carols beefheart

[gluedandscrewed]

saw carols recipe here and thought the girl is a genius, tried doing my own beefheart years ago and it turned out to be a mass, ground it thru a meat grinder, additives, binder and it turned into a mass once it hit the water...this time a salad shooter should be here tomorrow, the heart just got home,, box is only way i could get it from this store so i got a box,,,15 LBS OF IT,,,,,but 23 bucks versus 8 bucks for 3 1/2 ounces at the LFS its gonna last a while even with 16 fish....am going to try just the heart by its self per carol's recipe but with all the meat am willing to try a mixture of some kind as long as it doesn't pollute the tank,,any suggestions????

[Clawhammer]

Let me know how it goes, take some pictures! I have been thinking about doing this for sometime, this may be the motivation I need.

Where did you get the beef heart?

[RogueDiscus]

I know there are some folks here who use Carol's method. Hopefully they'll chime in. I have an acquaintance that lives nearby that raises grass-fed cattle on his small farm (10-20 acres?). He sold me 2 hearts for $10 each. I showed up at his farm on slaughter days and picked them up. I went in town to his butcher and I had to make them take $1.50 a pound to trim them. They're still in the freezer. I haven't taken the plunge yet.

[gluedandscrewed]

local chain grocery with a butcher shop hammer, this case an ingles,,,,,i can do that rogue, just cut up half a heart into roughly 1/2 cubes and freezing them per carol, expecting the salad shooter tomorrow,, i thought i would have more control over the cutting action with a manually cranked over an electric one,,,

[RogueDiscus]

Let us know how it goes. I have the grinder that goes with our kitchenaid mixer I expect to use.

[Akili]

I have using Carol's method for years. One has to trim the heart very well and freeze the chunks for it to work ............. here it is ......................http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...solve-in-tank!

[Clawhammer]

I found frozen beefheart at my local grocery store ($4/lb) and ordered this on amazon (due to show up tomorrow!):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also ordered these for easy portioning:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have to defrost and trim the beefheart pieces tonight... Thanks for the inspiration!

[gluedandscrewed]

well, fedex surprised me and delivered the shooter last night, almost identical to yours hammer,anyway, of course i had to at least try it with a couple of frozen cubes, worked beautifully, would post pictures but they would look exactly like the ones carol posted, threw a pinch of the meat into the tank and watched it disappear, all but the biggest pieces that are still to big for my growing fish,,, the slivers of heart will very in size with the longest being longer than the size of your cube thus my next batch i will cut into smaller chunks in the meantime intend to simply chop them up a bit with a razor blade before feeding. Now then, with 15 lbs of heart in the freezer, i choose to think of it as a commitment to my discus in lieu of a need to be committed, i wonder if an experiment of drying the slivers in a food dehydrator and re-hydrating with any medical or dietary supplements would work ? will eventually have to try it,, like i said , 15 LBS!!!!!!

[Filip]

I use this method too , but I use hand grater instead . I cut and freeze my BH in large 5-10 inch chunks for a easier hand grip and I grate it right before every feed .
After I hand grate my BH I rinse it in a cup with water and sieve it through a hand sieve to get it clean from the blood .
I do the same thing with market shrimps and salmon fish too .

[Bizarro252]

I have been experimenting with how to deliver my homemade food, I kinda made up my own recipe... basically fish, shrimp, spinich, peas, vitamins, pellets, flakes, and FDBW binded with a bit of oatmeal flour.

Best way by FAR has been freeze it in little logs about an inch in diameter and slice it while frozen with a sharp, heavy knife into 1/8" or thinner slices. They can be tossed in frozen because they melt in about 2 seconds and much less spitting as the chunks they break off are smaller.

Huge improvement vs the 1/4" cubes I was cutting it into!

I process the meats in a food processor, I like Carols Idea of grating it while frozen, same concept, keep the chunks small but not obliterated