Can you use regular old cedar to cook "cedar plank" dishes?

Just make sure it’s not treated with anti-fungal products… you want UNTREATED wood. Very important because some treated woods can contain poisons.

See above. Just make sure it is not treated with some chemical to make it resistant to the elements.

Best way to cook salmon in the world. Not bad with pork and chicken either.

Also, you want Western red cedar. Depending on where you live, that may not be what Home Depot has. In addition, the wood from Home Depot will be too thick and not wide enough for most foods.

I see cedar planks all the time in cooking stores, and they are usually very cheap.

Just want to chime in and third how important it is to get UNTREATED wood. Shit’s nasty, what they put on the wood.

Looks like Cedar is never treated – which makes sense since it’s supposed to have anti-fungal properties on its own.

I wish I had known this two months ago when I had a small cedar cut down due to deer predation. The trunk is now sitting at the edge of my sister’s pond where it is the solarium and rest stop for the local turtles.

As long as the cedar plank is completely free of any type of chemical treatments, it’s fine. Here is some great info on a website from Melinda Lee She’s a former caterer who’s had a wonderful cooking show on the radio for many years called Food News (and Food Talk when it was on a different station). This site talks about the proper type of cedar planks to use and then it tells you how to prepare the planks, complete with recipe information. She’s my go-to gal for all things cooking. Check the “recipe archives:” section for recipes and check the “resources” section for infomation about products and where to purchase them and how to use them.

Another part of Melinda Lee’s website talks about Cedar Paper for grilling, which is a slight alternative that may be of interest to you.

You may want to soak the cedar plank with water before using it for cooking. (So it can’t catch on fire.)