Question for Mad Max on Salmon Plank Grilling

Julie · May 2004

I made the salmon according to you instructions about 2 weeks ago. Soaking the plank for 3 hours and grilling at 425 for 20 mins. The salmon was nicely cooked and moist, but I did feel the cedar taste was a bit intense and my salmon was colored brown from all the cedar smoke. There was a point early in the grilling when I let the temperature run away from me peaking at 500 degrees. Is you salmon also discolored from the smoke or was this a result of cooking at too high a temperature initially? The 3/4 inch plank was totally blackened on the bottom with about 1/3 to 1/2 of the depth burned away.[p]

mad max beyond eggdome · May 2004

Julie,
i found that i had very little smoke, and no real discoloration that i remember. . . i wonder if not all cedar planks are the same. . .did you put the soaked plank in the egg for a little while to let it 'crackle' before you put on the salmon?. . .that's what the plank instructions said to do in my case. . .and yep, mine was pretty well charred on the bottom as well. . .if you can get two uses out of a plank, i think you are lucky. . .[p]to be honest i haven't made salmon since that last post of mine, so i don't know how consistent this process is. . .will have to try it again soon to see if i continue to get the same results. . .

Julie · May 2004

mad max beyond eggdome,
Thanks for your response. I think I will try it again but watch the temperature closely keeping it closer to 400-425. I did soak the plank for 3 hours and placed it on the grill waitng for it to crackle.

mad max beyond eggdome · May 2004

Julie,
when i bought mine i got a set of 4, so i'll be doing it again soon. . .the only other thing i have to offer is that i had a really clean burning fire, so no additional smoke. . .i rubbed the fish with olive oil and DP ragin river rub, and about halfway through the cook i squeezed about 1/2 a lemon all over it. . .and while it smelled really cedaree while cooking, it wasn't that strong of a cedar taste. . .maybe the olive oil helped retain pink color??. . .who knows. .

Julie · May 2004

mad max beyond eggdome,
Yes. I did that too. In fact I used the Kamado Coconut Extruded Lump which is very clean and virtually smokeless. The smoke was coming from the burning plank. In fact it was smoldering so much after I removed the plank that I had to water it down for fear of starting a wild fire here.

mad max beyond eggdome · May 2004

Julie,
don't know what else to tell you. .. .btw, since i just figured this out, here is a picture of my salmon the plank. . .[p]and yep, when i pulled my plank it was burning, and i also had to douse it to keep from setting the lawn on fire. . .[p]<img src=http://img73.photobucket.com/albums/v221/madmax521/DSCN0193.jpg>

Julie · May 2004

mad max beyond eggdome,
That is a beautiful sight. I'm going to try again with a careful watch on the temperature setting. No sign of discoloration on your salmon.
Thanks for your input!!

The Naked Whiz · May 2004

Julie,
FWIW, when I reviewed the Kamado coconut lump, I found that it smoked about as much as any lump, and it gave food a stronger flavor than regular BGE lump. YMMV....[p]TNW

Question for Mad Max on Salmon Plank Grilling

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