Cooking on Kiawe Planks

A board between the food and the fire. The gentlest way wood flavor gets into anything.

Plank cooking puts a soaked hardwood board on the grate and the food on the board. The wood smoulders underneath, releasing smoke and steam upward through whatever is sitting on it, while the board itself shields delicate food from direct heat.

It works on any grill you own — gas, charcoal, kamado, pellet — which makes it the most portable technique here. Cedar made the method famous on the mainland. Kiawe is denser and sweeter, without cedar's resin edge, which suits oily fish considerably better.

What to Burn

Kiawe Grilling Planks.

Add a small handful of Kiawe Chips to the fire for a second layer of smoke.

Soak, preheat, then load

Submerge the plank for at least an hour — two is better, and weigh it down with something because it will float. Salt water, cider, or wine in the soak is a common flourish; the effect is subtle at best, and plain water is entirely fine.

Preheat the plank on the grate for three to four minutes a side before the food goes on. It should start to crackle and smell like wood. That step is skipped constantly and it is what gets you smoke from minute one instead of minute fifteen.

Then food on, lid closed, and leave it there. Planked food does not get flipped — the whole arrangement is one-directional, and turning defeats the shield.

Fire safety, plainly

Keep a spray bottle of water within arm's reach for the entire cook. A plank that catches fire ruins the food with acrid smoke and, on a gas grill, can genuinely get away from you. Char and smoulder around the edges is correct; open flame gets a spray and, if it keeps flaring, the plank moves to a cooler zone.

Medium indirect heat — 350 to 400°F — is the range. Higher and the board burns through before the food is done.

Beyond salmon

Salmon is the obvious use and the best one, but the technique carries: brie run until it slumps, chicken thighs, scallops, thick portobellos, even peaches for dessert. Anything delicate enough that the grate would tear it, or fatty enough to benefit from a barrier.

Planks are reusable if they come off with only surface char — scrub with water and no soap, dry completely, and expect two or three uses before one turns brittle. Charred through means done; retire it.

What goes wrong

• Skipping the soak. A dry plank is kindling.
• No preheat. You lose the first third of the cook's smoke.
• Flipping the food. There is no reason to and several reasons not to.
• Walking away. This is the one technique that wants you standing there with a spray bottle.

Settings by Cook Style

What changes on a plank (any grill) depending on what you are cooking.

Planking

Soak the plank 1 hour. Grill at 375-400F indirect, food on the plank, lid down. The plank should smolder at the edges, not flame - keep a spray bottle handy. Reuse it until it is half charcoal, then break it up and smoke with it.

Fuel load: One plank - reusable 2-3 cooks.

Recipes for This Rig

• Kiawe-Planked Salmon

Open the Kiawe Cook Matrix to pick your exact protein and cut on this rig — it returns pit temps, internal temps, and fuel loads for every combination.

Shop Hawaiian kiawe wood — pellets, chunks, chips, splits, planks, and lump charcoal, all 100% kiawe.