Maple Plank Wood Fired Salmon

A great way of cooking delicate fish in a wood fired oven is on a wooden plank, this method works so well with a thick salmon fillet, adding extra smokiness and keeping the inside from drying out.

• Dry Cure

A dry cure is perfect to make the most out of salmon, the best flavour balance for me is 50/50 demerara sugar and sea salt, a couple of handfuls of dry cure is enough for a salmon fillet like this. Rub in well and wrap in clingfilm, leave overnight in the fridge to cure.
Rinse off the cure in the morning, pat dry with a kitchen towel and leave in the fridge uncovered for 4-6 hours to form a sticky pellicle.

• Plank

Pre-soak a wooden plank that will fit your salmon fillet for a couple of hours, I chose Maple, but oak would work well, as would most hardwoods or fruit/nut woods. Soaking stops the plank from burning too quickly.

• Wood Fired Oven

Set up your Wood Fired Oven for a medium heat, I was aiming for 240-260degC in the middle of the oven, and used my favourite silver birch for the fire, which has a sweet hunger inducing smoke.
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Place the salmon on the plank, and then plank into the oven, just inside the door, keep an eye that the salmon doesn’t burn if the oven is running hot, and turn the plank around so all sides cook. The salmon should take 20 minutes or so, I brushed mine with a mix of 4tbps Maple Syrup mixed with a dram of Single Malt Whisky for the last 5 minutes to build up a glaze.
I served the salmon with boiled potatoes with chopped parsley and butter, and a whisky mustard cream sauce. To make this, reduce down 50ml single malt whisky in a saucepan, stir in a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, and 6 tbsps double cream, season with sea salt and coarse grained black pepper, warm through, and drizzle over the salmon.