Guide to Grilling the Perfect Cedar-Planked Filet from Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet

Step-by-step instructions to help anyone grill like a professional.

The flavor imparted by cedar is the perfect compliment to a good filet. These easy to follow instructions can help you prepare a cedar-planked filet that will wow your friends and family.

Step One: Steak Selection

Choose a filet cut, USDA Choice or better, that is about 2 inches thick. Do not bother with a filet less than 1-1/2 inch thick. Select steaks that appear well-marbled and are firm to the touch. Larger filet cuts should be bound around the perimeter with butcher's twine.

USDA PRIME, dry-aged steaks are available through good butchers and through high-end grocery stores. Allen Brothers, the source trusted by some of the top Chicago steak houses, also sells directly to consumers (www.allenbrothers.com).

USDA Choice, the grade just below USDA Prime, is available at most fine grocery stores and can give you a more than acceptable steak.

Step Two: Soak the Cedar Planks

Cedar planks should be soaked from a minimum of 4 hours to as long as 24. As plank grilling becomes more popular, cedar planks can be found at many grocery stores, usually near the seafood counter. Cedar planks and a variety of other woods are also available directly from Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet.

Small planks used for individual steaks can make for a nice presentation, or large planks can be used for preparing multiple steaks on one plank.

Step Three: Steak and Grill Preparation

To prepare, you will need to season the steaks and let them rise to room temperature.

About 45 minutes before the grill will be ready, rinse the steaks briefly in cold water and dry them with paper towels. Season the steaks with coarse sea salt and cracked pepper. Use your hand to rub or press the seasoning into all sides of the steaks, and then let the steaks sit until they have reached room temperature. Steaks should always be at room temperature before grilling.

Preheat the grill. You will be cooking at 500 degrees using indirect heat for about 20 minutes, but first you need to sear the steaks. Turn one half of your grill on high and leave it with the lid closed for at least 20 minutes. Leave the other half of your grill turned off.

Note: If you have a Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet grill with an infrared searing burner, you should use the searing burner to sear the steaks. Light the searing burner and one half of your grill. You should not need to wait 20 minutes for searing temperatures to be reached.

Note: If you are using a Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet Hybrid Dual-Fuel Grill, we recommend using hardwood lump charcoal rather than using any other hardwood chunks or limbs. This helps avoid other woods competing with the cedar flavor.

Get a squirt bottle filled with water ready before you start grilling. Use the squirt bottle to extinguish any parts of the cedar planks that may catch fire during grilling.

Step Four: Grilling the Steaks

Use grill tongs for turning the steaks rather than a grill turner or spatula. This helps keep the seasoning on the steaks rather than leaving it behind on the grill surface.

Sear the steaks over the hottest part of the grill for 1 to 2 minutes per side. Use 1 minute for hotter searing zones and 2 minutes for lower temperature searing zones. Do the searing with the grill hood open so that by the end of the searing time your grill's temperature will be lowered enough for indirect cooking at 500 degrees.

For the final 1 minute of the searing time, place the soaked cedar planks on the grill with the side of each plank you want to put the steaks on facing downward. This will help kill bacteria that may be on the planks.

Just before the searing time has ended, turn over all the planks so that the side you want the steaks on is facing upward and the planks are all on the side of the grill that is off (the indirect cooking zone).

Transfer the steaks from the searing zone on to the planks.

Note: If you used a searing burner, turn off the searing burner now.

Close the grill's hood, and cook the steaks for about 20 minutes for medium-rare. Turn the steaks over on the planks every 5 minutes.

Medium rare internal steak temperatures will be 130-140ºF. For other temperatures consult our food temperature chart.

Remove the steaks from the grill (and, if desired, from the planks) and let rest for 2 minutes before cutting into them. If the steaks were wrapped in butchers twine, remove the twine during this period.

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