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Rainbow Trout Plank Grilling

2K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  Transglutaminase 
#1 ·
Hi all! Working on a new recipe for cooking rainbow trout. I love the idea of plank cooking/grilling but would still love to have direct heat cooking. I really want the flavor of the trout to shine through. So my question is, if I use wood chips to help grill the trout (like ember open fire style) would the smoky-ness over power the trout flavor too much? Would sticking to cooking on the plank provide a better flavor profile? Anyways, all ideas and responses welcome! Thank you all!
 
#2 ·
First off, welcome to CT. :)

To answer your question, that depends upon the type of wood chips and how many that you use and, of course, the method of cooking.

If you are talking about grilling or "hibachi style", you can use direct heat without too much trouble if your heat source is not prone to flame ups and is not too hot. Wood chips combined with lump charcoal (not briquettes) would be ideal, IMO, and produce an excellent heat source that meets these requirements. The only drawback is that lump charcoal tends to not burn as long as briquettes. But, they do burn hotter and they are pure wood as opposed to briquettes which can contain starch, sawdust and sodium nitrate, among other chemicals.

For the wood chips, try out different types and become acquainted with their flavor profiles, smoke characteristics and burn patterns. A good place to start would be with fruit woods such as apple, cherry, pecan etc. I find fruit woods go very nicely with seafood, especially white flesh seafood (as opposed to "pink" flesh seafood such as salmon, tuna etc). You may also want to try hickory, as well. Hickory provides a flavor that is a bit on the "sweet side" and likewise, goes very nicely with seafood of all kinds.

Here is a good website that features different wood and their respective flavors.

http://insideeffects.com/blog/posts/smoking-woods-types-and-descriptions/

Let us know what you decided and how it turned out. :)

Good luck!
 
#3 ·
Rainbow trout won't be on a grill for very long so it shouldn't get overly smoked unless you go crazy with the amount of chips. Cooking trout on a plank on a grill generally won't impart much flavor due to quick cooking time. Best method for imparting plank flavor is to place empty plank on grill and wait until it starts to blacken and smoke a bit. Flip plank over cook trout on charred side.
 
#5 ·
Only plank salmon here.
Use a ~1/2"-3/4" thick cedar plank, soaked for several hours.
Oil the top side of the plank, place fillet skin side down, brown sugar, then ginger & scallion threads on the fish,
& toss it on the closed BBQ ..on med/high.
The plank will eventually start to burn, which gives it the nice flavour.
The fish should be done by the time the plank starts to burn - spritz with water if it gets out of control.
(toss the plank in water after, should be good for another go, really!)
Smaller fish? Maybe 1/4"-1/2" thick plank?
 
#8 ·
We use untreated western red cedar planking. (treated cedar planking is $$$ & rare)
Literally grows in our back yards..
You can buy cello wrapped "cedar planking boards" for 10 bucks a pop or go to your local hardware store & buy it for under a buck a foot.
Yes, there's sites on the innerweb that state cedar is bad, but then I guess that's why all of our ancestors are no longer around?
I've seen Cedrus libani - from the middle east - on century old joists..wouldn't be using that stuff..a different animal altogether!
 
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