The other day my husband had a chance to pick up fresh seafood from the fish mongers at Pike Place Market in Seattle. They’ve perfected their marketing strategy for tourists and when you pick up your fresh North Western fish you get to take it home in a cooler with lots of ice packs. So with the premise of the fish being good for 48 hours and my husband flying home on a red-eye flight he picked up a beautiful filet of King Salmon from the Copper River in Alaska. Here’s the fancy cooler box it came home in:
Of course, going through the trouble of flying a premium piece of fish from Seattle to Charlotte we wanted to make sure we used a preparation method fit for a king (salmon). So while my husband took a nap to recover from that red-eye flight I went to Blackhawk Hardware to buy a cedar plank so we could grill the salmon on the Big Green Egg and infuse it with a subtle smoky cedar flavor. Aside from cedar, Blackhawk carries a variety of other tree planks including cherry and maple:
For cooking advice we turned to our trusted Big Green Egg Cookbook and used this recipe. First, we soaked the cedar plank in a casserole dish filled with water. I put a pot on top of the plank to keep it submerged and let it soak for about three hours. An hour is the minimum recommended cedar plank soaking time.
First, we set our Big Green Egg up for direct heat and lit the coals. While the Big Green Egg preheated to 400F we prepared a tasty glaze for our salmon filet. We used about half of the quantities specified in the original recipe for our 1.3lbs filet and had plenty of glaze left over. In a bowl we combined honey, mustard, orange zest, balsamic vinegar, and thyme. Smelled fantastic!
Once the Big Green Egg hit 400F we placed the cedar plank directly on the grid and allowed it to preheat for three minutes. Then we applied olive oil to one side of the plank. We seasoned the salmon with salt and pepper and laid it on the cedar plank where we slathered the glaze on pretty thickly.
Now you’ll want to close the Big Green Egg’s lid and allow the salmon to be grilled to perfection. The original recipe suggested 12-15 minutes but used 7oz filets. For our 1.3lb King Salmon filet we estimated the grill time to be about 18/19 minutes. As always a reliable meat thermometer comes in extremely handy and takes the guesswork out of grilling. Medium will be at 125F – although the FDA recommends an internal temperature of 145F. Keep in mind that your fish’s internal temperature will continue to rise slightly once removed from the Big Green Egg.
The end result was sheer bliss. We enjoyed our utterly tender Cedar Plank King Salmon from the Big Green Egg with lemon dill potatoes, sauteed spinach, and a glass of unoaked Napa chardonnay. Thank you Big Green Egg for another outstanding meal!
