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Okay, who here has successfully cooked planked salmon? Yes, you, I want to talk with you.
I bought this plank set (extremely thin planks) from Sur La Table, Maple, Alder, and Cedar 'planks.' Yes, I know, overpriced yuppieware, but I love smoked foods and was curious. So we tried one (a piece of one, actually) with a salmon fillet tonight.
Easy part # 1: Soak the plank in water. Done.
Tricky part # 2: Toast the plank so it doesn't warp. "Nothing's happening," reports M. "Turn the grill to medium high per their instructions," says I. Two minutes later, I say, "Oh, look, there's the warping we were supposed to be preventing." Oh well.
Easy part #3: Leave plank on grill. Close cover and wait until plank is smoking. Okay, done.
Tricky part #4: Put the salmon on the plank. Hmm, I had them leave the skin on when it was filleted because we usually grill skin-side down. But to get smoke flavor, it seems like the flesh should be in contact with the plank. So it's skin-side up, flesh-side down. My, that's a thick fillet....
Tricky part #5: How long will it take to grill, given that the plank is insulating the flesh? Or is it?
Easy part #6: We agree that we should flip the fillet to skin-side down on the grill. One hamburger spatula and one fish-lifter later, the salmon is flipped and the plank removed (and run under water to cool the smoking embers).
Tricky part #7: Gee, now the top is cooked by virtue of contact with the hot plank while the skin side is underdone. Exactly opposite of our usual 'is it done yet?' dilemma. Is it done yet?
Easy part #8: We decide it's done and consume it along with black rice, mixed greens, and grilled okra. It was a bit overdone, but still okay
Yet for all that, there was relatively little smoke flavor! Was it worth it? Could we have done it differently? What if the fillet had no skin side? Many questions, no answers.
I bought this plank set (extremely thin planks) from Sur La Table, Maple, Alder, and Cedar 'planks.' Yes, I know, overpriced yuppieware, but I love smoked foods and was curious. So we tried one (a piece of one, actually) with a salmon fillet tonight.
Easy part # 1: Soak the plank in water. Done.
Tricky part # 2: Toast the plank so it doesn't warp. "Nothing's happening," reports M. "Turn the grill to medium high per their instructions," says I. Two minutes later, I say, "Oh, look, there's the warping we were supposed to be preventing." Oh well.
Easy part #3: Leave plank on grill. Close cover and wait until plank is smoking. Okay, done.
Tricky part #4: Put the salmon on the plank. Hmm, I had them leave the skin on when it was filleted because we usually grill skin-side down. But to get smoke flavor, it seems like the flesh should be in contact with the plank. So it's skin-side up, flesh-side down. My, that's a thick fillet....
Tricky part #5: How long will it take to grill, given that the plank is insulating the flesh? Or is it?
Easy part #6: We agree that we should flip the fillet to skin-side down on the grill. One hamburger spatula and one fish-lifter later, the salmon is flipped and the plank removed (and run under water to cool the smoking embers).
Tricky part #7: Gee, now the top is cooked by virtue of contact with the hot plank while the skin side is underdone. Exactly opposite of our usual 'is it done yet?' dilemma. Is it done yet?
Easy part #8: We decide it's done and consume it along with black rice, mixed greens, and grilled okra. It was a bit overdone, but still okay
Yet for all that, there was relatively little smoke flavor! Was it worth it? Could we have done it differently? What if the fillet had no skin side? Many questions, no answers.
