Is tulibee flesh soft/mushy?

[stoneeyes317]

I've just finished cleaning a few tulibee we caught at Mille Lacs in preparation for smoking and when I was taking out the rib bones I noticed that the flesh was soft not firm like walleye, northern etc. Is this normal? I don't want to go through the time of smoking them and get people sick. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

eyes317

[Jason Boser]

we did a 100 out of winnie and when you clean them they were a little soft not bad though. smoked up good. we baked them too they were good

Jason

[Mnfisher]

Be sure and dry them good after brining. One small batch of mine were mushy and I'm sure because the undersides were a little wet yet when I put them in the smoker.

[hockeybc69]

After brining they will be quite soft(mushy feeling to the touch).

The smoking process will dry them out and firm them right up. No worries.

A tullibee, is a tullibee, is a tullibee. They smoke up great.

[Gissert]

Ditto on the dry time after the brine job. I let mine sit on racks for about 3 hours to get a nice film, and then keep the heat about 90-100 degrees for the first 2 hours in the smoker and then crank the heat to 180-200 until they are done.

[tunrevir]

I noticed that the flesh was rather soft when I filleted a bunch for the smoker but it seemed if they were partially froze while filleting them they were fine. After smoking them they seemed to firm up and were quite tasty.

Tunrevir~