Salmon on a Cedar Plank

Grilling season is upon us people!! And the restaurant trend from a few years ago of food grilled atop cedar planks has reached the home kitchen. It is very easy to do once you find the right materials, and there is only step that is absolutely crucial and if forgotten means you'll have to buy takeout (soaking the plank so it doesn't go up in flames). However, we quickly realized that cedar planks are expensive!! Fancy-land William-Sonoma sells a package of 3 or 4 cedar grilling planks for  between $11-14, which would add about $4 to the cost of the meal (because I will not reuse the cedar plank and thus would have to buy new ones all the time). Planks could be vigorously scrubbed so that you could perhaps get another use or two out of each of them, but they do get charred by the grill flames and the oils of the food you are cooking seep into the wood, and while these could give an off flavor to the food next cooked on the plank, I would be more concerned with contamination and food borne illness from whatever bacteria was growing on the plank in the days after use as the wood dried out. So my fabulously inventive father came up with a money saving solution! He went to Home Depot and bought a bundle, yes I said a bundle, of cedar shingles (the ones you would use to side your house or roof) for $9.25. You will have to cut each shingle in half or thirds because it is to long, but that will give you enough planks for almost the whole summer and will only add cents to your meal cost not dollars!

YOU MUST BUY UNTREATED SHINGLES otherwise they will contain toxic chemicals what will leach into your food.

Ingredients:
Salmon fillet (salmon steaks will work fine as well - salmon could be interchanged with any seafood or meat - scallops, swordfish, chicken, sausages, porkloin would probably taste best)
Lemon slices
Cedar plank

1. Soak wood plank 20-30  minutes
2. Heat grill to medium-high heat (we estimated it was about 400 degrees).
3. Place fish on plank skin side down, top with lemon slices, place plank on grill - cook about 15-20 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!