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CJ Jackson filleting a fish

‘I’ve never seen anybody do that to a sea bass before,’ says chef and teacher CJ Jackson, and I don’t think she means it in a good way. I’ve been at Billingsgate Market’s Seafood Training School in Docklands since 6am and have already beheaded a mackerel, gutted a coley, skinned a dover sole, and beheaded, gutted and skinned a gurnard, but the sea bass has defeated me, at least until Jackson steps in with her blade to make the best of a bad fillet.

It must have taken some going to flummox Jackson even momentarily. She has been knee-deep in fish for years. Before working at Billingsgate, Jackson shopped at the market in her capacity as vice-principal of Leith’s School of Food and Wine – where she co-authored ‘Leith’s Fish Bible’ – and she’s now director of the market’s Seafood Training School. The school, which is run as a charity, opened in 2001 with the objective of re-familiarising people with the lost art of handling, preparing and cooking fish. School children and professional fishmongers and restaurateurs are the prime targets, with those classes part-subsidised by a variety of courses aimed at dedicated amateurs and assorted hangers-on such as myself.
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Peter Watts prepares bouillabaisse

Crab

Chris Leftwich and a lobster

Students watch a demo

Fresh prawns for bouillabaisse lunch

Mackerel

Prime motivator behind the school’s founding was Chris Leftwich, another lifelong fishhead, whose role as chief inspector of the Fishmongers’ Company makes him something close to King of Billingsgate; he decides whether a fish is fresh enough to be sold at the market.

It is Leftwich who leads our group of eight or so would-be filleters on the market tour that makes up the first part of the ‘Catch of the Day’ course. You may have been to Billingsgate before, staggering around sleep-deprived but wide-eyed at the variety of fish on display, while keeping an ear out for the rattling trolleys that indicate the approach of one of the market’s infamous, no-prisoner-taking porters, but Leftwich’s knowledge makes visiting the market an altogether richer experience. As well as explaining the history and protocol of Billingsgate, Leftwich tells us what to look for when buying fresh fish: the eyes (clear), the gills (red), the smell (not fishy) and the firmness (not too yielding) are all key indicators of a fish’s age. His standing in the market also means he can pluck the occasional item from a stallholder for us to sample; the chunks of hot-smoked salmon go down particularly well.

After our 90-minute tour, we head upstairs to the school’s fully-stocked kitchen, where breakfast has been prepared, and then we get to work. Jackson takes us into an adjoining room where the fish she has selected from the market that morning have been laid out – gurnard, dover sole, coley, sea bass, mackerel, prawns and squid recline upon a bed of ice. Returning to the kitchen with our slimy booty we split into pairs. I’m with Andy, a fortysomething cockney whose enthusiasm for diving has led him towards an equal fascination with all things fishy. Then it’s gut, behead, slice and skin all morning as we work our way towards a lunchtime bouillabaisse, constantly adding bones, heads and skin to the fish stock that simmers on the hob between us.

Even if you are not particularly squeamish, the first time you slice open a fish’s stomach and pull out its guts you may feel uncomfortable. But by the third or fourth occasion you’ll be doing it without a second thought. ‘The key,’ says Matt, one of my course comrades, fingers sticky with coley innards, ‘is to remember that they’re dead, so it doesn’t matter how rough you are.’ Jackson shows us one particularly impressive trick with a gurnard – a beautiful red fish that looks something like a scaly stick of Toblerone – in which you pull off the skin, head and guts in one move. It goes down well at barbecues, we are assured. One of the key lessons of the course is understanding fish as real creatures with backbones and innards rather than just the cleaned fillets wrapped in plastic that we see on supermarket shelves.

In between eviscerating fish in readiness for the bouillabaisse, Jackson guides us through three other recipes – mackerel roasted in a honey and sesame marinade; sea bass en papillotte; baked sole with pine nuts and tomato salsa – which we carefully prepare before taking them home at the end of the day (do take along a cool box and plan a dinner party for the same evening as you’ll have plenty to serve). Throughout the day, Jackson offers hints and tips about food preparation, from how to wash your hands correctly (use cold water rather than hot), to how to chop an onion. The constant filleting also makes you really appreciate the value of a good knife; indeed, it is the increasing bluntness of mine that, I attest, accounts for the travesty I performed upon that poor, innocent sea bass. (Knife sharpeners are on hand.)

The course concludes in fine style, with a glass of wine, fresh bread and our bubbling bouillabaisse, in which we have placed our own fish stock, prawns, squid, chunks of coley and gurnard as well as onion, leek, fennel, tomatoes, saffron, garlic, parsley, thyme, orange zest and white wine. Having been up to our elbows in entrails, ice and sliced fish since the early hours, it’s a civilised way to end a fascinating morning.

Billingsgate Seafood Training School, Office 28, Billingsgate Market, Trafalgar Way, E14 5ST (020 7517 3548/www.seafoodtraining.org) Poplar DLR. Catch of the Day courses run 6.15am-2.15pm Oct 26, Nov 8 and 15, Dec 5 and 8. Shellfish Catch of the Day Nov 6. Cost £170 (fish) or £180 (shellfish), incl market tour.