How to Cut Your Own Cedar Grilling Planks
Cooking food over an open fire using cedar planks is a cooking method that dates back to native Americans. This cooking method is still used today to create a unique smoky flavor that allows you to cook your food over an open flame using freshly cut cedar planks.
- Purchase cedar wood from your local home improvement store. You need to be sure that the cedar wood that you purchase is untreated. Purchasing treated cedar will cause the fumes from the cedar to add chemicals to your food which could make your food have a chemical taste as well as cause you to become ill.
- Measure the size of the planks that you need for your specific grill. You want to be sure that all planks are at least a half-inch in width to sustain the heat from the fire while smoking your food. The length can vary depending on the size of the food that you are cooking as well as the size of the gill that you are using as well.
- Soak your cut cedar planks in a tub of water overnight so that they become thoroughly wet throughout the plank of cedar that you have cut. You will need to use a weighted object such as a rock to secure your cedar planks below the surface of the water. Wood floats, and if it is allowed to float to the top it will not absorb enough water to sustain the heat of the fire.
- Place the moistened cedar planks' smooth sides towards the fire in your grill and leave them there for about ten minutes.
- Flip the cedar planks over so that the smooth side is facing up, and should now be browned and hot.
- Use a pastry brush to spread olive oil over the surface of your cedar plank so that your food does not stick to the cedar during the soaking process.