Kiawe-Planked Salmon
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40 min · Easy · Serves 4
Plank cooking is the gentlest way to put wood flavor into fish — the board shields the delicate flesh from the grate while it smolders sweet kiawe smoke up through the fillet. Cedar made this method famous; kiawe makes it Hawaiian.
The plank is the whole apparatus, so treat it like equipment. Soak it an hour minimum — two is better — and keep a spray bottle beside the grill, because a dry board over a hot grate will catch, and a burning plank makes acrid fish. Some smoulder and char at the edges is correct and expected; open flame is not.
Leave the skin on and lay the fillet skin-side down on the board. The skin is a heat shield that keeps the underside from tightening while smoke works into the top, and it peels away cleanly when the fish is done. Pull at 125-130F — salmon carries a lot of residual heat, and the difference between silky and chalky is about five degrees.
The Numbers
- Grill: 375-400F
- Pull At: 125-130F at the thickest part
- Plank: soak 1 hr minimum, 2 is better
- Burn: the plank is the smoke source
Ingredients
- 2 lb salmon fillet, skin on
- 2 Tbsp shoyu
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- Green onion and toasted sesame, to finish
Method
- Soak the kiawe plank one full hour — it should feel heavy.
- Whisk shoyu, maple, ginger; brush over the flesh.
- Grill at 375–400°F indirect. Plank on grates 3 minutes until it crackles, then salmon on, skin-down, lid closed.
- Cook 25–40 minutes to 125–135°F at the thickest point — pull when white beads just appear.
- Serve off the plank with green onion and sesame.
On Your Rig
Same recipe, different fire. The plank does the smoking, so any rig that holds 375–400°F indirect will cook this identically.
- Plank (any grill) — Kiawe Grilling Planks. Full plank setup
- Pellet Grill — Kiawe Pellets. Full pellet grill setup
- Charcoal Grill (Kettle) — Kiawe Lump Charcoal + 2-3 Kiawe Chunks on the coals. Full charcoal grill setup
- Kamado / Ceramic — Kiawe Lump Charcoal + Kiawe Chunks buried in the lump. Full kamado setup
- Gas Grill — Kiawe Chips in a smoke tube, or a Kiawe Chunk wrapped in foil (poke holes) on the burner. Full gas grill setup
On the Side
- Coconut Rice — soaks up the plank juices
- Grilled Asparagus — goes on beside the plank
- Kiawe-Smoked Fish — the founder's cold-smoke version
Build this cook on the Kiawe Cook Matrix — pick your protein, cut, and rig for exact temps and fuel loads.