FEBRUARY DIY FOOD

Hey everyone, I figured something out when I got home. I needed to "re-position" a sheet of Nori and found a way to break it up nicely in the bag. Made a quick video.


Just be careful not to break the bag seal open while kneading it!! It takes just a few minutes but works really well


Use the link below, or maybe the embedded video will magically work eventually


The food in this video has been approved by the Dachshund Inspection Team.


http://youtu.be/KjqCeHzknXA

 

It was epic. 70 lbs of food from start to finish in just over 1.5 hours. The effort put in by all was fantastic!!!

 

Allrighty, so I finished up re-writing the "instructions" per Saturday's event to pass on to the CR group.


I've attached the Word doc, so if anyone wants to look it over quick and see if I missed anything, I'm sure the CR group and anyone else wanting to do this in the future can use any pointers!!


Ok file upload is not working....

 

General food processor notes


Fill with about 1.5-2" of seafood to blend


run for about 5 seconds


Open processor and use spatula to “fold” the food from the edges to the center


run for about 5 seconds


That should be all you need for most, squid and octo might need another turnover & blend


Remove blade before dumping into keg tub and wipe out container with spatula or gloved hand & tap blade on inside of keg tub. Don't wipe blade with your hand (sharp)





Other notes





If you really want to, strain all of the soak water in each step (squid, octopus, cod, shrimp) with a brine shrimp net to catch all the "fines" and put that in the keg tub. We did not do this, there are plenty of fine particles in the other additives, plus it’s a pain – I tried it at home…





If I had to give you an outline of who does what and when, it would be:





1-3 people thawing, RODI soaking, rinsing, etc


4 people cutting up octopus and squid, 1 person on the processor after soaking


After squid/octo is cut up, put those 4 people on cutting shrimp/cod


1 person processing scallops/krill/PE after soaking


After scallops/octo is done, run both food processors on shrimp/cod duty (because of the long soak process, the timing should work out)


Anyone not cutting should be popping cubes. This takes longer than you think, there are a buttload of cubes. I think we had at least 4 people for 30 minutes on cubes.


After all seafood cutting is done and mixing has started, shift people to bag prep (nori) and cleanup of knives/cutting boards/buckets


When ready to start bagging, we put keg tub on floor with a table on each side (really one long counter at central campus) and had one person filling cups and setting them on the table. Then we had a scale on each side and basically a line of people from center to end where one person weighed and dumped, then next person held the bag open for the dump, then passed it on to someone who cleaned the zipper, then the last person to flattened and burped (which you will not need to do, see the bagging instructions). With it done this way, the bagging process goes very fast.





Squid/Octopus Crew





remove frozen squid from packages and place in RODI until solid ice is gone, but squid is still mostly a frozen block (might need to thaw a bit more, it will be hard as a rock)


Use big knives to chop up while still partially frozen


Do not let octopus thaw much at all. Ice is softer for some reason


Cut blocks of octopus into 1" wide strips with large knife (constant pressure, be careful as it will split suddenly)


Use big knives to chop up strips while still partially frozen


Once either the octo or squid thaws completely, it gets very difficult to cut with a knife.


Remove beaks and/or tendons if you can (squid sometimes have clear dime sized tendon, octo should be beak-free)


Combine squid and octopus into common 5g bucket, 1/2 full of RODI


5-10 min RODI soak (while chopping is fine)


Strain with colander & fish net (big white one) or just grab out handfuls


Blend with food processor briefly (about 2" deep in processor)


Add into keg tub





Shrimp & Cod Crew





Thaw in tap water in sink until separable. This can be done several hours ahead of time but don't use hot water unless you need it thawed quick – then use warm water.


Cod thaws fast – take it out of the packages. Shrimp is in blocks and takes longer – break up the big block into smaller chunks as it thaws to speed up.


Chop into 1-2 cm pieces


5-10 min RODI soak. Stir regularly. Use 2 buckets if you have them (there is a LOT of shrimp and cod) stir often (not continuously, but every minute or 2


Strain w/ colanders, Resoak


Strain w/colanders, Resoak (again)


Blend with food processor briefly


Add into keg tub








Scallops, Krill, Mysis





Scallops


Dump frozen scallops into RODI - 5g bucket (1/2 full or less should be fine)


5-10 min RODI soak / thaw


Strain w/colander


If time, chop each one once


5-10 min RODI soak


Set aside





Krill


Float krill bags in sink until separable. Krill are pokey. Don't use nets to strain and watch your hands


Dump krill into RODI - 5g bucket 1/2 full. This will get nasty looking


5-10 min RODI soak


Strain w/colander


Repeat this process up to 3 times total, until the water doesn't turn all nasty looking


Set aside





PE Mysis


Thaw flat packs in warm water in sink


Rinse in nets under cold tap water (water will look very dirty)


Continue until water is not quite so nasty but not too long


Rinse once with RODI (pour over net)


Drain (in net)


Put 1/2 in keg tub, Set other half aside to blend (no biggie if you forget, we did)








Blend together:


I found that doing about 4 or 5 batches in the Oster food processor was about right. Probably less in the Hamilton one. Use about 3x as much krill per amount of scallops, that seemed to work well.


Run each batch until the mix starts to be evenly mixed and “turns over” on it’s own (won’t take long, may want to fold it once). Scallops blend really easily which is why you add only a small amount.


Add into keg tub





BSD Cubes





DO NOT LET CUBE TRAYS THAW AT ALL


Remove each box individually from freezer right before popping


Pop cubes into 1g buckets


Watch for pieces of foil. Also watch hands. Had a few people actually cut themselves on the cube tray edges believe it or not


Place cubes in 2g ziplock bags (you will need about 3 or 4)


Thaw cubes in warm tap water (this will take about 30 minutes or so, don't use hot, just keep running the water to keep it warm & massage the bags carefully


DO NOT rinse or strain


Once completely thawed, pour in keg tub





BSD Daphnia (the gallon-ziplock-size greenish frozen blocks (2 of them)


DO NOT THAW IN ORIGINAL BAG


Remove frozen block from bag (rip it off)


Place in 2g ziplock bag


Thaw in warm tap water similar to cubes


DO NOT rinse or strain


Once completely thawed, pour in keg tub





MIXING


Start mixing with the drywall paddle. Low speed is really all you need but keep in mind that this is hard on the drill because It won’t get ventilation at low speed. You might want to take the bit off and run the drill unloaded at medium speed for 30 seconds to cool it off several times throughout the process, or else you will smoke the drill (we almost did).


While mixing, the bit will collect the larger pieces of squid and octopus that did not get chopped up. We removed these and put in a separate bag for someone who had an aggressive tank. You could also cut them up and put them back in. The former is easier.


Items to add directly to keg tub while mixing, after all the seafood is added and mixing is started.


BSD Copepods - 1 Jar


BSD Roe -- 1 Jar


Zoe Marine - 1 Bottle


Garlic Extreme - 1 Bottle


3mm Pellets (add last, right before bagging) - 1 Jar


Vitality - 1 Bottle


**ZoPlan - 1 Jar


**PhytoPlan - 1 Jar


**IMPORTANT** ZoPlan and PhytoPlan jars have a dessicant packet in them! DON’T DUMP THIS IN WHILE MIXING UNLESS YOU WANT TO FISH FOR IT (like we had to)


These following items have been halved already so just dump in what you have


S.E.L.C.O. Boost - 1/2 Bottle


AZOX - 1/2 Bottle


Vita-Chem Marine - 1/2 Bottle


Reef Roids - 1/2 Jar


Reef Plus - 1/2 Bottle


Phytoplankton - 1/2 Bottle


Marine Snow - 1/2 Bottle


Mix until you get a homogeneous looking mixture. Drywall paddle should do this very well. Remember to add the pellets.





Bag filling process


Place one sheet of each color nori into ziplock. Reach into the bag and crunch up the nori. The more the better, but don’t spend a lot of time on it.


Fill solo cup with food and dump out. There will be some food stuck to the inside - this is ok.


zero the scale with gooey cup on it. Fill cup to 16oz. This should be right near the top of the cup


Alternatively, you can zero out with clean cup, fill to 16 oz, dump out and re-weigh so you can see how much "clings" to the cup, then add that back on. So if you zero the empty cup, fill to 16oz and it reads 1 oz after you dump it, you need to fill each cup to 17 oz if that makes sense.


Get half a dozen solo cups going, fill them, weigh them quickly (no need to be super anal) dump in bags. Pour cup into bag over nori. Helps to have someone with 'clean' hands holding bag open, another dumps the cup


Use wet towel to clean zipper of any food so that it can seal


At this point we have in the past been flattening out the bag and 'burping' the air out. Here is where I suggest a change – refer to the YouTube video I posted


Leave all the food at the bottom of the bag and massage it until all the nori is covered up/wet


burp most of the air out of the bag


Leave these sit until you are ready to put in the freezer (at home)


At that point, you knead the bag until the nori is all broken up


Flatten the bag and crack one corner of the bag, spread the food out and push the air out to that corner, seal, even out and lay flat to freeze.