There’s something wonderfully exotic about fish
There are a number of reasons why I probably eat less fish than meat, but predominantly I believe it’s because I know so little about it; how to cook it, how to tell if it’s fresh or even how to identify it and I know I’m not alone.
Looking back on my school days, I remember spending the majority of time in food class learning how to make the perfect bread roll or mastering the complex art of baking flapjack when skills like fish preparation would have been infinitely more useful.
Fast forward fifteen years and finally I’ve taken matters into my own hands, and decided that it’s time I learnt the basics about fish. After doing some research on the subject it became apparent there that there was no shortage of places in England offering fish and seafood related training courses, but to me, living in London, the most logical place to start had to be Billingsgate’s Seafood Training School. I’ve managed to make the early morning pilgrimage to the actual fish market on a few occasions and it is unquestionably one of the most amazing places you will ever visit if you are a foodie.
Open since 2000, the Seafood Training School
Following a bit of background reading on the various courses that the school offered, I decided to go with ‘Practical Fish on Monday at Billingsgate”, as it sounded like it gave the best introductory overview of the basics skills and knowledge that you need to take your understanding of buying, preparing and serving fish to the next level.
The day starts with an interesting and insightful introduction to the market and its history, an overview of what to look out for when buying fresh fish, how we can do our bit to help the dwindling ocean population and finally a round up of the basic tools used to prepare fish.
The remaining part of the day focuses on ways to cook the fish that have been prepared during the morning before several simple recipes are demonstrated and then served up at the end of the day and enjoyed by the entire group. The course runs from 9:30am – 2:00pm and as well as the course, you receive a plentiful lunch and get to take home all of the fish that you prepared, so it’s worth making some extra space in the fridge the night before.
Despite a relatively short duration,
A very interesting day out and most importantly a great way to learn more about fish whatever level you are currently at, there are courses running at the Seafood Training School almost every day of the week and they range from £50 – £195, with the ‘Practical Fish on Monday at Billingsgate’ costing £100.