Merrilyn's beef heart recipe.

[waitaki]

imo raw garlic is best - 100% pure
damn, I spent hours making this mix last night, by the time I cleaned up it was 2am!! My mincer needs attention I thinks!
The puppy loved this mix, fish were a bit ungrateful this morning; but have decided it's not too bad tonight
thanks Merrilyn

[Scat]

Hi having made the mix last night ive found that even using the mincer im getting alot of particles when i fed this tonight any suggestions ?

Also they spent more time fighting around the food rather than eat it ???

Thanks
Craig

[waitaki]

put a dessert bowl in your tank, down the bh mix into it and let them feed from that, it cuts down on the amount of particles floating all over

[Scat]

Thanks will give that a go !!

Craig

[pink66]

I have been out and about collecting all my ingredients and finally I am ready to give it a go.. But I have a question before I get going..

I have some tuna and scallops that are already frozen. How does it all go if I incorporate it into the mix and then re-freeze them.. I am concerned about bacteria..and the possible effects on my fish

Does anyone else use frozen fish in their mix and then re-freeze and then finally feed to their fishies.. or do i need to track down only fresh and never been frozen items (I ask this also because down my end of the woods I can only find frozen green prawns - which i would need to unfreeze, peel, use and then re-freeze.

thanks in advance for your replys..

[TW]

Hi Sharon

My sister is a home ec teacher, teaching French, pastry and commercial cooking at TAFE. I asked her this question, as my local butcher tried to convince me to buy beef heart that has been frozen. What she said was that the rule is that meat (& I guess this applies to seafood) can be frozen twice, but only under certain circumstances.

Meat that has never been previously frozen can be frozen while raw. Once thawed, if you cook it, you can freeze it a 2nd time. You are not meant to freeze it for a 2nd time in it's raw state.

She said all this in an email & she explained it more technically than me. If I can find it, I'll copy it in a PM to you.

She said if you work quickly enough & don't actually thaw the meat out while you're working, you might be alright. Having made frozen beef heart before, I don't think I'd be able to work quickly enough to make it, mince it all twice & pack it for freezing, without the prawns thawing completely.

Maybe it might be best just to use the cooked red prawns if you can't get fresh green prawns.

[DIY]

I'm curious about this also.. I use frozen prawns in my mix, I then re-freeze and feed to my discus. I've been doing this for a few years now

In fact I have defrosted my b/h mix, added medication and refrozen (Which would make the prawns - frozen, de-frosted, mixed with other ingredients, re-frozen, de-frosted again, mixed with medication, re-frozen again and then fed to the discus...)

I think it helps that the amount of time it is defrosted is actually pretty small and it remains fairly cold or at least cool so bacteria hasn't had much time to grow....

The other thing I have read is prawns are often frozen initially on the boat or in the factory etc.. so "fresh" prawns aren't necessarily what you would expect when you think fresh. I asked at my local coles where the prawns that weren't frozen came from and if they had previously been frozen.. the answer was a very clear yes, and they showed me the 500gm packs for sale in the frozen foods section which they just open up and put in the deli section for an additional 2$ a kilo.. I'm glad I asked and didn't buy assuming they were "fresh"

[TW]

DIY, my sister went on to say the same as you. That if not fully defrosted & kept very cold, that bacteria hasn't had much time to grow. But I know how long it took me to double mince & pack this for freezing when I made it. I know I would end up re-freezing fully thawed meat. I agree that green prawns often seem partially thawed & suspect they have been frozen. I think the thing is, it is expected that we won't re-freeze them raw. Normally, we would only refreeze green prawns, after we have cooked them.

As a qualifier, my sister said that there are other factors - such as the hygiene practices in the store of purchase. With poor in store hygiene, meat that has never been frozen could end up with more bad bacteria than raw frozen meat that was well handled in store & at your home, then thawed & refrozen quickly whilst still very cold.

I will look for her email & see what else she said.

[DIY]

This might be a really, really stupid question... but do discus get food poisoning? I'm just wondering if they are actually better at handling less than fresh food than say we are?

[TW]

Good Question. I don't know.