This week I@ attended a trip to Billingsgate fish market in London. One of the categories at the National Fish and Chip Awards is the Drywite Young Fish Frier of the Year. These young people are the future of the fish and chip industry and I have always been a huge supporter of developing the next generation so I wanted to help them get their own network going. Working in a fish and chip shop can be a lonely place, especially for a young person. When your friends are out enjoying themselves you are often working and you feel like you are the only one. By getting the younger generation together hopefully it will help change that.
It is not my first time there so I was aware it was an early start. We travelled down to London on Monday so I thought it was a good idea for them to arrange a bit of a social event to balance the work element then next day at the fish market so we went ten pin bowling at the O2.
Apart from them threatening to call me dad lol, it was great to spend a bit of time with them and see them having a laugn. I did however forget I have a sore shoulder so maybe bowling wasnt the best idea as still feeling the pain a couple of days on! NOT TO SELF – I AM NOT IN MY 20s ANYMORE
The following morning we arranged to meet in the hotel reception at 5:30am. The hotel was situated next to West Ferry DLR station so we jumped on that to Canary Wharf before making the short walk to Billingsgate to meet CJ Jackson in the Billingsgate Seafood School.
Billingsgate as a fish market dates back to 1698 officially but it was the place where fish was informally traded in london before that. It moved from its origianal location shortly after work began in 1874.
There are around 25,000 tonees of fish traded each year at Billingsgate and, although now not the largest in the UK, it does have the most variety of species.
We were mt in the Seafood School by the fantastic CJ Jackson. What CJ doesn’t know about fish is not worth knowing. She has also written several books about seafood if you want to look them up. After a brief talk about the market we were allowed to explore it on our own before being split into two groups for a tour. The market is a hive of activity up until around 7.30/8am, with wholesale buyers and members of the public all vying to get the best deal on the freshest seafood from around the world.
The are species here to suit every consumer and match the cosmoplitan city that is London. What was noticable was that there was very little cod and haddock on display as the fish and chip buyers usually get these delivered due to the volume we use.
After demolishing a bacon butty or two we were given a masterclass in filleting and seafood cookery. I have filleted a few fish in the past but never a plaice or a hake so it was good to get some practice in! The plaice was filleted as we would on one side then as a chef would (splitting it in to two pieces) on the other side.
It was a great day and it is fantastic to see how enbthusastic the next generation coming into our industry are. I may also add some seafood specials to the menu every so often. I would like to thank CJ Jackson and the City of London for hosting the event.
