Plank Salmon

When we lived in Texas, The Big Boy went to Alaska every year...actually, British Vancouver, I think. To go salmon fishing. They fished salmon and flounder (flounder? that may not be right. It was a flat, tasteless fish with a lot of bothersome bones) but after the first year we realized...we ain't messin' with the flounder. You fished for a week, lived in a cabin with full-time chefs, and ate everything cooked over a fire. Chocolate chip cookies cooked over a fire that to this day, he swears were heavenly. Everything was flash frozen on the boat as they caught it and then on the day you left, your fish was overnighted to your house...there were years the fish got there before he did. After the first year, he always traded out his flounder for salmon and they would mail me 90 or 100 pounds of real, out-of-the-creek, salmon.

This is how they cooked the salmon, creekside. The first time TBB told me how to do this I was doubtful...this sounds like too much seasoning for fish, even if it IS salmon. But after the first time we made it at home I was hooked. THEN, along came the cedar plank craze and it's like beer butt chickens...it's a keeper. Yesterday I was in another town (one with real grocery stores) and I bought a whole salmon fillet, plank included. So guess what's for supper tonight?

Cedar Plank Salmon

Salmon...steaks, fillets, your choice

Dried thyme

Seasoning salt

Worcestershire

Rinse the salmon in cold water and pat it dry. Put it on a baking sheet or platter and sprinkle with seasoning salt and thyme (tonight, because I have it and it looks so pretty, I'm using fresh lemon thyme from the garden). Sort of pat the salt and thyme into the flesh, then sprinkle liberally with Worcestershire. Set aside. Submerge the cedar plank in salt water and soak for an hour.

Heat up the grill. Remove the cedar plank from the water and arrange the fish on the plank. Grill until your preferred doneness...most recipes call for flaky but we like it one hair short of total flaking. Serve with a crisp green vegetable and pretend you are surrounded by whales and icebergs.

HALIBUT!!! It was halibut and it was awful.