Found Recipe: (Marvelous) Planked Salmon with (Marvelous) Spice Rub

If you’ve read my About page, you know that I really like to play with recipes. Add this, increase that, amp up the spices a bit…you know the drill.  Well, once in a while, I find a recipe that simply can’t be improved.  I try, but…the recipe is already perfect.

This is one of those recipes.

The Planked Salmon with Spice Rub recipe is on the back of the Fire & Flavor cedar planks label. You can find the planks at home improvement stores and grocery stores in the outdoor cooking and grilling sections, but the Fire & Flavor web site doesn’t include this recipe.

It is my civic duty to post it for you.

This recipe serves four as an appetizer course or two as a main course.

Rub
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp ancho chilé powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper

 – or – 

3 tbsp. Glover Gardens Everything Rub (recipe here)

Salmon
4 6 oz. salmon filets (skin on)
1 Fire & Flavor cedar grilling plank, soaked
honey for drizzling

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. In a small mixing bowl, combine the spice rub ingredients. Rub salmon with all of the spice rub and set aside.

Place soaked plank on preheated grill, close the lid, and heat for 3 minutes. Using tongs, turn the plank over and place the salmon on the heated side of the plank, skin side down. Close the lid and grill for about 12-15 minutes or until desired doneness. Remove from the grill and drizzle generously with honey. Serve immediately.

Note: don’t skimp on the honey; it’s part of the perfection of this recipe. The honey bonds with the spices on the hot salmon and almost makes a crust. It is indescribably good.  The salmon doesn’t need a sauce but we often serve my Pico de Gallo or Salsa as a condiment.  It’s also good with an avocado sauce.

The Grill-Meister and I absolutely love this grilled salmon and we could eat it every week.  We never have leftovers unless we double the recipe. The salmon is great the next day flaked over a simple spinach and red onion salad that has been tossed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

December 2019 Update

We’ve recently added this salmon recipe to our “big parties” menu, grilling the same amount and cutting the finished salmon (after the honey!) into bite-sized chunks right on the board. It is demolished in about 5 minutes!

Additionally, after my original assertion back in 2015 when this recipe was shared that we couldn’t improve on it, we experimented some more and learned that the Glover Gardens Everything Rub is just as good on the salmon as the original rub, or even better. It’s a lot easier, too, since we always have a supply on hand. Give it a try!