From our favorite whiskeys to the richest foods we adore, smokey and woody flavors are some of the best gifts we can give our taste buds! When it comes to cooking, there’s something absolutely magical about biting into that food that just came out of a low and slow smoker, but not everybody has the time or equipment to recreate this experience at home. That’s where cedar planks come in!
Although it isn’t the same as a full-blown smoker, cedar planks are a great and easy to use tool that allows you to get all sorts of wonderful smokey and woody flavors into your cooking. They’re incredibly versatile, incredibly user friendly, and while using them to grill is one of the most popular choices, you can use them to get some great flavors out of your baked dishes as well! Here’s how to use planks to get some amazing flavor out of your grill or oven.
Cedar Grilling Planks
The most popular way to use cedar planks for cooking is to throw them on the grill. This isn’t just a clever way of getting more smokey and woody flavor into the food, it’s also a smart way to more easily grill food that might otherwise be difficult to handle on the grill. Since the plank is a flat surface that sits over the heat, it can be easier to grill smaller foods like vegetables and shrimp that might otherwise fall through.
Using grilling planks on the grill is a super easy and accessible process. Soak your planks beforehand. Just an hour of soaking should do the trick, but if you’re going to soak in something with a little more flavor than just water, consider soaking for longer, even overnight. Place your seasoned food directly on the plank, and everything onto the grill, usually over indirect heat. Give your food a little bit longer than you would during regular grilling since the plank gets in the way of some of the heat, but other than that, grill as you usually would!
A great tip for getting even more smoke and char flavor is to throw your planks on the grill before the food until they char a bit, then flip the planks over and add the food. Basting your food before and halfway through the process is another small change that can really take your flavor to a new level. Cedar planks have a great woody flavor profile that is present but doesn’t overpower fish or poultry.
Grilling Planks in the Oven
You don’t need separate planks for baking, the ones you use for grilling work for in the oven, too! The process is practically identical: soak beforehand, place the seasoned food on the plank, and bake as you normally would. One small modification might be to place your planks on the top rack and have some trays down below. Drippings are probably going to fall right off the planks, so these trays can help avoid a mess. Some people suggest putting the planks directly on these trays, but we think this messes with the circulation and gets in the way of that added flavor.
Another thing to note is that the planks, in an oven, aren’t catching direct flame as they would on a grill. This means that charring and smoke is more or less out of the question. What you do get from baking with planks is an intense woody flavor in your cooking. Wildwood Grilling suggests staying within 400° F and 450° F, since this will be hot enough to turn the moisture in the wood into flavorful, fragrant steam, but not too hot to just evaporate the steam immediately. An added bonus is that your house is going to end up smelling amazing!
Cedar planks are a great and easy to use option for adding some flavor into your cooking, whether your method of choice be on the grill or in the oven. Not only are they a great upgrade for flavor, but they also serve as some eye-catching plating! Imagine a beautifully roasted chicken plated over a steaming cedar plank, or a mouthwatering slab of salmon served on charred wood. But enough dreaming about this amazing food, it’s time to get yourself some planks and try it out for yourself!
Cedar 4 Sale has been manufacturing high-quality white cedar grilling planks and grilling papers for high-end restaurants and chefs for decades. Now, you can experience these same products at your own home. Check out the store or contact us here.