The Art of Plank Grilling: Licked by Fire, Kissed by Smoke

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

When a cookbook author warns you to be prepared to phone 911 while
cooking up his recipes, you know the book is not going to be dull.

Reader, an over-the-top celebrity chef, sets out his “vision of the
plank”: planking is grilling as an extreme sport. It involves placing
food on a slab of wood, putting wood and food in a grill, and standing
by with a fire extinguisher. The catch? Wood burns. The objective of
planking is to produce edible food (that is, not charcoal) without
incurring significant personal injury or property damage.

Planking, a cooking method with Haida origins, requires some
specialized equipment and a knowledge of wood. Reader explains the
selection and preparation of planks, then how to make a turkey
“coffin” and a wooden roasting pan. He stresses safety and
recommends several routines to assure both food and chef survive the
adventure.

An adventurous backyard cook will plank grill a salmon. Reader, a
confessed plankaholic, planks everything—meat and fish, of course, but
also mashed potatoes, oysters, brownies, even cheesecake. His recipes
range from straightforward to complex. Duck with Squash Risotto, for
example, needs a couple of days’ preparation. The unusual is standard
fare here: Peanut Butter and Jelly on Salmon, Dead Bird in a Box,
Scallops with Seaweed and Hazelnut. Helpful tips include how to filet an
eel and directions for roasting a whole fish in a fire pit.

More than 80 quality colour photos illustrate steps in preparation or
final results. The book gives only imperial measurements. Ingredients
don’t shy away from the luxury side (lobster, scallops, oysters, jumbo
shrimp, gravlax, tenderloin, prime rib, quail).

Get past the annoyance of the book’s very awkward-to-hold floppy
format, have a laugh at the author’s exaggerated posturing, and you
discover this is really quite an informative work for those intrigued by
the idea of cooking on a grill, using wood in lieu of traditional pans.