Smoking Tullibee

[Smoke Meats Everyday]

I am smoking some tullibee and I was wondering if I should be spraying them like I would with a pork butt- with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water. I am following a smoking guide from this site, so its about a 4.5/5 hour smoke at 190F.

Also if anyone has a recommendation for a brown sugar glaze to put on them, otherwise we brined them in a mix of soy sauce and brown sugar for about 24 hours (give or take).

 

[Fueling Around]

I am a smoking fish novice at best.
I would never spritz with vinegar. Acid pickles while you are trying to smoke.
190° is too hot. Get the temp below 170°
thirdeye is the fish smoking resident expert, but I don't know if he has experienced tullibee

 

[JLinza]

I've never cooked tullibee, but my first thought agrees with Fueling Around .

 

[mike243]

Vinegar will cook the fish like citrus juice. Hope it turned out well for you.

 

[thirdeye]

I don't have any experience with tullibee, but would think using ACV would interfere with the expected "smoked" fish flavor.

I've used a light brushing of diluted maple syrup, or honey, or agave nectar (or a combination) on salmon and trout, but it's more of a coating rather than a glaze.

 

[millerbuilds]

As said above, do not use any type of vinegar for fish (hot or cold smoked).

- Jason

 

[millerbuilds]

I am a smoking fish novice at best.
I would never spritz with vinegar. Acid pickles while you are trying to smoke.
190° is too hot. Get the temp below 170°
thirdeye is the fish smoking resident expert, but I don't know if he has experienced tullibee

Totally agree!
- Jason

 

[Smoke Meats Everyday]

Here are the final outcomes (plus the beginning, on the smoker, and its over.)

A buddy of mine did the brine for these, a mix of soy sauce and brown sugar for 8 tullibee.

After that I put them on the smoker (with apple wood pellets) starting at 175 F for about five hours, then I slowly increased the temperature by five degrees each hour until I hit 200 F. It ended up taking about seven and half hours to get to 145-150, but the finished product is delicious.

Thanks for the feed back on moisture content, I didn't spray anything on (followed my gut feeling plus reading a few other articles/recipes for fish). I am going to be smoking a fifteen pound brisket, some trout and hopefully some catfish next week so I will ideally have some more delicious foods to share.

NOTE on the temperature: it is currently 3F with a feels like of -5F outside, so I had to increase the temeprature to get the fish past a stop point, I know a lot of the recipes out there said not to go above 175F if possible, but it had stagnated for a bit. I thought about wrapping them in butcher paper but I didn't go with it.

 

[Smoke Meats Everyday]

I don't have any experience with tullibee, but would think using ACV would interfere with the expected "smoked" fish flavor.

I've used a light brushing of diluted maple syrup, or honey, or agave nectar (or a combination) on salmon and trout, but it's more of a coating rather than a glaze.
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That looks so good- I might try and get some more tullibee and try a maple glaze, I think it would be delicious. Do you usually just smoke the fillets versus a whole fish?

 

[thirdeye]

That looks so good- I might try and get some more tullibee and try a maple glaze, I think it would be delicious. Do you usually just smoke the fillets versus a whole fish?

I like 'skin on' fillets.

 

[Smoke Meats Everyday]

I like 'skin on' fillets.

I thought those would be better, I am getting some trout and catfish on Tuesday and then I might try that

 

[Fueling Around]

Try splitting your tulllibee in half. That's how whitefish, moon eye, and sucker are smoked.

Raising the temperature means you are looking to poach out the fat?

 

[Burlymanchef]

Chubs,Whitefish,Tullibee all are from the same family that is an oily smaller cold water fish with chubs being almost non existent from the days where they were caught in huge numbers in the deeper Great Lakes. I grew up in Port Washington Wi eating them along with smoked salmon (we would bring in our salmon to be smoked) and as of 2024 our last smoke house closed; Ewig brothers and probably 20 years earlier Smith Bros closed. Look up a whitefish brine as many recipes call for 1 Gallon of water 1 cup of kosher salt, 1 cup of brown sugar and Garlic powder to taste. As I can remember talking to a worker at smith bros I am almost positive he said Alder but I may be wrong. Maybe we can have some cheeseheads chime in that may know the brine recipe as it was a great tasting smoked fish. It came in a 2 -3 pound cardboard box with the fish packaged in a plastic bag as we would drive on occasion to Port when we moved to Indiana just to eat chubs..They went away and then it was just whitefish but did not have as much oil in the meat for taste as chubs did. They were smoked whole and hung on racks in a tiled room where they rolled the metal cart in to be smoked.