Eight HC-One culinary colleagues, a Regional Director and Group Development Chef participated in a specialist masterclass with renowned chef CJ Jackson in London’s historic Billingsgate Fish Market.
Two Chefs, two Assistant Cooks and four Kitchen Assistants alongside Regional Director for the North West, Nicola Garner and Pete Coles, Group Development Chef from HC-One recently had the opportunity to take part in the specialist masterclass.
The individuals were nominated to take part in the day by their Group Development Chef, in recognition of their outstanding passion and the dedication shown in developing their skills to provide nutritious food and kind care to residents. The group received an early morning tour of the Fish Market by CJ Jackson.
This was then followed by colleagues developing their expertise in older people’s catering, as they were shown the best ways to prepare fresh fish in a masterclass of filleting various fish types by CJ Jackson, who has been the Principal and Chief Executive of the prestigious Billingsgate Seafood School for over 20-years and has a number of popular recipe books.
Colleagues were given several tasks to work through together, including creating marinades for their fish or devising fresh stuffings. Once their filleting skills had been refined, the group could create and cook the specialised fish dishes that CJ had demonstrated. Ingredients used ranged from fresh garlic, ginger and chillis through to more bizarre ingredients such as ‘seaweed’ butter.
To finish off, colleagues had an opportunity to cook off their different marinated and ‘pocketed’ fishes and serve these with garnishes for each person to sample and experience the distinct representations and spin colleagues had put on their fish. This was followed by a Q&A session with CJ giving colleagues the chance to ask her about her life and what brought her to where she is today.
There are many benefits to adding different fish in older people’s diets, including research that suggests that oily fish can contribute towards slowing down of dementia symptoms. As the next generation of care home catering professionals, colleagues enjoyed discussing these various benefits with CJ Jackson during their tour of the market and private masterclass.
This was the second consecutive year HC-One has run this masterclass experience which was developed as part of a programme of progression for HC-One’s catering colleagues across c.300 care homes, including through their Group Development Chef scheme. The scheme supports catering colleagues of any level to progress to senior roles with additional leadership, strategy and innovation responsibilities.
Adam Hardy, Kitchen Assistant from Cwrt-Clwydi-Gwyn Care Home, said:
“I was delighted to be selected by my Group Development Chef to attend the training and development day at Billingsgate Market. It was an amazing opportunity to be a part of and provided me with so much knowledge and helped me build up my confidence.
“Whilst I don’t eat or regularly prepare fish, I ate and handled fish for the first time in over 30 years at the Development Day which has opened a whole different world to me.
“I found the day extremely useful; I’ve learnt lots of new skills and knowledge which I can now put into practice to provide a variety of nutritional meals for residents living at Cwrt-Clwydi-Gwyn Care Home. I’m looking forward to progressing further in my career at HC-One.”
Mark Meacham, Head of Catering and Housekeeping Support Services at HC-One, commented:
“The Kitchen Assistant training and development day at Billingsgate Market was a great success. Thank you to everyone involved including Robot Coupe for sponsoring the day and to CJ Jackson for providing such excellent and informative sessions.
“The day has provided an opportunity to recognise the hard work and dedication of some of the fantastic colleagues who are such vital parts of our care homes. It was a joy to be able to provide them with the chance to learn and expand their knowledge as we support them to go from strength-to-strength in care home catering careers.”