Northwest Fishing Reports

This is my favorite salmon recipe, and it is really simple. I never measure my ingredients for this one, so I'll describe it as best as possible.

Ingredients:

Cedar Plank Board for cooking salmon (found in most seafood departments at grocery store. Fred Myers have them). If you are cooking for a lot of people you might need two boards.

Large Salmon Filet (IMPORTANT: skin must still be on one side). I figure 8 ounces per person, so about 2 - 2.5 pounds for four people.

Honey

Italian Seasoning (A blend of spices like thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage, etc). Found at any grocery store.

Sliced Almonds

Directions:

1) Soak the board in water all day. This will prevent it from drying out too fast and catching on fire.

2) Place salmon filet on the board. Skin side down.

3) Apply honey generously over the entire salmon. This will not only give it a great flavor, but also seals it so that it cannont dry out. I put on lots of honey -- until it dripping off of the fish and pooling on the board around the fish.

4) Apply Italian Seasoning. Gently sprinkle the italian seasoning on top of the layer of honey. Season as desired, however, I usually use quite a bit. It really compliments the honey.

5) Sprinkle sliced almonds on top of the honey and italian seasoning. This also adds to the flavor and gives it a nice texture.

6) Turn your barbeque all the way to low. This works best on a dual burner grill. Place the board in the middle of the grill, with the LID DOWN. Since the board has been soaking in water all day, it won't catch on fire. Just make sure you keep the grill on low. Grill the fish this way until it flakes easily and reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees.

Great new section and awesome recipe. It is funny our recipes are very similar and the honey does work great. The only thing I do not use is the almonds, but I will have to try it next time. Also I have not tried a cedar plank yet, I have been really thinking about getting one.

Can you re-use a cedar plank is is it a 1 time thing?

gpc wrote:Can you re-use a cedar plank is is it a 1 time thing?

It's a one time thing. Once they are done on the bbq, the corners usually start to get blackened and the board is dried out and completely shot. They are relatively inexpensive though... They come in packages of two, and cost around five bucks or so.

Joe

I have read as long as you wash them well like anything else you can re-use them up to ten times or more. I was looking some up after I read your post.

bustin wrote:I have read as long as you wash them well like anything else you can re-use them up to ten times or more. I was looking some up after I read your post.

Right on. Thanks for the input. It must depend on the grill you cook it on then, and how low the grill sets to the flame, because I'd be lucky to get two uses out of one board, even with the grill on low -- it demolishes the board that much on mine. That said, check it out, and let me know how it turns out.

Joe

Beerman, In this magazine they said that you could do this in the oven have you ever tried that. Also they said instead of soaking the plank in water, to use wine or juice.

Wine would be a great idea to add flavor. I never thought of that. I've always just done mine on a grill, but I don't see why it wouldn't work in the oven. I would just make sure you have your oven fan on to get rid of all the smoke.

Beerman

Here's my method.
first, I use cedar shingles, cause I'm cheap. look for some without knots. Use 2 and reverse taper to get a level surface. Soak them well. Place the salmon fillet (preferred is Sockeye) skin side down, salt and pepper to taste. Place this on your grill and turn it on Medium and cook for 25 minutes. Thats it. I find that starting with a cold grill prevents the board from burning as bad and I can sometimes re-use them. Oh ya, you might want to consume a few cold ones w/ friends while you wait
Cheers
Maury

Maury wrote:Here's my method.
...first, I use cedar shingles, cause I'm cheap...

I use untreated cedar fence boards and cut them to length. You can get quite a few fence board planks for the price of those specialty planks. No need to worry about re-using them at fence board prices.