A smoker is great for big pieces of pork, beef or chicken. Putting fish directly on the grid is usually not an option because the fish can fall apart or is difficult to remove. Instead wrapping it into aluminium foil or putting it on a metal or stone plate, I prefer to put fish on a cedar plank. In my opinion the best way to BBQ fish:

Salmon on Cedar Plank

There are many ways how to cook fish on wood planks, and it works fine with direct heat as well. But I prefer the indirect heat in the smoking chamber. The recipe is very simply which I share here.

I’m using cedar planks because I love the smell, plus it combines well with fish in my view. The planks are put into water for several hours (>2 hours). I use glasses to keep them under water:

Soaking Planks

I’m using two salmon fillet with skin removed. They get a treatment with olive oil on both sides:

Olive Oil on Salmon

Then adding Lemon grass pepper on both sides:

Added Lemon Grass Pepper

The planks get placed on the grid inside the smoker, with the smoker preheated to about 130°C:

Cedar Planks in Smoker

Put the fish on the planks:

Salmon on Planks

With the lid closed, smoke it for about 20-30 minutes:

Smoking with Smoker

Because the cooking time is rather fast, I’m using an extra wood chips smoke box (on the right side in the next picture). Inside that box I have wood chips which I have soaked in water for about two hours.

Smoking Salmon

After about 30 minutes the salmon is done:

Salmon in Smoker

Ah, that smell of the fish combined with the cedar wood, I love it!

The beauty of this cooking method is that I can serve the fish on the planks:

Salmon on Cedar Planks

The result is a juicy, tender and smoky flavour salmon:

Salmon on Cedar Plank

Happy Planking 🙂