The biggest problem I have with cooking fish is breaking the filets.  Nothing pisses me off more than my fish breaking up and leaving huge mess all over my grill.  But I have solution, don’t move it.  And how do I cook fish without moving it? Plank it!  Planking is my new favorite way to cook fish, it keeps the filet intact and infuses it a light woody flavor. This week we’ll be cooking up a nice salmon filet with a sweet maple glaze and cooked on a maple plank.

Maple Glazed Salmon

When cooking with planks, the first thing you do is soak them in water for at least 30 minutes, this will keep them from catching fire and burning up during the cook.

Soaking the Planks

While the planks were soaking, I mixed up a glaze of equal parts olive oil and a maple balsamic vinegar.  If you don’t have maple balsamic vinegar you can use regular balsamic and add a couple of teaspoons of maple syrup.

Salmon planked, glazed and seasoned.

I got this really nice filet from my favorite store, Costco.  I cut the filet down to fit my planks and brushed the down with the glaze.  I then gave each filet a sprinkling of AlbuKirky Seasonings Red Chile BBQ Rub.  

Grilling Salmon Planks

I fired up the Weber Genesis and heated it to 400º.  I placed the planks of salmon directly over the gas burners and cook them for about 20 minutes to an internal temp of 140º.  During the cook the planks burned around the edges just enough to give the salmon just light smoke flavor.

The salmon turned out great.  The maple glaze and the BBQ add a spicy sweet layer of that complimented to the rich flavor of the salmon.  The filets also got just a kiss of the smoke from the planks.  And the best part they came off the grill in one piece!