Plank cooking salmon

[crankin]

I have a few questions about cooking salmon on an alder plank on the grill. I have 4 pieces of salmon, totaling about 1 lb. First, should I heat the plank on the grill a few minutes over direct heat and then move to indirect and put the salmon on the plank? Or just put the salmon on the plank and put over indirect heat without preheating the plank? Roughly how long do you think it should take for 1 lb. of salmon to cook over indirect heat on a plank? I could only find recipes calling for like 3 lb. of salmon so I don't know where a good place to start is in terms of timing. Thanks.

[Andy M.]

Don't pre-heat the plank.

Cooking times will vary based on how hot the fire is and how far from the fire the plank is, etc. Also, the thickness of 4 pieces of filet that total one pound will not be very different from a single piece of filet that weighs three pounds. (the 3 Lb piece will be longer but not thicker). I would expect the individual pieces to cook a little faster than a single piece because the heat can get to more edges on the single pieces. But I'm talking 10% less not half the time.

As always, the internal temperature is the final determinant, not elapsed time.

[crankin]

Thanks for the suggestions. Why do you suppose this recipe (http://www.weberbbq.com/bbq/pub/reci...x?c=pork&r=160) calls for cooking the plank over direct medium? I tried this last weekend and when I checked on it 15 minutes into the cooking time, the plank was literally in flames. Shouldn't Weber know that a plank should be used with indirect heat? I followed the directions precisely, soaking the plank for about 20 hours.

[Andy M.]

I've had some issues with Weber recipes as well. It's worth trying again using indirect heat.