Just in Time for Labor Day: The Tastiest Woodworking You’ll Ever Do

Plank Grilling Salmon on a Cherry Plank

Plank-grilling is one of the best uses for a piece of scrap wood that I’ve come across. Take a piece of cherry (or maple, apple wood, alder, or cedar), and soak it in either water or wine for half an hour. Then place it on a medium/hot grill. Once it starts to smoke, place a salmon filet (I marinated mine in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and lemon juice) skin down on the plank. Twenty minutes or so later, and you’ll have a smoked yet tender and moist filet. Yum.

Details? I found that the plank should be at least 5/8” thick. At that thickness you might not get more than one or two uses out of it. A thicker board can be reused more – but it may also cook your food a little slower. Just wash off the board after it cools like as you would a cutting board, and put it away for next time.

Not surprisingly, the board will cup rather significantly as the wood dries out (and chars) on one side, but not the other.