Filleting courses take to the road

The dying art of fish filleting will receive a boost when a new mobile training facility dedicated to teaching filleting skills takes to the road this month.

Project manager Allan Schiller from the North Shields Fish Filleting Training School, which set up the scheme, believes it to be the first of its kind. "We need new blood in the industry," he said. "But it's not just for fish filleters, it's for chefs who want to upgrade their skills."

Its current high cost means that colleges can no longer afford to buy fish for students to learn to fillet on. But if they don't learn properly, they are more likely to make mistakes in a working kitchen, which can be costly.

"When I went to college, you were given a whole sole and told to get on with it," said Paul Ripley, chef-proprietor of one-Michelin-starred Ripley's restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall. "Now, colleges get one turbot and students have to watch the lecturer fillet it."

The teaching bus will tour the North-east of England before heading nationwide. On board will be four filleting stations, plus classroom space for a lecturer and six trainees. The cost of a course for one person will be £150 per day.

For more information, contact Allan Schiller on 0191-296 1925, or go to www.fishfilletingschool.co.uk.