Knife Skills - An Introduction to Fish & Shellfish Processing

Fish Preparation Knife Skills

Next available Knife Skills 'Open Programme' dates, places limited to 12:

Reserve your place using our online course reservation form here

Tuesday 30th June, Wednesday 29th July

Timings : 6.15am – 1.30pm approx

Class size : 8 – 10

What to expect :

An early morning escorted market tour covering fish identification and understanding quality assessment.

We serve breakfast after which you will have the chance to get some ‘hands on' experience with an expert blocks man. This course focuses on a wide selection of flat and round fish preparation. (no shellfish). Includes portioning.

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for those new to the industry, keen amateur (and professional) fishermen that want to improve their preparation techniques and chef's who want to update their skills.

What you take home :

Lots of fish to take away – so a cool bag is essential. A certificate and free video to remind you of what you have learnt. The course uses round and flat fish, a typical selection of fish used would include: mackerel, lemon sole, gurnard, bass, bream, plaice, salmon.

Cost: £190 (all inclusive)

The school runs both 'open programmes' and 'tailored courses'. Open programmes are where clients from different companies, come together to make up a generalised course. In the tailored courses we offer a bespoke programme to fit in with the needs of the one company that will send a minimum of 8 students in one go.

Many of our clients manage small teams that can not allow more than a couple of staff away from the workplace at one time. The open programmes run once we have reached a minimum numbers level (which is 8) and costs £170, or £190 if you want to include a formal tour of the market. This is conducted by the Fishmongers' Company Market Inspectors who are on hand to answer all your 'fishy' questions.

For those interested in entering the Fishmongering trade please consider our 'Introduction to Fishmongering' training package more information here.

Attendees course review:

"I was a little apprehensive as to whether I, as an amateur would be able to cope with the course, but these worries were totally groundless. In the course we had a mix of attendees which included 4 bankers, three people from within the fish industry. 4 of the 12 attendees were ladies."

"The visit to the market was fascinating. I arrived early and spent a little time in the market on my own, before the course. This was a great experience on its own, and the course "tour" only added to this. The explanations about the types, sources and other information about the market were
absolutely fascinating."

"The course itself is incredibly well thought out. Each species that we handled taught us a new technique and built on what we had already covered. We were led gently into the course by starting with the "more forgiving" flat fish and then led on to a whole range of different species. We finished
on the salmon which brought together the various skills we had gained during the course."

"The instructor, was one of those rare individuals who is not only highly skilled in his own right, but is an excellent communicator and teacher."

"Before attending the course, I had prepared trout and mackerel for myself but this course taught me how to do this properly, as well as giving me the confidence to tackle other fish. After the course I feel fully equipped to carry on and to hone the skills I have learned with plenty of practice."

"With regard to value, the course at £190-00 is well within the price range of other, work based, training courses. The fish I brought home was an added bonus and is sufficient for 2 meals for all 7 of us. The comments around the table last night were all variants of "We just can't get fish like this!".
This has to represent a value of at least £30-00 based on what we would normally spend on an evening meal."

"In conclusion, I learned a huge amount, and had one of the most enjoyable days I can remember."

Mr Green - January 2009

Next available Knife Skills 'Open Programme' dates, places limited to 12:

Tuesday 30th June, Wednesday 29th July

Reserve your place using our online course reservation form here

Course runs from 6.15am - 01.30pm

Knife sets available, click images below for more details.

Knife Skills Master class

Course timings: 6.15am – 1.30pm

Course cost: £195 (£180 if no market visit taken)

TBA

This knife skills class is one for anyone who wants to update or improve their fish filleting skills. We will be buying fish on the day and will be looking out for under utilized species such as silver sabre, garfish, conger eel and John Dory - to name a few. The cost of this course is £195 and you will have a big bag of fish to take away at the end of the day.

reserve your place here

Shellfish Workshop with Ken Condon and CJ Jackson

Course Timings: 6.15am – 1.30pm

Course cost: £195

TBA

This course covers a wide range of crustaceans and molluscs. These include crab, lobster, langoustine, squid, cuttlefish, oysters, razor clams, mussels and scallops. The day is split between practical preparation of the species and hands on shellfish cooking.

Timings : 6.15am – 1.30pm approx

Class size : 8 – 12

reserve your place here

What to expect :

An early morning escorted market tour covering species identification and understanding quality. Main focus is on the wide range of shellfish available.

We serve breakfast after which you will have the chance to get some ‘hands on' experience with an expert fishmonger.. This course focuses on a wide selection of molluscs, crustacean and cephlapods. (no fish) along with a session on how to cook each species.The course will end with a tasting of each species cooked.

You would expect to learn how to cook and dress crabs, lobsters and other crustacean along with clams, mussels, scallops, squid, cuttlefish and octopus.

Who should attend :

This course is suitable for those new to the industry, keen amateur (and professional) chef's who want to extend and improve their preparation techniques and chef's who want to update their skills.

What you take home:

Lots of to shellfish to take away – so a LARGE cool bag is essential. A certificate to remind you of what you have learnt.

Cost: £195 (all inclusive)

reserve your place here

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