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Plank Cooking

Discussion in 'Food & Cooking' started by jim berman, Apr 18, 2003.

  1. Apr 18, 2003 #1
    jim berman

    jim berman

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    There was a bit of discussion up in the Welcome Forum regarding Plank Cooking, so I thought, "hey, let's run with it...."

    Some history, from www.InternationalRecipes.com

    For some recipe and technique tips check out the
    Seattle Times Article that offers up a recipe on planked salmon and some local flavor.

    From what I know about planking in these parts. It goes back to open-hearth colonial cooking. Whereas a piece of fish, usually shad, was tacked to a cedar plank and placed vertically in a groove in the front of the hearth to cook. The fine bones within the fillet would have gelatinized from the heat and the wood would impart its flavor. It would have been removed from the plank for a more formal affair or left intact for a family meal; like a TV dinner, just no TV.

    Anybody else with some planking insight?
     
  3. Apr 19, 2003 #2
    jock

    jock

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    I've had sea scallops cooked on cedar. Acually, cheap cedar shims you buy in a bundle at the lumber yard. They are used in construction work for hanging doors (amongst other things.) The wood is untreated so it is quite safe. You brush the shim with oil and lay the scallops along it. Under the salamander for a few minutes and you can see the cedar oils bubling up to flavor the fish. Mmmm, delicious.

    Jock
     
  4. May 10, 2003 #3
    chefkell

    chefkell

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    I do as Jock explained with a scallop stuffed salmon in the fall. Roofing shingles and a saw to cut them to shape, oil the wood, add the fish and sally. Pinot Noir reduction goes well...

    Make sure they're untreated though. I know they don't treat them here in Michigan, but in Texas they treat them with arsenic to keep the termites and other bugs away...not fun to eat:eek:
     
  5. May 13, 2003 #4
    isa

    isa

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    Aren't those plank treated Jock??
     
  6. May 15, 2003 #5
    jock

    jock

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    No, I checked with the supplier in Oregon.
    When I worked at the Campton Place Hotel they used to use them a lot there. Every couple of months a nervous chef would ask me to double check. I was almost on first name terms with the folks at the lumber mill :D

    (Not long to go now)

    Jock
     
  7. May 15, 2003 #6
    isa

    isa

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    Thanks for the info Jock, one more question does your meal end up tasting like the coats stored in a cedar closet? Seriously it's quite an intense odour, how is the taste?
     
  8. May 16, 2003 #7
    jock

    jock

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    Very mild smoky flavor. Not intense at all. Maybe we can try some when you get here :)

    Jock
     
  9. May 17, 2003 #8
    sparrowgrass

    sparrowgrass

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    Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) is what you cook on, or make shingles/siding out of. Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is for closets and cedar chests and fence posts. The two are not closely related, and shouldn't be substituted one for the other.

    (BS Forestry, SIU, 1977)
     
  11. May 22, 2003 #9
    isa

    isa

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    That would be wonderful Jock!:lips: