How quick can you fillet a fish? Chefs, Demonstrators and Organisers are grilled

A Q&A session with some of the personalities behind Pembrokeshire Fishweek

Having blogged about something fishy going on in Pembrokeshire previously, and with the festival due to begin in just over a weeks time, we caught up with some of the folks involved with the festival in Pembrokeshire. We started by asking a few questions of ‘probably the most highly skilled fishmonger in the UK’ Duncan Lucas…….

1. When did you start in the seafood industry? I started filleting fish at the age of 8, my family owned a fish farm in early 70s and we were first business to promote ready filleted product. I became an independent Fishmonger at 19 “I was amazed that we could take a wild hunted product and then make amazing fillets with our hand skills” and won the UK Fishmonger of the Year on 4 occasions. My wife Sue also learnt how to fillet fish within a family fishmongers. A married couple Passionate About Fish.

2. What is the easiest fish to fillet? This is a difficult one to answer, every species is different and for me at the age of 45 its not about ease, its about enjoying every single fish I fillet.

There are also so many different methods to fillet the same fish !!! Give me a fish and a knife and I can make any fish boneless of course, pockets, boats, twirls etc I would say the easiest is Mackerel filleted into a cutlet probably 10 secs max 2 cuts !!!

I do hold the Guinness Book World Record for filleting Atlantic Halibut “hippoglosus hippoglosus” 4mins 20 secs to fillet a fish weighing over 60lb “over foot long” fillet, skin and cut into 150g-170g portions set in 2008. “He’s a record breaker”

3. What would you consider is Pembrokeshire’s seafood speciality? All of the local seafood is Pembrokeshire is a speciality, fresh landed from a local boat….. Seabass, Mackerel & brown crabs I have seen amazing quality every year. The best fish I seen in Pembroke is European Hake, the loins are amazing baked

4. How would you prefer to cook fish? I am a fishmonger and adore working with seafood, my wife Sue is an amazing cook and in fact on a lot of the courses we run on consumer training Sue manages the cooking demonstrations. Her great skill is simplicity, the taste of fish is enhanced by the ingredients not over powered by added flavours. Steamed or baked is my personal favourite.

5. Do you have any top tips on cooking fish recipes? Yes get a cook book ! The best way is to read and experience dishes in restaurants. Personally I would recommend BBQ or bake in parcel. If you want more info you can Mail my Sue directly info [at]passionateaboutfish.co.uk

Find out more about Duncan on www.passionateaboutfish.co.uk

Mitch Tonks

Next up is Mitch Tonks. Mitch has won many accolades, best fish restaurant, best fish book and a fishmonger for the 21st century! He will be wowing crowds with cooking demonstrations over the duratio of the festival…..

1. What is your favourite fish dish to cook? Grilled red mullet with greek salad

2. Do have an unusual fish recipe? Monkfish livers with capers and shrimps. If you can get the livers from your fishmonger, they are fantastic.

3. What is the easiest fish we the public could cook at home? Try roasting a whole fish.

Just put a whole sea bass or sea bream for instance on a piece of foil lined with a piece of baking paper, add a couple of cloves of garlic and some rosemary, drizzle with olive oil, sea salt and bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes, take out and open at the table and serve with lemon juice.

4. What would you consider is Pembrokeshire’s seafood speciality? The shellfish is particularly amazing, but then the quality all together has been superb

5. How would you cook the shellfish? I’d cook crab or lobster boiled up and served with homemade mayonnaise, simple and fantastic

6. Where is your favourite place to eat fish in Pembrokeshire? There are some beautiful beaches in Pembrokeshire so ideally I’d take a bbq and eat on the beach

7. Why do you come to fish week in Pembrokeshire,is there anything special you like about the festival? I love the fact that the week just celebrates fish, nothing else but fish, perfect for me!

8. What are you doing at fish week? I’m doing some demos at the opening with my friend Matt Tebbutt from the Foxhunter in Nantyderry and presenter on Market Kitchen, that should be great fun, a lot of banter and a lot of inspiration we hope.

More about Mitch

When he isn’t presenting or writing Mitch Tonks runs the Rock Fish Grill.

You can find more from his website website www.mitchtonks.co.uk , twitter @MitchTonks, youtube and podcasts.

Mitch also has a series of widely acclaimed cookery books of which the latest is ‘Fish: the Complete Fish and Seafood companion’

The Origins of Pembrokeshire Fish Week

Last but not least we get a chance to ask about the festival from an organisers perspective, we asked Kate Morgan from Pembrokeshire Council

1. What are the origins of fish week? How did it start? Pembrokeshire Fish Week started after a Sewin Fishing competition  which roves the country came to the area to fish the Teifi and Taf.

We persuaded the organisers to include the Cleddau River in the competition by securing sponsorship to host their awards dinner in Pembrokeshire College. Now on a roll we decided to involve local restaurants and encourage increased fish menus and eating opportunities, creating a ‘Fish Week’.

The event has just snow balled over the years, really capturing visitors imagination, and events and activities broadening in choice and offer. Pembrokeshire Fish week has really developed as a festival, becoming a platform for all sorts of opportunities and creating a really broad appeal, with the Fish theme running through it, hence our strap line- A seriously Fishy Festival.

2. What are the visitor numbers for last year? Do you expect them to grow this year? Visitor numbers exceeded 20 thousand last year, with 13,500 in the  two main opening weekend events  alone. We anticipate this figure to grow by at least 5% this year. We are seeing an increase in interest from visitors wanting to come to the area for the week as well as day trip visitors

3. How has the show grown over the last 10 years? The festival has grown from having two or three activities on each day, to now having over 200 events with over 100 being fish and food based.

Other events include angling, river and sea trips, coastal adventures, bushcraft, talks, slide shows craft and storytelling, cookery and fish preparation as well as music and art. It is a really good example of a food tourism event and a Sense of Place.

4. Do you like fish? I love fish and shellfish, and thankfully so does my family. I love a good fish stew to share or a simply cooked fresh Brill

Thanks Kate

The festival is on between 27th June – 5th July 2009. Treat yourself to a culinary short break, find a place to stay and other ideas for your family holiday at Visit Wales.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Festivals, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.