learn your scales

Practise all things fishy at the seafood school at Billingsgate

At 4Am, tuesday to saturday, Billingsgate Fish market opens its trading hall for business. Hustling, bust ling and brightly lit, the heart of the 13-acre complex in east London( theuk’ slar gest inland fish market) is home to around 40 traders as well as shops and cafés–not to mention a seafood training centre that teaches everything from sourcing and descaling to gutting a nd cooking. the sea food school at Billings gate( newly named after a rebranding last week) is legendary in the industry: fishmongers, sellers, culinary students and chefs are tutored here. But it serves there st of us, too, and at a (slightly) more acceptable time of the day.

If you can manage a 7am star t, the special saturday Breakfast, for example, begins with a trip round the market before a morning feast and a fish-prep session. In this, as in all their classes, ‘we try to make it as uncomplicated as possible’, says t he school’s CEO a nd principal, CJ Jackson. ‘We focus on sustainability and talk a lot about fishing methods, but even chefs’ eyes can glaze over by the time we get onto hookand-line .’ the practical skills( how to purchase from market, as well as how to skin, pin-bone and fill et) are invaluable, but Jackson has an eye on food trends, too. english winemakers and microbreweries have been involved with the school’ s seafood-matching classes ( hake a nd hops? yes, please), and guest-chef days will soon be rolled out. ‘Last year our class lists passed the 100,000-person mark,’ Jackson tells me. And I bet most of those are now dab hands at shucking and cutting.

Above Students at the school get to grips with shellfish