Trying to make DIY Frozen food, ended up chunky/separated

[bigpow]

Emulsion broke as soon as I heat it up on the stove.
Water & particle got separated and wouldn't mix together.

Is there any trick to this?

Thanks

[Diana]

I mix it cold, or warm, not hot on the stove.
I do not add water to the mix. Fluids from the materials I use are usually enough (and sometimes too much)

Basically, here is how I get everything to mix:
1) Cook anything that needs cooking (raw fish, fresh vegetables). Add enough V-8 to the mix to keep it from burning, but often there are enough fluids in the various things that I do not need to add more. I also add fluids from things that do not need cooking, such as from canned fish, or frozen vegetables. To remove these cooked things use a slotted spoon, and leave the hot fluid in the pan. Add a gelling agent, such as agar or gelatin to the warm water (follow the directions on whatever you are using). This fluid has lots of vitamins etc in it, so do not discard it. Add it to the mix.

2) Use a food processor to chop and blend all the materials in small batches. Chopping things by hand helps this go faster. Never add hot things to the food processor unless it is designed for it. (mine is not, and the bowl has a crack from hot stuff being added). Fluids also help this to go smoother, but again, use whatever fluids the foods have already been in, do not add water. Add V-8 juice.

3) As the various things come out of the food processor mix them in a very large mixing bowl. At this point figure out if the blend is too wet. Add dry food such as freeze-dried worms or shrimp, flake food or similar material to sop up some of the moisture. It should be cooling off by now, or you can refrigerate if needed.

4) Package in sandwich bags, excluding all possible air.

[bigpow]

so that's the secret. Thanks Diana.
I tried to salvage it as much as I could by removing the excess water and mixing the plain gelatin mix.
It's not as chunky but also not very smooth.
But my clowns had a taste test and they approved it!

[Diana]

Food processor or blender will mix it better, and chop up most of the chunks. Once in a while I still see something that I can identify.

[bigpow]

I used a blender to make it since my food processor is only 1-cup big
I also didn't use any veggie, only beef heart, white fish and shrimps. A lot more garlic than the original recipe demanded. So it's sort of the junk food version of Martin's recipe

I'm planning to make another batch with all the healthy stuff: veggie, V8, vitamins, etc soon.


It smelled really good while cooking, kind of like garlic crab boil.

[Diana]

If you started with whole (or sliced) beef heart I would use a meat grinder for this, perhaps even send it through twice if your fish are small. Then cook it. The white fish and shrimp will fall apart pretty easily, even in a blender. Just put in small batches, and keep pushing the stuff down into the blades.

[Martin Thoene]

Really each of the solid constituents should be blended to the consistency of a thick dip. When mixed (cold) it will form a homogenous mixture. There shouldn't be any chunks really.

Gelatin will bind the mix together and big fish will bite off big bits while little fish will take small nibbles.

Martin.

[bigpow]

Thanks Diana & Martin, for the wonderful tips. I'm sure it'll be handy when I make the 2nd batch (soon).

Martin, I've been giving my clowns some chopped shrimps for years, but with this frozen food mix, they're really going crazy. I wonder if it's the garlic that drive them nuts. I know I tried the beef liver by itself, and they barely touched it.

In your experience, what's the ultimate loach favorite?
Also, I use a lot more garlic than your original recipe, I hope that won't case any problem (except garlic breath)