Cedar plank salmon is one of the best ways to cook your freshly caught salmon. As it grills the unique cedarwood scent of cedar wood in a sauna envelopes the cooking fish and provides the flavour enhancement.
Cedar planks can be purchased in grocery stores, and can be made from cedar firewood where available. First you need to soak the cedar plank in water to ensure that it is moist and does not catch on fire when its in the barbeque. Submerse it in a pail or rubbermaid bin and weight down if necessary, and leave it to soak overnight. If you don’t have that long to wait, soak it for as long as you can but be careful that it might catch on fire.
Recommended ingredients to have on-hand:
- olive oil
- coarse salt
- salmon fillets or steaks
- lemon
- herbs
- mustard
- brown sugar
- soy sauce
- cedar planks
To prepare the fish you can cut it into fillets or into steaks, either will work. Use a set of fish bone tweezers to remove the pin bones. Once the cuts are trimmed and the bones are removed give the pieces a rinse under cold water to remove the loose scales and bits.
Place the fish onto the cedar plank and add the spices of your preference. I recommend teriyaki salmon made with a coating of brown sugar and soy sauce, or, the brown sugar and mustard recipe that is also featured here on FishinBC.COM. Fresh dill, green onions, and slices of red onions, or butter and garlic would also make an excellent toppings for salmon.
Once the fish is cooked you can use the cedar planks to display the fish on the table, or, you can remove the fish from the cedar planks. If they are overly charred or smokey then you may want to remove the fish from the cedar planks outside, before bringing them into the house. When you’re all done with the planks you can scrape off a bit of the charred sections and it may be possible to re-use the plank for a few more meals.
The cedar plank salmon recipes will work excellent for any kind of salmon. Different species have different flavours and generally the darker red the meat, the stronger the salmon flavour. Sockeye and coho are the darkest while chinook and pink salmon are lighter. If your family is picky about fish then you may want to try some of the milder, lighter fish. Wild salmon or farmed salmon will cook up well as cedar plank salmon.
Here are a few great videos on how to cook cedar plank salmon from folks on Youtube. If you have any of your own favourites let me know with the comments box below.
Cheers!