Chinese-Style Wood-Grilled Salmon

Salmon grilled directly on a cedar plank is a Northwest favorite. But can you enjoy wood-perfumed grilled salmon without the hard-to-find plank? Here’s what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries

• We wanted to create the same flavor of cedar planks without having to mail-order them. We settled on wood chips (available in most hardware stores) and made individual aluminum foil trays to hold the chips and salmon.
• To prevent the salmon from sticking to the wood chips, leave the skin on, as it is easily separated from the cooked fish.
• Poking a few slits in the bottom of the foil allowed more heat to reach the wood chips, causing them to release more of their woodsy—but not overly smoky—flavor.
• Coating each fillet with a thin layer of hoisin sauce and a light sprinkling of five-spice powder, cayenne pepper, and granulated sugar produced a golden, mildly sweet exterior.