# Tell me about cooking with cedar planks! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-cooking-with-cedar-planks/593789 "2011-08-23T15:19:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-cooking-with-cedar-planks/593789/1 "2011-08-23T15:19:02Z")
So, I’ve just ordered a dozen cedar grilling planks. Now I’m hungry. Unfortunately, 1.) The planks will take at least a week at arrive at my apartment, and 2.) I’m told that the grilling planks are not, themselves, actually food. Rather, you’re meant to cook food on them. Disappointing. Especially since my cooking skills are, well, uneven. Fine, they’re lackluster. Look, I only gave my friends food poisoning the once, okay? And no one died. Most of them forgave me. Eventually. Clearly, I could use some help here. Preferably delivered in small words. I would love some advice on how best to use these things for cooking _in an oven_ (I don’t have a grill). Recipes for non-fish foodstuff would be particularly awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-cooking-with-cedar-planks/593789/2 "2011-08-23T15:26:40Z")
I’m not sure, but I think the cooking process REQUIRES open flame (and smoke) for the magic to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-cooking-with-cedar-planks/593789/3 "2011-08-23T15:50:36Z")
You can use the cedar planks to make a nifty birdhouse. The point of the planks is to generate smoke that flavours the food as you cook it in a closed environment. Your indoor oven is totally inappropriate for this. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-cooking-with-cedar-planks/593789/4 "2011-08-23T15:56:34Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > So, I’ve just ordered a dozen cedar grilling planks. Woot? I’ve used them often, but always on a grill. Soak overnight in water, heat on grill for a few minutes, flip plank and place fish on plank, close grill and wait. ---
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-cooking-with-cedar-planks/593789/5 "2011-08-23T16:22:18Z")
I have cedar planked many a salmon on the barbecue. FYI, you don’t need to order cedar planks. Just go to your local Home Depot and buy a 1"x6"x6’ cedar fence board (they are not pressure treated or painted) for $3.00. Cut into 16" pieces, and soak over night. I just take the salmon and but salt, pepper and lemon on it and cook over medium heat until salmon is cooked (usually 30-45 minutes). Apparantly you can do ribs this way as well. Oh yeah treat these planks as “single-use only”. MtM ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-cooking-with-cedar-planks/593789/6 "2011-08-23T18:33:24Z")
I have used cedar planks with salmon in a bbq often enough to know the soaking over nite part is not really important. 10 minutes will do, the planks are fairly absorbent, the fish is fairly “wet”, and I want that wood to char. Using a plank with ribs is an interesting idea. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-cooking-with-cedar-planks/593789/7 "2011-08-24T04:45:40Z")
Taken from the Woot thread on the product today [http://www.ehow.com/way\_5231856\_cedar-plank-oven-cooking.html](http://www.ehow.com/way_5231856_cedar-plank-oven-cooking.html) I have not tried this, all of my Woot! branded planks that I’ve used have been on the grill. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-cooking-with-cedar-planks/593789/8 "2011-08-24T05:27:17Z")
> [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](#): > > Oh yeah treat these planks as “single-use only”. This. I don’t want to harp on a theme, but multiple PBS shows suggest they last more than once. BBQ is Total-Loss Cookery. Accept it and enjoy it.