Go Back
Print Recipe

Cedar Plank Salmon with Cherry Glaze

Cedar Plank Salmon with Cherry Glaze is a fun grilling project that yields a smoky, woodsy fish served with tart cherry glaze.
Prep Time1 day 20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time1 day 30 minutes
Servings: 16
Author: Barrett Bridenhagen

Ingredients

  • 4 large salmon fillets
  • salt
  • pepper
  • olive oil

Cherry Glaze

  • 2 cups sweetened cherry juice
  • ½ cup red wine or red wine vinegar

Instructions

  • Place the cherry juice and red wine in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce down to about ½ cup total liquid volume. It should be quite thick. Sometimes I add some rosemary sprigs.Cedar Plank Salmon with Cherry Glaze in pan
  • Liberally salt and pepper the fish. Drizzle a touch of olive oil on them. Set the fillets on the cedar planks and drizzle glaze on the fish until you've used about ⅔ of the glaze. Cedar Plank Salmon with Cherry Glaze ready for grill
  • Place the planks on the grill and close the lid.
  • Cook for about 10 minutes, checking on the fish now and then. Cedar Plank Salmon with Cherry Glaze nice smoke in the grill
  • Keep an eye on the planks. Too much fire will mean too much smoke. You want a nice cedar smoke flavor, but not too much.
  • Remove the fish when it's just cooked through. Drizzle with the remaining glaze. Serve hot with grilled asparagus, Vasterbotten Paj, and the rest of my delicious Midsommar's Menu.

Notes

Cedar planks: When you pick the cedar planks, I recommend heading to the hardware store and having them custom cut about ½ inch thick and about 5"x12". But do think about your grill and have them cut to fit the grill and the salmon. Make sure the wood is untreated- this is important! And soak them up to a day in advance. You cannot get them wet enough. Seriously. We actually experimented with pre-cut untreated cedar shingles that we stacked. I have to say, while it worked out overall, because they weren't ½ inch thick and because the thickness varied, there were some exciting moments with lots of flames. So if you want it to be cool and calm, ½ inch thickness is important. If you would rather, you can order them online from places like Williams Sonoma, but they're much more expensive. I'd also make sure you have a bucket of water close at hand, and a platter for the fish. This way, if one of the boards is truly on fire, you can scrape off the fish and toss the flaming plank in the bucket. Cedar Plank Salmon with Cherry Glaze burning planksFortunately, we had a drizzly day and a wet concrete surface.