Cedar Plank Salmon

Cooking salmon on a cedar plank — the fish placed skin-side down on a plank of Western red cedar (*Thuja plicata*) and cooked beside or over an open fire — is a Pacific Northwest indigenous technique practiced by the Coast Salish, Kwakwaka'wakw, Haida, Tlingit, and other First Nations of the Northwest Coast for millennia. The cedar plank serves three functions: it is a cooking vessel (holding the fish above the direct flame), a seasoning agent (the cedar's aromatic oils infuse the fish with a specific resinous, slightly sweet smoke), and a cultural object (the plank carries meaning in the ceremonial context of the salmon feast). The technique was adopted by European settlers and has become the defining preparation method of the Pacific Northwest, but its origin is indigenous and its deepest expression remains in the hands of the people who invented it.

A fillet of salmon (king/Chinook, sockeye, or coho — the Pacific species) placed skin-side down on a soaked plank of untreated Western red cedar, seasoned simply (salt, sometimes a glaze of maple or honey), and cooked over indirect heat on a grill or beside an open fire for 15-25 minutes until the fish is just cooked through and the cedar has charred on the underside, releasing its aromatic smoke. The fish should be opaque at the edges and still slightly translucent at the centre (carryover heat finishes the cook). The cedar flavour should be detectable but not overwhelming — a background note of resin and sweet wood, not a dominating smokiness.

• Nordic *gravlax* on cedar or birch (the Scandinavian wood-and-fish tradition)
• Japanese *sugi-ita yaki* (cedar-grilled fish — the same plank technique in Japanese cuisine)
• The Pacific Northwest cedar plank is the indigenous American expression of the universal principle: wood as cooking vessel, wood as seasoning agent, wood as cultural medium

The cedar-planked salmon wants simplicity alongside: roasted or grilled vegetables, a green salad, rice or potatoes. Lemon wedges. A dry Riesling or a Pinot Gris from the Willamette Valley. The fish and the cedar are the statement; everything else is support.