Planking Secrets: How to Grill with Wooden Planks for Unbeatable Barbecue Flavor

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Planking is an ancient First Nations culinary technique that is making a
comeback as a way to add rich, smoky flavour to meals cooked on gas
grills. Shewchuk has already tempted backyard chefs with his first
cookbook, Barbecue Secrets (2004). Now he wants his fans to wok the
plank, or at least grill it—and planked fare is definitely worth the
effort.

The text is divided into eight chapters. Chapter 1, “A Plank Cooking
Primer,” provides useful information about basic cooking techniques,
lists necessary utensils (like lots of fire extinguishers), and
discusses the pros and cons of buying your planks pre-made or trying to
make your own from the lumberyard. Chapter 2 reviews pantry essentials
that you will want to have on hand if you plan to plank on a regular
basis. The rest of the book focuses on food. There are recipes for
planked pork, beef, venison, lamb, poultry, vegetables, and seafood.
Shewchuk also includes recipes for side salads, appetizers, drinks, and
desserts.

Most recipes require ingredients easily found anywhere in Canada, but a
few will send you to the more exotic corners of the supermarket.
Fourteen colour pictures help the reader figure out what a planked food
should look like. If you are entertaining, Shewchuk includes suggested
multi-course menus and even a playlist of music to plank by. Besides
offering an interesting new way to cook, one of the major charms of this
book is that nearly all of the recipes are easy to pull off—most
barbecue beginners should be able to easily deliver a perfectly planked
feast. If you are serious about fun food, this book will add a delicious
new dimension to your repertoire.