Cedar Plank Salmon
Cedar Plank Salmon
Time to mix up your BBQ routine? Why not try planking? Sure to be a hit for any occasion.
Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets (about 2 lbs cut into even portions)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- Salt & Pepper for seasoning
- 2 cedar planks
- For Brine:
- 6 cups water
- 1/4 cup salt
Directions
- Step 1 Soak your cedar planks for up to 8 hours (I submerged them in water in an 8 1/2 by 11 glass baking dish).
- Step 2 About an hour before you want to grill, prepare your brine. Add 1/4 cup salt to 6 cups of water in a mixing bowl. Add the salmon.
- Step 3 Preheat the grill to 450 degrees and prepare your seasoning. Mix garlic powder with brown sugar and ginger powder and pour onto a plate.
- Step 4 Remove the salmon from the brine and be sure to rinse and dry the fillets. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Roll salmon in the spice mixture, coating as evenly as you can. Place it evenly in the middle of the plank.
- Step 5 Place planks on the grill in the center. Cover and allow to grill until salmon is cooked through the middle (about 20 minutes). Word to the wise: keep water on hand and spray flames if necessary!
In our house, grill season lasts until the first snow (or if you’re really adventurous, all year round) and grilling on a cedar plank is such a great way to cook fish on the barbecue. “Planking” (as I like to call it) gives the fish that extra boost – a rustic smokiness that permeates the whole fish. Cedar planks have become so popular that they are easy to find and pretty cheap – we bought a whole package of 12 for less than $10 on Amazon – so you won’t feel bad about trashing the plank after grilling (ours was charred so we had no choice!).
This recipe is super easy to do for a weeknight meal or entertaining friends on a late summer night, just make sure you leave time to brine the fish first. The salt helps flavor the meat while the water packs in extra moisture:
There is a world of options when it comes to what rub you should use, but we loved the balance of the sweetness of the brown sugar with the tartness of the ginger. We were having so much fun entertaining our friends that I failed to capture the finished product (all you see here is the salmon pre-grilling), but it was definitely a fan favorite. Just picture the fish with a deeper orange hue and a golden caramelized glaze 🙂 I promise to document it more thoroughly next time!
