Are you ready for some of the most flavorful grilled food you’ve ever tasted? Well, it’s time to start cooking with planks.
When you use them on your Big Green Egg, your food sings with flavor. But just what are cooking planks?
The Cooking Plank
You can trace plank cooking back to a Native American food-preserving method. With this method, they cooked foods on a moist plank over an open fire.
Today, you can replicate the same experience with your Big Green Egg. It has superior heat retention qualities, and by cooking indirectly with your natural plank of wood, you infuse your food with moisture and flavor. And this is all while protecting your most delicate food from direct heat.
Cooking with planks imparts a subtle smoky or woodsy flavor to your fun recipes. Plus, the wood planks make a nice presentation for your cooked meal.
What’s a Plank Made From?
Big Green Egg Grilling Planks are made from all-natural wood sourced from certified sustainable and food-grade sources. EGG selects and cuts its wood for optimum flavor.
When you grill and bake with planks, the incredible smoky flavors are infused into your favorite foods, just like natural lump charcoal. Plus, you won’t find any artificial or chemical additives of any kind to affect the subtle flavors.
Wood planks are great with more distinctive cuts of meats, poultry, or fish, as well as milder meats, fish, or vegetables. Salmon and grouper, in particular, are favorites of plank grillers. They also love cuts such as pork loin and beef and even veggies and desserts!
How Do You Prepare the Plank?
Completely submerge the plank in water for an hour or so, placing something on the plank to keep it submerged.
After 30 minutes, turn the plank to soak it evenly. This makes it more resistant to charring on the grill. For variations, try adding apple juice or wine to the soaking water. You’ll enjoy the hint of flavor, and the plank will just smell delicious.
Seasoning the Plank
Next, put your soaked plank on the cooking grid for several minutes.
When the plank starts to smoke and pop, turn it over, then arrange the food in one layer on the charred side of the plank.
Arrange Your Food on the Plank
As food makes contact with the surface of the plank, it takes on the wood flavor. You want to spread out your food so the maximum surface of each piece of food is in contact with the wood.
Use two planks, if necessary, so you don’t crowd the food.
Finally, close the dome of the EGG and cook as usual to the appropriate temperature. Always use a Big Green Egg food thermometer to check the internal temperature of food before serving.
Clean Your Plank
After you have cooked with your plank and used it to serve your food, clean it. Simply brush off any leftover particles and rinse your plank with hot water.
Don’t soak the plank in soapy water, or your next meal will taste like soap. Let the plank air dry in an open, ventilated area.
If you properly care for your plank, it will last for more than one time. Do be sure to repeat the soaking process each time it is used. Discard the plank when it begins to deteriorate from the heat.
