I have been looking for sea or lake trout in my grocery stores and havent had any luck. But I see a lot of something called tilapia (sp?). Fillets, whole, it is widely available, yet I see it hasnt been talked about here at all. Anyone ever try it in a CS? Salmon is too fishy a taste for me, but I like trout, flounder, walleye, etc. I was hoping to smoke some and have it cold, but I wanted to hear from others here first.

Thoughts or experiences?

bob

Tilapia tastes a lot like pan fish to me. Nice light flavor. I grill this with a little wood in the smoke box. Comes out nice. Have not tried to smoke this yet. Roger

We use Tilapia at my restaurant. Would agree with RStrand on the flavor. We serve ours baked with a white wine garlic sauce. Don't know about cold though it doesn't strike me as that kind of fish, but I have never tried it. Good Luck.
Mark

I first tried tilapia at Ruby Tuesdays, about a year ago. They put a really good cream/cheese sauce on it, and even though I'm not a big fish lover, it was excellent.

Since then, we regularly buy the frozen, individually vacuum packed tilapia at Sam's Club, and bread it and pan fry it like walleye. To me, it tastes a lot like walleye -- very light and mild flavor. On the package, it says it tastes a bit like catfish, but since I don't eat catfish much, I can't say if that's true.

I don't care for smoked fish, so I've never tried smoking it. But it is a very good tasting fish, and farm raised, so it's a cheaper, more widely available alternative to walleye.

My only complaint: the fillets are very thin (like walleye), so it's tough to cook on the grill w/o falling apart. That's why we usually pan fry it.

Thanks for all the comments guys. Appreciate the info. I think I'll give this a try. Worst case, the wife & kids will get to eat their fill, and then some. lol

bob

It is actually a freshwater fish that is mainly farmed. Alive they look alot like giant blugills.

I've never seen them whole in the store. Only individual fillets like mentioned above. And without the skin its next to impossible to smoke or grill.

It should taste ok. Just dont be surprised if it falls apart on ya.

I take the individual packed ones (still frozen) and throw them in boiling water for a few minutes. Then cut the bag open, flop it on a plate and melt cajun seasoned butter on it with a splash of lemon.

I finally bought some fillets and made some smoked tilapia. Ground up sea salt & brown sugar in even proportions. Poured it on 3 fillets and made sure it was even on both sides. Let this sit for 1 hour. Rinsed under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Placed on jerky screen and dried for one hour. It helps the drying process to blot off any moisture that shows up in the first 45 minutes or so. Then brushed lightly with pure maple syrup and into the 008. Set it at 180* with 1 oz of applewood. 45 minutes later it was done.

People that tasted it said it was very good and hard to believe it was tilapia. I even ate some and liked it. Doing more tonite and WILL take pictures this time. But I have no where to post them.

Bob

Hi Bob,

I've haven't used sea salt before. Does it have different taste that you like better that plain old Morton's or Kosher salt? Also, How did you decide when the fillets were done?

Hook

I have been told plain salt contains iodine that tends to make things taste bitter. I went looking for sea or Kosher salts and found the sea variety first. I did put my temp probe in the thickest fillet, and that was hard!

bob

bob,
i used this sauce for tilapia when i was sous chef at the exeutive dining room for barnett bank. it is quick and ez and the bank's presidents wife liked it lol.
this is from memory so adjust accordingly.
1 pt heavy whiping cream
juice of 1 lime
1 Tbs sugar granulated
1 tsp vanilla extract
reduce cream until it coats a spoon. you should be able to draw your finger across the spoon and the line stays.
take off the heat and whip in the sugar and vanilla
when it is body temp whip in the lime juice (prevents curdling)

or and this is really by memory
take a small container sour cream
add 1 tbs frozen orange concentrate and 1/2 tbs lime juice and whip that
then add about 2 tbs cilantro
taste
if too tart whip in 10x sugar
if too thick whip in heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
garlic if ya wanna
jack
ps thanks for bringing up old memories. in 1991 this fish was only available from the amazon as i understand it

way to go prisonchef! It sounds delicious and I think I can taste the sauce now without even trying it. YUM!
CB

anyone want ot change fish???
i got a killer sauce pepperade for grilled tuna but it works good on smoked catfish too.
jack

let's hear your killer sauce Prison Chef...

JW

"...this fish was only available from the amazon as i understand it."

That dude came from Africa; the tilapia used in aquaculture. It has relatives in the wild in S. America. (They're all cichilds, a huge family of tropical fish.)

We get whole, fresh tilapia here. Seem to come from farms in Jamaica. Must be going like gangbusters.

They're fed on Purina chow, but not a bad tasting fish, even so. Very firm flesh, that's for sure. You can knock it around on the grill without fear of it falling through the grate!

Yes it is a very firm fish. I have smoked these guys 3 more times and cant keep this stuff around very long. And I keep promising to take pictures and dont. It takes longer to prepare the fillets than it takes to smoke them.

One tip I can offer. DONT try to smoke cheese in a box over a CS that is smoking fish. Unless you like fish flavored smokey cheese. ACK!

bob