A Hungry Bear

I love the flavor that a cedar plank imparts on a piece of salmon when it’s grilled, but I had always assumed it was difficult to make so I only enjoyed this at restaurants. A couple of weeks ago, I was on a flight perusing one of those airline magazines (Delta’s Sky magazine actually) and came across an article about grilling and how easy it was to use different wood planks with different types of food. Why not try it? Sure enough, there at Whole Foods the next day was a package of 2 cedar planks for $5. The key is soaking the wood for at least an hour before you grill it, so it doesn’t catch on fire.

Since A doesn’t much care for fish, I added a mustard-mayo-basil type of glaze on top (similar to the sauce I served with salmon in the past). It was a great compliment to the sweet smoky flavor of the cedar.

Grocery list: 1 cedar plank, 1-2 pound skin-on fillet of salmon (Alaskan wild-caught is really nice right now), 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup grainy mustard, sprig of basil, 1 Tablespoon honey, 1 lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper.

Here are the cedar planks I picked up from WF for $5. (I bet you could get some from the hardware store for even cheaper, but I didn’t want to make the extra trip.)

An hour or two before you start the grill, you need to soak the cedar plank. I have 2 shallow roasting pans that turned out to be perfect for this. I filled the larger one halfway with water, then laid the planks in. Since they float, you have to weight them down - I did this with the smaller of the 2 pans. If you don’t have a roasting pan large enough, just use the sink, or even the bathtub, with a weight on top of the wood.

To make the sauce for the salmon, zest the lemon into a small bowl. Mince the basil, and stir that in along with the honey, mustard and mayo.

Stir to combine.

Drain the cedar plank and pat dry. Brush one side of the plank generously with olive oil. This will keep the salmon skin from sticking.

Lay the salmon skin side down on the oiled plank. Season it with salt and pepper. Then, spread on the sauce. Set the plank on a medium-high flame - shut the lid and don’t open it for at least 15 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, check the salmon (it might need 5 minutes more if you have a larger piece of fish) - it could take up to 20 minutes total.

Remove the plank carefully to a baking sheet to bring it to serve.