Planked Arctic Char

[addicted-to-smoke]

Never heard of this fish before but with char(coal) on the name, what could go wrong?

With me, plenty. I've never cooked fish on the grill before. And I had a cedar plank bought last year; never used these either. Packaging says to dispose of it, LOL I naively assumed it could be cleaned but after seeing pix of half-burned-up planks I now know better.

Medium direct heat, two naked potatoes upstairs + two more stuffed with shrimp and crab? from the store. I suppose they've been on almost 20-30 mins.

Meat got a quickie marinade of soy sauce, paprika, grape jelly--no citrus to be found in the house and I forgot to buy it.

Plank soaked only an hour. Start to finish this was a rush job. Pix in a sec.

[Bbqmiller]

Arctic char - cross between trout and salmon. I love Arctic char.

[addicted-to-smoke]

Before going on the machine:



I put a glob of the jelly from the marinade (since it really doesn't mix well) beneath each fillet and poured a bit of marinade over each.

[1buckie]

Alrightee !!!!

This is gonna be good !!!!!

[MacEggs]

Alrightee !!!!

This is gonna be good !!!!!

Cedar planked fish ..... I agree! More pics, please! 

[addicted-to-smoke]

OK, there's only one more image, taken about 5-10 mins prior to pulling it all off.



As you can see I'm a glutton for punishment, not even using the center grill section if what I have will straddle it. I figured the plank would either catch fire and the meal would be lost to the ashes, or it would all work out.

Edit: this Gourmet System grate really plays into my inherent laziness. If the main part is clean I just leave it on and add charcoal to the center, fire up the gas. Then spread out later as needed--all through the open center section. Maybe one day I'll buy one of the accessory center pieces for it, but if not ... I'm still good! The reverse-indirect method (cooler stuff around perimeter, although not done tonight) works for me.

And it did work out, despite not really being able to turn or futz with the stuffed taters, which were so squishy until the end they couldn't be touched without losing filling.

Fish was good. Never had tasted a flavor quite like it. Looked a mite dry up top to me, but if anything the bottom of it (nearest plank) was just almost not fully cooked? Only noticed it on mine, and all 3 had a little white fatty appearing up top at about the 20-25 min mark.

Grill never got very hot, but in retrospect this was probably a lucky thing given the very thin piece of wood hanging right above the coals. Looked like plenty of coals at the start but maybe less so after. Vents wide open. Lid temp never passed 180. But I did cook the meat for a solid 30 mins probably. Potatoes were fine, and stuffed potatoes were (for me) the surprise ... not just tasty but I ate all the skin; it had a nice crisp crunch to it.

[MacEggs]

Man, that looks delicious, a-t-s!! Kettle cooked fish is awesome!!

I have done some cedar planked fish ... I am by no means an expert. Here is one of my faves ...

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/fish-tacos-cedar-planked-cod/