The Right Way To Use Cedar Planks For Grilling

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If you've never tried grilling on cedar planks, it's time to make it part of your backyard barbeque toolkit. This cooking method brings woodsy smokiness to whatever you're cooking, and can also provide the visual appeal of serving it on a charred plank. Chef Nini Nguyen, a "Top Chef" alum and author of the Vietnamese cookbook "ĐẶC BIỆT," spoke to The Takeout about how to grill with cedar planks and "give your food a nice smoky flavor."

"Normally, seafood works best on cedar planks," Nguyen told us, in part because "seafood (like fish) loves to stick to a grill. Having the cedar in between the grill and the meat makes it so much easier to handle." Another reason? "Seafood also cooks so fast that it can't always get that smoky flavor from a grill," she explained. Seafood, being ideal for cedar plank grilling, lines up with its best-known use for cooking salmon. In fact, native people in the Pacific Northwest used this traditional method particularly for salmon, a fish crucial to those Indigenous cultures.

Cedar planks, like these from Wildwood Grilling, must be soaked for at least an hour, according to Nguyen. After that, she directed, "Light up the grill to medium heat, place the cedar plank directly on the grill over the flame, and let it char for a few minutes. Then flip it over and place the seafood on the charred side." She added, "It's best to grill it with the lid on so the seafood can cook through." Have a water spray bottle handy for dousing if flames flare on the planks.

Fish or other seafood can go right on a soaked cedar plank, seasoned simply with salt and pepper. You could also put a little olive oil on the seafood, drizzle on some lemon juice, or rub on other seasonings like brown sugar and spices. Another option is letting the seafood soak in a marinade first or brushing on a quick and simple glaze. Boost the plank itself by adding white wine, apple juice, beer, or other flavorful liquids to its soaking water, or by lightly rubbing it with flavored oil, herbs, or garlic before putting it on the grill.

Seafood may be best to use for cedar planking, but the method will also work with other proteins like chicken and pork, vegetables, and even fruits like peaches or pineapple. If you don't have a backyard, you might be able to grill on your apartment balcony, or you could also bake with the planks. Oven-cooking won't give you that same smoky flavor, but steam from the soaked plank will infuse its cedar flavor into the food.

Once you've tried cedar plank grilling and presumably liked it, could you use the same planks again? Nini Nguyen discouraged it: "I wouldn't reuse them, but if you really want to, you can soak and scrub them (no soap!), dry them out, and soak again before using next time." If you're going to try to reuse planks, choose ones that aren't very charred.