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Cedar Plank Salmon
Updated Aug. 1, 2024
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- Total Time
- About 2 hours
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 55 minutes, plus at least 1 hour soaking
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 4(4- to 6-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets
- Salt and pepper
Preparation
- Step 1
Soak a food-grade cedar plank in water for at least 1 hour. To keep the plank from floating, top it with a bowl filled with water. When you’re ready to cook, heat the grill to high, which is between 450 and 550 degrees. You should be able to hold your hand 4 to 5 inches above the grates for 2 to 3 seconds. Season the salmon with salt and pepper.
- Step 2
Place the plank on the grill, close the grill and let the plank cure until the bottom side is charred, lightly smoking and maybe even making a popping sound, 5 to 10 minutes. If any part of the plank catches on fire, sprinkle it with a little water.
- Step 3
Reduce the heat to low, between 250 and 350 degrees. Flip the plank and arrange the salmon fillets skin side down on the plank, ideally at least 1 inch apart and 1 inch distant from the edges of the plank. (If you removed the plank from the grill to arrange the fish, leave the grill open so that the temperature drops more quickly.)
- Step 4
Close the grill and cook until cooked through, 10 to 16 minutes, depending on the size of the fillets. (The fish is done when the fish flakes easily or when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reaches 125 degrees for medium-rare.)
- Step 5
To serve, slide a spatula between the flesh and its skin at the thick end. The fish will easily peel away from the skin. If your fish has white albumin, no big deal — just scrape it away with the spatula before serving. Discard the plank and skin (or, if you have a charcoal grill, scrape off the skin and put the plank on top of your next fire to infuse it with cedar).
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
We also make this but add a liberal sprinkling of smoked paprika along with the s&p; and then brush with maple syrup a couple of times while it cooks. Serve atop coconut rice and top the whole shebang with chili crisp and sliced scallions. Sweet/smoky/spicy unctuous goodness!
This has been a standard in my home for 20 years. I split my planks ahead from cedar logs on hand, saturate a day in a bucket, then drip-dry, wrap, and into the freezer. It only takes a few minutes to thaw and re-hydrate. They are 1/2 inch or more thick, and do not split in the freezer I’ve prepared the salmon for the plank many ways, but now do Kenji’s dry-brine first, then coat with a sweet & tangy BBQ sauce that caramelizes. Inspired by a BBQ Salmon dish at Chotto Matte in Miami (May 2023).
This is a staple in our house. Simple preparation, always a winner. We serve it with an arugula salad with roasted beets and goat cheese, and a balsamic drizzle.
We love this....have been doing it for years. I recommend weighting the plank and soaking it for at least 6 hours. You can't over soak it. When we don't do this, the plank itself burns, and occasionally catches on fire.
My experience when using cedar planks for grilled salmon is to keep the spicing simple: typically, just a healthy dash of ground white rock salt from a mill, as the cedar will impart a delicate smokey flavor that you don't want to obscure (some herbs, pepper, but keep in the background), which goes well with the wild salmon flavor (I never use farmed salmon). And have a spray bottle of water handy for flare-ups. Another variation on this theme is to use cedar wraps (veneered cedar).
There is no need to soak or preheat the plank. Preheat the grill to high, put the salmon on the plank skin side down, close the top, and cook 12 minutes. The plank will burn around the edges, creating a nice smoke, but the portion with the fish on it will not catch fire. (You can boil water in a paper bag set directly on a bed of coals -- try it sometime.) To remove the fish, slide a spatula between the skin and the flesh; the skin will stick to the plan and the flesh will come away in a slab.
I marinate my salmon in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and chili flakes beforehand. The flavours compliment the cedar smoke. I also cook down the remaining marinade until it is a thickened syrup so as not to waste pricey ingredients.
The key to good salmon is to not overcook it. Remove from the heat when the internal temperature reaches ~130 degrees. Once off the heat, it will continue cooking to perfection.
Alder planks are not only an acceptable substitute for cedar, but preferable, with a more subtle flavor.
I like to slather the salmon fillet in Trader Joes chimichuri sauce before grilling on the cedar plank. Absolutely delicious!!!!
No need to put the planks over the fire, so no need to soak. Somehow the ‘indirect’ rule, only cover the grill when fat is not directly over the fire, is no longer followed by the Times.
A light glaze of maple syrup as done at Joe Fortes Seafood in Vancouver is the perfect finishing touch to cedar plank grilled salmon.
I rub garam masala on the salmon with some olive oil and let it rest in the fridge for up to a day. Never fails to impress me
That's an interesting flavour combination - I'll have to try that the next time I grill some salmon.
Lowes or Home Depot have 6' cedar planks that you can cut to the size of the fish. Make sure the cedar planks are untreated:) Can use a cooler filled with water and a brick/rock to keep it submerged.
We had center cut fillets of steelhead trout which worked well here. Kept a close eye on them, thermapen at the ready. Threw some pre-cooked buttered cob corn on the side for a little caramelization. Definitely will do this again.
I have a variant on this that people love. I top the fish with a blend of chopped parsley, sun dried tomatoes, tomato pesto, olive oil, salt and pepper. Similar cooking time. With the oil in the mix it is going to catch fire. That is no big deal. Just don’t let the fire get to the fish itself. But it does add smoke that enhances the flavor.
This has been a standard in my home for 20 years. I split my planks ahead from cedar logs on hand, saturate a day in a bucket, then drip-dry, wrap, and into the freezer. It only takes a few minutes to thaw and re-hydrate. They are 1/2 inch or more thick, and do not split in the freezer I’ve prepared the salmon for the plank many ways, but now do Kenji’s dry-brine first, then coat with a sweet & tangy BBQ sauce that caramelizes. Inspired by a BBQ Salmon dish at Chotto Matte in Miami (May 2023).
We love this....have been doing it for years. I recommend weighting the plank and soaking it for at least 6 hours. You can't over soak it. When we don't do this, the plank itself burns, and occasionally catches on fire.
Sprinkle coarse salt on both sides of the salmon about when you start soaking the plank. Dab it off the meat side when you start grilling. You get the most delish salmon crackling.
I use untreated cedar shingles, soaked well and cook on the cold side of the grill until done then on the fire side to make some smoke flavor if it hasn’t happened on its own.
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