Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Plank - Soaking or not

DeafNativeTexan
DeafNativeTexan Posts: 7
edited July 2012 in EggHead Forum
Wanna know if it is necessary to have cedar or adler plank soaking before cooking salmon or any fish in the egg?
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    My opinion - Just dip it in water for a few second before you put the fish on it.  You can soak it all night and it's only going to pick up 3-5% more weight in water.  Wood isn't very absorbent.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • misu
    misu Posts: 213
    Depends how long and how high you plan on cooking on it but generally I soak it at least 15 minutes. Plus that way you can reuse it a few times
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    If it is cedar, the idea behind soaking is to delay the smoke lkng enough that the fish has a five or ten minute headstart. Too much cedar smoke may not be your thing. And so delaying it knocks down the amount of smoke flavor. The cedar can be resinous or too 'piney'. Originally the idea was simply to cook on the wood as a cooking vessel. Soaking kept it from burning up, and the smome was a bonus of sorts

    If you were doing maple or something less inclined to go wrong flavor wise, i suppose no need to soak

    And there is certainly no reason to soak if you then put it on the grill untilmit smokes, then toss the meat on it. The soaking in that case is a waste of time.

    I soak cedar shakes/shingles for maybe a half hour. It delays the smoke about ten minutes at maybe 350-375.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    For me, the shingle is basically a disposable plate that I can use to prep, cook and serve very delicate filets.  I bought a bunch of thin planks, more of a veneer than a plank, from woot a while back.  I can compose the fish the way I want it cooked and it's a baking/serving pan at that point.  Does give you smoke flavor as it burns.  Cedar is very turpentine-ishy (if that's a word), so I agree with stike that you don't want to over-do the cedar smoke.  You can completely control the smoke with the egg anyway.  Even cook indirect and use thick planks over and over.  Makes a nice presentation, and gives you a prep-to-serve way of keeping very delicate fish from disintegrating from a spatula.  But that's just how I use 'em.




    image
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • DeafNativeTexan
    DeafNativeTexan Posts: 7
    Awesome.. Many thanks to y'all..  I've learned something new from you guys.. :)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories