Cedar Plank Smoked Salmon

Hello, my name is Taylor, and I am a smoke-aholic. I love smoked food. I have smoked just about every meat, fruit and vegetable I can think of, and thats a lot of failures, like the smoked bananas, but thats another column for another day.

The guys at work starting smoking salmon on cedar planks before it became popular and Williams and Sonoma sold $20 engraved cedar planks.

So why use cedar planks

• It gives the salmon a unique flavor (maybe, but I can't tell)
• It keeps the salmon moist (maybe, but again I can't tell)
• It keeps the salmon from going through the grill and it makes an easy way to place, remove and serve the salmon (ding ding ding, thats right)

So if you have a smoker then this foundation recipe is for you, if not then I guess you could do this on a grill with smoking wood, but I have not tried that.

I buy a palette of non treated cedar shingles at a Home Depot or the like. Its cheap and will last forever, also the smaller shingles are good for starting a fire in the smoker.

Spread olive oil on one side of the shingle. Place salmon fillet skin side down on the shingle. Salt, pepper, what ever spices you like on the fillet.

Once the smoker is smoking and is at about 275, then place the salmon on shingle into the smoker. Keep the smoker just under 300 and it takes about an hour. A salmon fillet is different thicknesses, so the edges will be more done than the center. The juices will start to form when its close to being done. The center should just have turned opaque when its done. Time varies depending on temperature.

Bring to table on shingle and have people cut off a slice of their liking. Enjoy!