don’t really time this too much, but I usually start looking at the fish after about 15 minutes. Depending on how hot the fire is burning and hot thick the fillet is, this is about the earliest the fish will be ready. This time, it took just under 20 minutes.
The brown sugar melts all over the fish, and the plank, and into the fire… which is ok. It forms a bit of a crust on top of the fish, adding some sweetness, but not as much as you’d think. I’ve had non-fish-eater friends decide salmon was good stuff after having this.
A trick I’ve finally taught myself is to have an already-charred plank from before that’s clean and dry. When the fish was done, I transferred it to this plank and served it. If you try to serve on a smoking plank, you’re going to empty the dining room! Only do this if you’re outside and won’t catch anything on fire!
The presentation ends up really nice, and the fish is well worth the effort. As with many things, the quality of the fish really makes a difference. The idea is not to overseason or overcook the fish; medium rare is great for this. If you can’t get wild caught or Scottish salmon, using spices more like dill or tarragon may be a better way to go. But this is so good, it’s worth a splurge when/if you can find good wild caught salmon. The planking also works for other fish, pork chops and chicken, and scallops are really great this way.
By not having to watch over the food too much, this also makes a great winter grilling exercise.
Curt, that’s a beautiful thing… happy new year to you!
That looks great, I just happen to have picked up some filets from Costco the other day. This is on my to do list!
Lydia, happy new year… I hope 2008 is great to you.
Eric, it’s so easy to do, but just so good… 2 of my favorite things.
I love cooking salmon on cedar planks! Great trick about using an old plank for serving! Thanks for the kitty litter tip too – we always had trouble figuring out what kind of container to soak our planks in – we wound up using disposable aluminum foil deep pans. They were a bit too short but they stretched and still held the water.
Since we saw this method used on some FN show a while ago (several years back?), it’s the ONLY way we fix salmon.
I remember when we had to order the cedar planks from the internet, because we couldn’t find them in stores. Now it seems every grocery store sells them.
Anyway, your photos are great. I guess it’s time to fire up the grill again.
Hillary, The litter tray really works well, and it’s pretty cheap, too. If you cook with wood chips, you can soak the chunks in that, too.
DocChuck, Actually, my favorite way to get planks is not to get the “official” grilling planks. They’re way too expensive. I had a couple from a cooking class, though, so I used them. What I like to do is go to Home Depot and buy a 1″x10″ and have it cut to 18″ and 12″ pieces. I just soak them longer. They’re cheaper, and, if you clean them, you can reuse them, too.
Good point… Cedar is rarely treated, as it is naturally insect resistant, etc., but it’ always good to ask! I hope your husband has recovered.
I made this last night for family that were visiting and everyone loved it. It was absolutely delicious! So simple yet so tasty. Thanks for posting!
I understand that the comment is very late to the post and the thread.
However, I would like to note this. I believe that the cedar flavor results primarily from the steam and oild emited by the soaked plank. So, the plan of soaking, then charring, removes the steam benefit. I love the cedar plank salmon and had it again tonight. It is almost a never fail good meal. I prepared the salmon as described. The sugar goes away and is only slightly covering the final serving. However, I rubbed the smooth side with olive oil to prevent any sticking problem. Then I put a few lemon slices on the the board. I now have decided that a few onion slices would have been better. Maybe a combination – experiment for your own preferred method.
I used the char method suggested as it was new to me. I did not pick up as much of the cedar flavor as I remember from cooking with the cedar plank in the past. I believe it is because the cedar oils were driven off by the heat of charring. I understood the purpose of the soaking is to keep the plank from actually buring up. It does that, but also provides a method of getting more taste into the food. Try it and compare with putting the fish on the wet board and see what you think. That board will still char over hot coals while the fish is being cooked. And the fish will cook a few minutes slower because of the steam moisture.
I did like the suggestion of the very heavy coating of the brown sugar. One experiment I tried was using maple syrup. It was too thin and did not add much. Maple sugar, alomost unobtainable, would certainly make a difference.. the next experiment will be with some onion slices on the top.
Charley, the charring of the wood comes from the heat applied by the grill; it’s not burning away the wood, but providing the heat to produce the steam, and also producing an amount of cedar smoke, both of which flavor the salmon. If you’ve tried it, the steam isn’t negated at all by the fire. The idea is to use a medium fire, not a hot fire. The difference is in marking the wood vs. burning it. If you read my entry, I talk about soaking the wood as the first step, so I’m not sure where you get that I don’t try that. I also talk about putting oil on the board (veggie spray).