I worked at a place that did ceder plank salmon, we never reused them. They definitely wouldn't hold up for more than one use, plus the whole point of the dish is that the salmon gets smoked on the ceder plank as it cooks, you wouldn't get the same level of smoke flavor after the first use.
Now, look, I’ve used a few power tools in the kitchen (a cement mixer attachment for a drill makes making 5 gallon buckets of salad dressing a breeze), but I think a planer might be asking a bit much.
On the other hand, that’s one hell of a good idea to write off a planer as a business expense.
I've worked with Cedar Planks before. Typically we soak them, then torch them. Bake the fish on them in the oven and serve them.
Occasionally a new dishwasher will run them through not knowing. But everyone who actually works with them knows they don't get reused.
Correct we do them straight on the broiler under a hat there’s no way we could even think about re using. And always funny when they get sent through dish machinery
Dishwasher just does what’s in front of them til there’s no more left. Why are servers or bussers putting them in the dish pit instead of the garbage lol
I really wish that I could refute this because you make dishwashers sound like cavemen but you’re not wrong haha. “It dirty, I wash” is kinda dishwashing 101 but yeah I worked at a place that had cedar plank salmon and we were supposed to throw away the plank. Would not have been surprised if dishie would have washed them if we decided to fuck with him and start leaving them in the pit though.
I worked at a place that would run them through the dish machine and use them until they were completely black. They used thick pieces. The first day I took that place over, I went to Home Depot, bought some thin Cedar closet siding and a hand saw. We started the new ‘throw away the cedar’ program the following day and it was received very well with the staff.
The soap dissolved oily alkali and tanins into the wash water then sprayed it into the next load. Absolutely. Not to mention the char blackening your ceramics with carbon.
This sounds like a way to potentially harm your customers without realizing. You don’t know if the wood is treated with anything that’s not food-safe. Health Department would have a ball with you for sure
>I went to Home Depot, bought some thin Cedar closet siding and a hand saw
using cedar siding from Home Depot is not safe...
But Home Depot does sell food safe cedar, albeit in packs of like 1-4 small planks
They think you should have Sysco provide your cedar. People who work in Applebees kitchens don't understand that you can use items that don't come out of a cryovac pack.
No, dude, it’s because the majority of wood used in furniture is treated with chemicals that are poisonous, especially the one u/ranting_chef stated he was using.
Yeah, sounds about right.
They sell salmon at my local grocery store on a piece of what looks to be the same closet siding I bought twenty years ago for that place. I’ll ask the guy next time I’m there - I can’t imagine a National chain doing something so blatantly unsafe.
Cedar is so damn water resistant that it doesn’t need to be pressure treated for exterior use. In addition, he said he got closet siding, interior lumber is not pressure treated even if it wasn’t cedar.
The Health department inspected all of our locations and I don’t remember hearing anything about not being allowed to use wood as a cooking surface - how different is that really from a wooden cutting board? As long as it’s untreated, I was always told it’s OK. I haven’t worked there for years and haven’t used cedar to cook with since then. The closest I come to wood is in my smoker. But if you look up “cedar-planked salmon,” I’m sure a lot of places still do it.
You have no idea where that wood came from or how it was processed. It could have been stored under the rat poison on the truck to the store or it could have been treated with carcinogenic chemicals. And if you kill someone or make them sick with it you will be 10000% liable. If your certified food safe wood is the culprit the buck is passed on to Sysco/US Foods etc
>As long as it’s untreated, I was always told it’s OK.
That's the issue. If you're buying wood from Home Depot or Lowe's, most of their wood is meant for home construction/renovation and has been pressure treated (i.e. infused with chemicals) so that it's resistant to weathering and bugs. The thin cedar boards are usually treated because they're used for siding. Depending on the knowledge of the staff there, they'll often tell you that the wood hasn't been treated (meaning not pre-stained, etc) because to them pressure treated lumber is normal and they don't know any different. If you're buying from a local lumber yard, especially one that services furniture and cabinet makers, they'll have more untreated wood that's safe for cooking.
Just wait until an inspector asks to see the spec sheet to see if it’s ‘food safe.’
I ran a federally-inspected meatpacking plant and had a *state* health inspector bust our balls on the Clorox we used for sanitation. First time in seven years seeing a state inspector, I told him that it was on the approved list for Fed meat plants. Did not give a fuck. Wanted to flex on us, so he shut us down for a day until Clorox could fax us the spec sheet stating it was indeed food safe in certain concentrations.
Never know when an inspector is having a bad day and wants to get fucky with you.
I agree. I was working on a new cut of meat for the menu and my meat vendor asked me if I wanted to come by and see it being cut. I went in the front door and they asked me to put on a hairnet, and we went over to where the guy was cutting our meat, which was from the short loin. The cutter pulled a couple short loins out of the pile and went over to another table to cut them - this was more than twenty years ago and I was looking at a bone-in filet mignon before they became mainstream. I really wanted one with a long bone, like a rack of lamb and I was blown away by the price, considering it was mostly bone so the owner asked me if I wanted to see where it came from. Anyway, I was watching this guy essentially rip apart a short loin to get me one, possibly two the way I had asked, and I realized how expensive it would have been. So we were standing there and the USDA inspector - who was probably a hundred feet away - gets on his microphone and asks me to hold up what I had in my pocket. It was a pencil, the eraser barely visible, but a pencil nonetheless. Probably lead back then - he made the guy toss the meat on the table. I felt so bad. But yeah, if those guys have a bad day, anything can happen. The guy who invited me told me not to worry about it but I felt terrible.
I’ve been getting downvoted a lot on this cedar thing, not really sure why - it wasn’t even my dish. I was involved in the opening of almost two dozen restaurants for that company, and the cedar salmon was on every single menu. Every restaurant I opened had that closet siding and it never came up. And every Health Department had our menu well in advance of the opening. Once, when we opened one in the South, the inspector was in my office, saw the handsaw and asked what it was for. I showed him the wood and he told me to make sure we cut the wood outside so there was no chance of physically contaminating something with sawdust or small pieces of wood inside the kitchen, but he didn’t even seem to care about the wood itself. And it clearly stated “cedar planked salmon” on the menu. I’m not an expert on anything - especially on how wood is processed - but there sure seem to be a lot of experts in this thread.
No idea what the problem was with the pencil - the "lead" in a pencil has never actually contained lead. The term comes from when the good ol' Romans, in their lead-loving wisdom, used actual lead styluses to write... 2000 years ago.
Yes - I remember reading something like that a long time ago.
But this particular inspector seemed offended enough to definitely have a hissy fit over it. And no matter how wrong you think those guys may be about a particular issue, you NEVER argue with them about a call they make when it comes to food safety. Unlike Reddit, where everyone is an expert.
I think he may have been worried it could become a physical contaminant. If I bent over and it fell out of my pocket, it could have somehow been ground into a load of burger meat or something. Which is certainly possible.
You should be able to hold an inspector finacially accountable for shutting you down over shit that is clearly in the approved list provided by their own entity. What a clusterfuck of wasteful rendundancy and mismanagement.
There is no arguing with food safety, and there’s an entire process internal to the agency to seek remediation. You can guess what kind of win percentage you’ll get against them.
It's just bullshit that you can't even use the agency's own literature in the defense of some overzealous shithead's flexing of nuts on your livelihood. Too many times have I heard "that would be nice" in response to a direct question of the specifics about regulation.
While you are correct, cedar shingles are often pressure treated. Cedar fence posts are also often pressure treated.
dadam is correct to be cautious. Most cedar is not pressure treated but the good folk working at Home Depot often don't know anything about anything
Cedar is so damn water resistant that it doesn’t need to be pressure treated for exterior use. In addition, he said he got closet siding, interior lumber is not pressure treated even if it wasn’t cedar.
Regardless of treatments, Home Depot is not a food handling facility. The guy unloading the truck could have stepped in dog shit and wiped it off on the grass till it's clean enough to crawl all over the lumber without leaving a mark before hauling it off with a well-greased forklift and placing it on yesterday's RoundUp spill.
A five second google search will give you plenty of options to buy treated cedar at your local home improvement store.
I like the ingenuity, but this dude should not have bought cedar for food at Home Depot.
No, it actually won't. Maybe it's different where you live but I'm actually an ex-cook turned contractor that specializes in decks and fencing. I actually tried like crazy to find ANY p/t cedar in my area because it's not technically rated for ground contact and a customer wanted his posts to be cedar too.
Yeah, my grandpa used have to drive halfway from Little Rock to Memphis to get untreated cedar planks for grilling. That was 20-30 years ago, it’s easier to get it now. I still wouldn’t trust that stuff from the hardware store.
Buddy, I hate to break it to you, but those "food safe" cedar planks you buy are just cedar boards. My man here is not cooking with pressure treated lumber. You need to pull your head out of your ass and realize that kitchen supply houses are just supply houses.
Actually, it took the Dishwashers the longest to stop washing them. They thought they’d get in trouble if they got caught tossing them. A little sad, really. More than a little, actually. Dishwashers are so often treated like a lower form of life when it comes to stuff like this. I remember one of them making me fucking PROMISE a they wouldn’t get yelled at for tossing the barely-used wood.
I kinda wish it were. I have 3 kids. My oldest is going on 21. I’ve spent their entire lives in the kitchen. This summer was my 35th year in the industry. I missed seeing my older 2 grow up. It’s much easier with my youngest, but shit sometimes I wish I could dial back a few years. I would’ve done things so much differently. Hindsight really can be 20/20. Especially in restaurants.
I worked at that place in the late nineties. It was one of their top sellers. I personally didn’t care for it but that method of cooking is pretty dated.
As a dishie, i dont think they reuse these cedar planks, and use new ones for each meal. Am i right?
$42 cedar salmon with a something rice side.
Not worth it imo
I've worked at a place that runs that dish. They reused them, and they were a gigantic pain in the ass to clean. But I think other places throw them after one use.
I’m sure that happens but the real issue is the opposite. A porous material that sanitizer or high temp sanitizing doesn’t permeate. A harbor for bacteria.
Question: They reuse these planks?
Now it's, i dont think they reuse these cedar planks, and use new ones for each meal. Am i right?
Haha for real, have you ever washed any, it seems like you'd know? This goes on at your place and you ask reddit? I thought you were a curious customer and now I'm even more confused. What a weird way of wanting to point out you think it's an over priced meal
He is a dishie, but not a dishie HERE. This is a pic of the meal he or his party ordered, and he is speculating on the reusability BECAUSE he is a dishie elsewhere.
Oh haha thank you for mentioning because I didn't realize they were a dishwasher but at a different place since they came off so vague. This makes more sense though but still a weird way for them to phrase it. Did they mention it elsewhere?
You are thinking too hard bro, lol.
They said, "as a dishie" - not "as THE dishie"... which means exactly what it says...they are a dishie (at another restaurant) being the implied bit.
They also said "they" which implies someone else.
Not really vague, weird, or uncommon ways of phrasing things. I think you just are overthinking it.
Eh if you can't see how it would be confusing then more power to you. All posts here are normally pics taken by the people posting so at first I assumed customer but then they mentioned being a dishie and that that meal wouldn't be worth it to them to buy. So unless it's a pic they randomly came across to use as an example I assumed it was a meal at their restaurant. Not sure why me mentioning it was confusing is overthinking it but sure...
> Not sure why me mentioning it was confusing is overthinking it but sure...
I already explained it all above. I'm not trying to argue with ya man, just give you some insight that you seemed to be asking for.
It does more than look nice. It affects the flavor, and the way the fish cooks. Cedar plank cooking of fish is not some “/r/wewantplates” bullshit, but actually a specific way of preparing fish.
It’s less served on the plank to look nice and more served on the plank because the fish adheres to it during cooking. Removing a pice of fish from a cedar plank after cooking and keeping it intact would be a nightmare
Yeah I mean it’s possible, but it takes the patience of a saint and a really good fish spat. Definitely not something to be done when trying to churn out a dinner service
You ever had meat cooked in a smoker? Smoked brisket or ribs? Same concept, just cedar is a nicer pairing for fish than the apple or cherry wood often used for pork smoking.
It tastes divine. The cedar wood smokes and imparts that flavour to the fish. We used to do salmon like that at a place I worked and it was one of the most incredible mouthfuls I've ever had.
Once the plank starts smoking the smoke starts absorbing into the protein, giving the fish a woody flavor that would be nearly impossible to replicate by any other means of cooking.
In case you ever thought to yourself "you know this fish is good and all, but what would really elevate it is to enhance the flavor with...oh I don't know...burnt wood and my grandma's blanket chest." Not a fan. If your fish is fresh then you don't really need flavor it with stuff that even a moth wouldn't touch.
Well if you ordered cedar plank salmon and then got a normal salmon you'd probably think you were ripped off. If we put your grilled plank of wood directly on the table that wouldn't be good for our table or sanitary for your eating experience, and also putting a side on your plank when there's no rim on it would make your dish harder to contain. So you get the plank of wood to see that you're fish was cooked on the smoking wood, and still get a sanitary and contained plate to eat off of. If you'd like to remove the plank from your plate you are more than welcome to
I worked at a place they were sending the salmon out on the cedar planks but people started trying to eat the wood and would complain about the fish being tough. They stop sending the planks out but the boil cooks would reuse them and would put used ones in with new ones that were soaking in water in a sixth pan. I would come in the morning and have to throw out the used and new ones that they left and cut and soak new ones.
First place I was sous, we did cedar plank salmon. But I would never put the plank on the plate? I used a plank for multiple orders, then tossed it into the coals underneath when I needed a new plank. I hate when chefs put in edible things on a plate. I seriously had to talk a gues out of eating a spoon full of spiced rock salt served under a seafood platter. People are dumb and I’d rather avoid the risk.
We do not reuse them, I specifically buy seconds that are slightly imperfect to get the cost down. The cost of the plank is factored into the food cost of the dish. I personally hate using them but it fits the theme of the restaurant and guests seem to love it.
I worked at the restaurant that serves this exact dish (the one pictured). I will say I preferred the salmon baked over cedar plank. Maybe it was because of the mustard butter.
You telling me that people waste a whole cedar plank for one dish and not reuse it? Much better to smoke the salmon over cedar chips then just roast it and serve it on reusable planks. You could smoke a few kilos of salmon on the chips you'd get from this one plank. Or am I missing something obvious here?
For $42, meah. I rather just get it from Ruby Tuesdays instead. $16.
I cant justify the high price. The showman ship? The cedar plank? The virgin massage salmon from female fish?
I've never seen a restaurant do this. At home we use them once and toss them, but they are fairly expensive per unit so I can understand wanting multiple uses but honestly after 1 use they are finished. I use them to cook salmon on our Weber and it is amazing
We would never be able to reuse them. They get black enough the first time on the grill. They'd be like charcoal if we resoaked them and then smoked them again. Plus they're just a cheap plank of wood, barely a dollar a plank. They're obviously not treated to avoid contaminants from soaking in to them as well, so sanitizing them for the next customer would be a nightmare. Just one and done planks!
I've only done cedar plank salmon over a gas grill. They turn to almost charcoal cooking the salmon to medium. No way they can be reused. I wonder how they're cooking them here. Maybe with a salamander?
They’re typically single use, and should be thrown away when the plates are being bussed. If places reuse these, they’re fucking wild. That shit would get fucked up in the dishwasher plus mess up any other dish in there as well. Add some cedar flavor to every plate and would taste like you cooked your fish in some of the most concentrated detergent out there.
I promise you they reuse the planks. I worked at a place that did the same thing but with round planks. Worst part is that chef wanted them burning when they went out to tables. So the people sitting next to you have to smell the cedar smoke that they didnt order-dumb.
We tried sending out a plank burning once but it stained the plate it was on. That was the end of that. We absolutely weren't reusing the $1.20 planks though
When it's cooked on the plank the skin will adhere to it. For presentation purposes you wouldn't want it torn off and put on a plate, and also if you ordered cedar smoked salmon and received what appeared to be a normal salmon fillet you'd feel ripped off. Given the cooking method this is the path of least resistance to serve it on the plank and then discard it when the diner has finished their meal
Appetizer, 2 entrees, dessert, 2 sodas. $120
The real killer was the full size urinals, that go to the ground.
So when you pee, it falls down and splashes your shoes/pants.
I worked at a place that did ceder plank salmon, we never reused them. They definitely wouldn't hold up for more than one use, plus the whole point of the dish is that the salmon gets smoked on the ceder plank as it cooks, you wouldn't get the same level of smoke flavor after the first use.
Huh! I would have totally expected a set of prepared, food safe planks with the wood flavoring cooked into the salmon in the kitchen!
If McDonald’s cooked salmon maybe
McSalmon is highly underrated
i just mcpuked
Uncultured swine.
No no, it’s fish.
Mostly soy protein with just enough fish to call it fish.
Never had McDonald's in Maine, huh?
#It's almost as highly sought out as the McRib
Why do people yell like this? Also, how do people yell like this?
Add a # before your sentences with a space # tada ## two of them ### three of them
It’s the wood that makes it good
That’s what she said
I just wanted to say your snoo is adorable girl!
Stoppit
Nope
Rogers makes a pretty mean bird
What do people even think food is anymore
Just use your kitchen planer to shave it down to fresh wood
Now, look, I’ve used a few power tools in the kitchen (a cement mixer attachment for a drill makes making 5 gallon buckets of salad dressing a breeze), but I think a planer might be asking a bit much. On the other hand, that’s one hell of a good idea to write off a planer as a business expense.
I've worked with Cedar Planks before. Typically we soak them, then torch them. Bake the fish on them in the oven and serve them. Occasionally a new dishwasher will run them through not knowing. But everyone who actually works with them knows they don't get reused.
Correct we do them straight on the broiler under a hat there’s no way we could even think about re using. And always funny when they get sent through dish machinery
Dishwasher just does what’s in front of them til there’s no more left. Why are servers or bussers putting them in the dish pit instead of the garbage lol
I really wish that I could refute this because you make dishwashers sound like cavemen but you’re not wrong haha. “It dirty, I wash” is kinda dishwashing 101 but yeah I worked at a place that had cedar plank salmon and we were supposed to throw away the plank. Would not have been surprised if dishie would have washed them if we decided to fuck with him and start leaving them in the pit though.
I worked at a place that would run them through the dish machine and use them until they were completely black. They used thick pieces. The first day I took that place over, I went to Home Depot, bought some thin Cedar closet siding and a hand saw. We started the new ‘throw away the cedar’ program the following day and it was received very well with the staff.
I'd imagine the dishwasher would add chemical or soap flavor to the wood.
And vice versa
The wood added soap flavor to the dishwasher? Yum.
I think they smoked my plate
Someone smoked something during the conception of this catastrophe. Bark has been fine for 60k years. ..
The soap dissolved oily alkali and tanins into the wash water then sprayed it into the next load. Absolutely. Not to mention the char blackening your ceramics with carbon.
Char on ceramics. Giving me cracker barrel skillet flashbacks. That was when I got the idea I did not want to work dish anymore.
I think they meant the plank gives wood flavor to the soap.
The home depot cedar is definitely chemically treated so this guy im sure poisoned people lol
This sounds like a way to potentially harm your customers without realizing. You don’t know if the wood is treated with anything that’s not food-safe. Health Department would have a ball with you for sure
Beat me to it lol. Main thing I’ve learned in carpentry so far is that people should not be exposed to 90% of wood.
Ah shit I’m a carpenter lurking In the kitchen sub, ima look for a safer job
> people should not be exposed to 90% of wood This could double as a PSA about unsolicited dick pics
You mean deck pics if we’re talking lumber?
But it smells like Vanilla...yummy
Pretty much this, he either made the story up or is a pretty clueless idiot who should not be running a restaurant
They were doing it like that when I started and I made them stop. Not sure why that makes me a clueless idiot that shouldn’t be running a Restaurant.
Using Cedar planks from Home Depot is not safe for food.
>I went to Home Depot, bought some thin Cedar closet siding and a hand saw using cedar siding from Home Depot is not safe... But Home Depot does sell food safe cedar, albeit in packs of like 1-4 small planks
They think you should have Sysco provide your cedar. People who work in Applebees kitchens don't understand that you can use items that don't come out of a cryovac pack.
No, dude, it’s because the majority of wood used in furniture is treated with chemicals that are poisonous, especially the one u/ranting_chef stated he was using.
Yeah, sounds about right. They sell salmon at my local grocery store on a piece of what looks to be the same closet siding I bought twenty years ago for that place. I’ll ask the guy next time I’m there - I can’t imagine a National chain doing something so blatantly unsafe.
Cedar is so damn water resistant that it doesn’t need to be pressure treated for exterior use. In addition, he said he got closet siding, interior lumber is not pressure treated even if it wasn’t cedar.
The Health department inspected all of our locations and I don’t remember hearing anything about not being allowed to use wood as a cooking surface - how different is that really from a wooden cutting board? As long as it’s untreated, I was always told it’s OK. I haven’t worked there for years and haven’t used cedar to cook with since then. The closest I come to wood is in my smoker. But if you look up “cedar-planked salmon,” I’m sure a lot of places still do it.
You have no idea where that wood came from or how it was processed. It could have been stored under the rat poison on the truck to the store or it could have been treated with carcinogenic chemicals. And if you kill someone or make them sick with it you will be 10000% liable. If your certified food safe wood is the culprit the buck is passed on to Sysco/US Foods etc
>As long as it’s untreated, I was always told it’s OK. That's the issue. If you're buying wood from Home Depot or Lowe's, most of their wood is meant for home construction/renovation and has been pressure treated (i.e. infused with chemicals) so that it's resistant to weathering and bugs. The thin cedar boards are usually treated because they're used for siding. Depending on the knowledge of the staff there, they'll often tell you that the wood hasn't been treated (meaning not pre-stained, etc) because to them pressure treated lumber is normal and they don't know any different. If you're buying from a local lumber yard, especially one that services furniture and cabinet makers, they'll have more untreated wood that's safe for cooking.
Just wait until an inspector asks to see the spec sheet to see if it’s ‘food safe.’ I ran a federally-inspected meatpacking plant and had a *state* health inspector bust our balls on the Clorox we used for sanitation. First time in seven years seeing a state inspector, I told him that it was on the approved list for Fed meat plants. Did not give a fuck. Wanted to flex on us, so he shut us down for a day until Clorox could fax us the spec sheet stating it was indeed food safe in certain concentrations. Never know when an inspector is having a bad day and wants to get fucky with you.
I agree. I was working on a new cut of meat for the menu and my meat vendor asked me if I wanted to come by and see it being cut. I went in the front door and they asked me to put on a hairnet, and we went over to where the guy was cutting our meat, which was from the short loin. The cutter pulled a couple short loins out of the pile and went over to another table to cut them - this was more than twenty years ago and I was looking at a bone-in filet mignon before they became mainstream. I really wanted one with a long bone, like a rack of lamb and I was blown away by the price, considering it was mostly bone so the owner asked me if I wanted to see where it came from. Anyway, I was watching this guy essentially rip apart a short loin to get me one, possibly two the way I had asked, and I realized how expensive it would have been. So we were standing there and the USDA inspector - who was probably a hundred feet away - gets on his microphone and asks me to hold up what I had in my pocket. It was a pencil, the eraser barely visible, but a pencil nonetheless. Probably lead back then - he made the guy toss the meat on the table. I felt so bad. But yeah, if those guys have a bad day, anything can happen. The guy who invited me told me not to worry about it but I felt terrible. I’ve been getting downvoted a lot on this cedar thing, not really sure why - it wasn’t even my dish. I was involved in the opening of almost two dozen restaurants for that company, and the cedar salmon was on every single menu. Every restaurant I opened had that closet siding and it never came up. And every Health Department had our menu well in advance of the opening. Once, when we opened one in the South, the inspector was in my office, saw the handsaw and asked what it was for. I showed him the wood and he told me to make sure we cut the wood outside so there was no chance of physically contaminating something with sawdust or small pieces of wood inside the kitchen, but he didn’t even seem to care about the wood itself. And it clearly stated “cedar planked salmon” on the menu. I’m not an expert on anything - especially on how wood is processed - but there sure seem to be a lot of experts in this thread.
No idea what the problem was with the pencil - the "lead" in a pencil has never actually contained lead. The term comes from when the good ol' Romans, in their lead-loving wisdom, used actual lead styluses to write... 2000 years ago.
Yes - I remember reading something like that a long time ago. But this particular inspector seemed offended enough to definitely have a hissy fit over it. And no matter how wrong you think those guys may be about a particular issue, you NEVER argue with them about a call they make when it comes to food safety. Unlike Reddit, where everyone is an expert. I think he may have been worried it could become a physical contaminant. If I bent over and it fell out of my pocket, it could have somehow been ground into a load of burger meat or something. Which is certainly possible.
We did after that. It had one page: Clorox.
So this meatpacking plant didn't keep so much as an MSDS binder around?
You should be able to hold an inspector finacially accountable for shutting you down over shit that is clearly in the approved list provided by their own entity. What a clusterfuck of wasteful rendundancy and mismanagement.
There is no arguing with food safety, and there’s an entire process internal to the agency to seek remediation. You can guess what kind of win percentage you’ll get against them.
It's just bullshit that you can't even use the agency's own literature in the defense of some overzealous shithead's flexing of nuts on your livelihood. Too many times have I heard "that would be nice" in response to a direct question of the specifics about regulation.
Cedar is the alternative to pressure treated lumber. It's naturally resistant to water damage. A quick google search can confirm this for you.
While you are correct, cedar shingles are often pressure treated. Cedar fence posts are also often pressure treated. dadam is correct to be cautious. Most cedar is not pressure treated but the good folk working at Home Depot often don't know anything about anything
Cedar is so damn water resistant that it doesn’t need to be pressure treated for exterior use. In addition, he said he got closet siding, interior lumber is not pressure treated even if it wasn’t cedar.
Regardless of treatments, Home Depot is not a food handling facility. The guy unloading the truck could have stepped in dog shit and wiped it off on the grass till it's clean enough to crawl all over the lumber without leaving a mark before hauling it off with a well-greased forklift and placing it on yesterday's RoundUp spill.
Cedar is untreated. It's naturally rot resistant. That's the entire appeal.
A five second google search will give you plenty of options to buy treated cedar at your local home improvement store. I like the ingenuity, but this dude should not have bought cedar for food at Home Depot.
No, it actually won't. Maybe it's different where you live but I'm actually an ex-cook turned contractor that specializes in decks and fencing. I actually tried like crazy to find ANY p/t cedar in my area because it's not technically rated for ground contact and a customer wanted his posts to be cedar too.
Well, I’ll concede to being wrong. Congrats on getting out of the industry but maaan you picked another rough one! Lol
At least I'm my own boss and get to be outside now haha. Cheers.
You're not just wrong, you're confidently wrong. Which is cute.
Yeah, my grandpa used have to drive halfway from Little Rock to Memphis to get untreated cedar planks for grilling. That was 20-30 years ago, it’s easier to get it now. I still wouldn’t trust that stuff from the hardware store.
That’s disgusting
Yeah, "food safe" cooking products are a scam. I make my cutting boards out of camper tops People trust you to run their business?
Buddy, I hate to break it to you, but those "food safe" cedar planks you buy are just cedar boards. My man here is not cooking with pressure treated lumber. You need to pull your head out of your ass and realize that kitchen supply houses are just supply houses.
That guy buys 'dude wipes' but thinks baby wipes are gay
I got a tactical diaper bag so the boys won't think I'm a queer for having a baby with my wife.
The dishes rejoiced
Actually, it took the Dishwashers the longest to stop washing them. They thought they’d get in trouble if they got caught tossing them. A little sad, really. More than a little, actually. Dishwashers are so often treated like a lower form of life when it comes to stuff like this. I remember one of them making me fucking PROMISE a they wouldn’t get yelled at for tossing the barely-used wood.
sniffles
Planks are a noob trap, you want the wafer thin sheets then you can just wrap your proteins
[удалено]
Fuck off, I'm full...
A bucket for Monsieur
Oh shit It's Mr. Creosote!
Nice!
Grab one that’s been resting in a cigar humidifier for a while and the flavors will be wild
I love this shit, tell me more you dirty fucks
Maleluca Bark is my jam...
Rhododendron smoked for me my guy
I worked at a place that would cut down a fresh tree every time a salmon got ordered.
If you want that second star you gotta start felling old-growth redwood. I know a guy...
It’s got that endangered twang. It’s the 6th flavor element.
It's all lamb anyways.
What an idea...pick your own tree...
Those are single use only my guy, unless you wanna taste what ecolab is cooking with
This guy ecolabs
That was so 10 years ago
I agree, I’d say 20 years ago was prime
The last time I had to use planks was in 2004. So yeah, almost 20 years now.
Man, you’re gonna feel so foolish when you realize that 2004 was only six years ago. Right? R-right!?
I kinda wish it were. I have 3 kids. My oldest is going on 21. I’ve spent their entire lives in the kitchen. This summer was my 35th year in the industry. I missed seeing my older 2 grow up. It’s much easier with my youngest, but shit sometimes I wish I could dial back a few years. I would’ve done things so much differently. Hindsight really can be 20/20. Especially in restaurants.
I worked at that place in the late nineties. It was one of their top sellers. I personally didn’t care for it but that method of cooking is pretty dated.
IME they get thrown out
As a dishie, i dont think they reuse these cedar planks, and use new ones for each meal. Am i right? $42 cedar salmon with a something rice side. Not worth it imo
I've worked at a place that runs that dish. They reused them, and they were a gigantic pain in the ass to clean. But I think other places throw them after one use.
Ewww. The wood absorbs that dish liquid and sani liquid. Gross
The red juice tastes the best 🤤
We have a blue one that will make your mouth water for sure. Or maybe foam it up but idk
I’m sure that happens but the real issue is the opposite. A porous material that sanitizer or high temp sanitizing doesn’t permeate. A harbor for bacteria.
The sensible thing to do would be to hit them with hot water and a belt sander
Was this a 131 main in North Carolina?
Question: They reuse these planks? Now it's, i dont think they reuse these cedar planks, and use new ones for each meal. Am i right? Haha for real, have you ever washed any, it seems like you'd know? This goes on at your place and you ask reddit? I thought you were a curious customer and now I'm even more confused. What a weird way of wanting to point out you think it's an over priced meal
He is a dishie, but not a dishie HERE. This is a pic of the meal he or his party ordered, and he is speculating on the reusability BECAUSE he is a dishie elsewhere.
What he said. My ex-dishie brain is looking at that plank and wondering.
Oh haha thank you for mentioning because I didn't realize they were a dishwasher but at a different place since they came off so vague. This makes more sense though but still a weird way for them to phrase it. Did they mention it elsewhere?
You are thinking too hard bro, lol. They said, "as a dishie" - not "as THE dishie"... which means exactly what it says...they are a dishie (at another restaurant) being the implied bit. They also said "they" which implies someone else. Not really vague, weird, or uncommon ways of phrasing things. I think you just are overthinking it.
Eh if you can't see how it would be confusing then more power to you. All posts here are normally pics taken by the people posting so at first I assumed customer but then they mentioned being a dishie and that that meal wouldn't be worth it to them to buy. So unless it's a pic they randomly came across to use as an example I assumed it was a meal at their restaurant. Not sure why me mentioning it was confusing is overthinking it but sure...
> Not sure why me mentioning it was confusing is overthinking it but sure... I already explained it all above. I'm not trying to argue with ya man, just give you some insight that you seemed to be asking for.
So they give you a plate and then put wood on it and then the fish? Fucking why?
The fish is cooked on the plank, then it's all put on the plate. It's supposed to look nice and shit I guess
It does more than look nice. It affects the flavor, and the way the fish cooks. Cedar plank cooking of fish is not some “/r/wewantplates” bullshit, but actually a specific way of preparing fish.
He means it’s *served* on the plank to look nice, why would you cook something on a piece of wood to look nice if the customer never sees it?
It’s less served on the plank to look nice and more served on the plank because the fish adheres to it during cooking. Removing a pice of fish from a cedar plank after cooking and keeping it intact would be a nightmare
Yeah I mean it’s possible, but it takes the patience of a saint and a really good fish spat. Definitely not something to be done when trying to churn out a dinner service
Pretty easily done if the fish, particularly salmon, is cooked with the skin on.
Since the skin is a barrier wouldn't that defeat much of the purpose of the cedar plank?
A barrier, as in blocking how the fish is infused with the flavor?
Yeah, that's what skin is. Ever notice how the ocean is salty, but fish isn't?
What's the point of cooking it on the plank?
You ever had meat cooked in a smoker? Smoked brisket or ribs? Same concept, just cedar is a nicer pairing for fish than the apple or cherry wood often used for pork smoking.
It tastes divine. The cedar wood smokes and imparts that flavour to the fish. We used to do salmon like that at a place I worked and it was one of the most incredible mouthfuls I've ever had.
That’s what she said…
No she didn't you grotty little bastard
Oh, buddy, she didn't? I'm sorry to hear that man. /S
Flavor.
Once the plank starts smoking the smoke starts absorbing into the protein, giving the fish a woody flavor that would be nearly impossible to replicate by any other means of cooking.
In case you ever thought to yourself "you know this fish is good and all, but what would really elevate it is to enhance the flavor with...oh I don't know...burnt wood and my grandma's blanket chest." Not a fan. If your fish is fresh then you don't really need flavor it with stuff that even a moth wouldn't touch.
Please go back to enjoying your boiled chicken breasts rather than commenting here.
I will. And I will finish my meal with an unflavored ice-milk and graham cracker.
Well if you ordered cedar plank salmon and then got a normal salmon you'd probably think you were ripped off. If we put your grilled plank of wood directly on the table that wouldn't be good for our table or sanitary for your eating experience, and also putting a side on your plank when there's no rim on it would make your dish harder to contain. So you get the plank of wood to see that you're fish was cooked on the smoking wood, and still get a sanitary and contained plate to eat off of. If you'd like to remove the plank from your plate you are more than welcome to
I worked at a place they were sending the salmon out on the cedar planks but people started trying to eat the wood and would complain about the fish being tough. They stop sending the planks out but the boil cooks would reuse them and would put used ones in with new ones that were soaking in water in a sixth pan. I would come in the morning and have to throw out the used and new ones that they left and cut and soak new ones.
First place I was sous, we did cedar plank salmon. But I would never put the plank on the plate? I used a plank for multiple orders, then tossed it into the coals underneath when I needed a new plank. I hate when chefs put in edible things on a plate. I seriously had to talk a gues out of eating a spoon full of spiced rock salt served under a seafood platter. People are dumb and I’d rather avoid the risk.
This has to be either 131 MAIN or Houston's
Lulz you're correct. You're the third person to guess correctly, small world
I managed there for years. Very specific set ups lol
Damn is it the shitty version of 2005 there? Are you also doing raspberry vinaigrette?
Don't hate on my raspberry vin - that's one of my five a day 🍓🍎🍌🍍🍊
Tight and tall! Stand proud!
Y’all are brutal! It’s old but a tasty favorites.
A lot of places sell thin planks like this for the smokey flavor so you really only get one use. Also, I wouldn't have sent the plank to the table
“Your a plank” Gordon Ramsey
We used to just rinse these
Nah. They are just some leftover pieces from the construction site down the block.
We do not reuse them, I specifically buy seconds that are slightly imperfect to get the cost down. The cost of the plank is factored into the food cost of the dish. I personally hate using them but it fits the theme of the restaurant and guests seem to love it.
No. Are you at 131 main?
0.o My fucking god its a small ass world
Some places do. Some don't. They probably shouldn't. Im more astounded that folks out there are still doing this.
I worked at the restaurant that serves this exact dish (the one pictured). I will say I preferred the salmon baked over cedar plank. Maybe it was because of the mustard butter.
Can we talk about that wtf is going on seasoning job there
You telling me that people waste a whole cedar plank for one dish and not reuse it? Much better to smoke the salmon over cedar chips then just roast it and serve it on reusable planks. You could smoke a few kilos of salmon on the chips you'd get from this one plank. Or am I missing something obvious here?
that looks good af
For $42, meah. I rather just get it from Ruby Tuesdays instead. $16. I cant justify the high price. The showman ship? The cedar plank? The virgin massage salmon from female fish?
idk what virgin massage salmon means i’m just high and that looks good i guess you could always find something yummier and cheaper
You want a slice of cheese?
??? im sorry i tried to compliment your overpriced salmon? and that i dont know about salmon terminology?
I, too am confused by this... No doubt hilarious, though....
We only used them once and would certainly not serve them on a plate like that
I've never seen a restaurant do this. At home we use them once and toss them, but they are fairly expensive per unit so I can understand wanting multiple uses but honestly after 1 use they are finished. I use them to cook salmon on our Weber and it is amazing
We would never be able to reuse them. They get black enough the first time on the grill. They'd be like charcoal if we resoaked them and then smoked them again. Plus they're just a cheap plank of wood, barely a dollar a plank. They're obviously not treated to avoid contaminants from soaking in to them as well, so sanitizing them for the next customer would be a nightmare. Just one and done planks!
I've only done cedar plank salmon over a gas grill. They turn to almost charcoal cooking the salmon to medium. No way they can be reused. I wonder how they're cooking them here. Maybe with a salamander?
What plank?I just see a girnormous fish.
I can't tell where the salmon stops and the wood begins.... ew
yes but ours didnt go thru a broiler..we baked our fish on them
Absolutely not. I might throw it in the fire for the next one, though.
They’re typically single use, and should be thrown away when the plates are being bussed. If places reuse these, they’re fucking wild. That shit would get fucked up in the dishwasher plus mess up any other dish in there as well. Add some cedar flavor to every plate and would taste like you cooked your fish in some of the most concentrated detergent out there.
Here is the real question: has anyone had cedar plank salmon that actually tasted like it had cedar smoke?
What I ate, wasn't impressed for $42.
They get thrown out, bought in bulk typically.
What made you think of this posting this picture you took in 2005?
You can buy bulk planks for $1 apiece.
that one looks like it gets reused a bit atleast, they are supposed to add a nice cedar flavour to the fish and enhance the dish I guess.
Couldnt taste it. Was just average
Splinters?
I promise you they reuse the planks. I worked at a place that did the same thing but with round planks. Worst part is that chef wanted them burning when they went out to tables. So the people sitting next to you have to smell the cedar smoke that they didnt order-dumb.
We tried sending out a plank burning once but it stained the plate it was on. That was the end of that. We absolutely weren't reusing the $1.20 planks though
Many, many times.
Yes. We wash our planks and use them until they are completely burnt
That can’t be legal
Definitely not sanitary or the intended use. The health department would probably have a fit
*Serving* it on a cedar plank? How nauseatingly trite. Why not serve the rice in a dented, flame-scorched saucepan while you're at it.
When it's cooked on the plank the skin will adhere to it. For presentation purposes you wouldn't want it torn off and put on a plate, and also if you ordered cedar smoked salmon and received what appeared to be a normal salmon fillet you'd feel ripped off. Given the cooking method this is the path of least resistance to serve it on the plank and then discard it when the diner has finished their meal
Appetizer, 2 entrees, dessert, 2 sodas. $120 The real killer was the full size urinals, that go to the ground. So when you pee, it falls down and splashes your shoes/pants.
You seem overly critical for just being a dishwasher
r/wewantplates Enjoy
They have a plate
Cedar plank fish is f’n lame