Smoked tilapia-YUK!

[Ontrack]

I just smoked 3lbs of tilapia, 3lbs of orange roughy, and 3lbs of salmon. The salmon was delicious (Kummok's), the roughy was good-a couple of different rubs-but the tilapia was very sh!tty! I just sprinkled a few spices on after a melted butter mop, but it tasted like a well flavored chew toy. Very rubbery. The dog got what didn't go in the trash. It's great blackened in a skillet, or on the grill in foil with veggies, but I won't be smoking it again. :P. This is the only thing I've ever smoked in the Bradley that I didn't like.

[Gizmo]

I wonder what it would have tasted like with the Kummok salmon treatment?

There are a few others here that won't fess up too much with their best bad trials.   ;D ;)

[Ontrack]

It actually had a decent taste, Giz. It was just so rubbery. It was like a decent tasting piece of rubber. :D If I didn't talk about my mistakes, I woudn't have anything to talk about! :-X

[gscheig]

I had the same experience - smoked a couple of small filets with some salmon, tossed them out

[Gizmo]

Texture might be fixed by pulling it sooner or trying an alternate finish method.

Try a 20 minute cold smoke then finish in the oven or on a grill.  You can use a foil wrap with the fish topped with some lemon slices.  You could also grill a few minutes on each side.  Ideally (although hard to tell when wrapped in foil) you will want to pull the fish out of the heat just before the center is cooked through.  There should be a fine line in the middle where it is not cooked.  The carry over cooking will finish it.  This will leave the fish nice and tender and very moist inside.  I have heard that if you cook fish until it flakes, it is already overcooked so that is why you want to pull it a little early and allow the carry over to finish the job.