Droolinggimps Big Guide to Fish

Very nice writeup.

Probably being a bit picky, but something you wrote doesn't sound quite right - I'm not sure that Heinz is the largest Tuna operator any more. They divested all their European seafood business in 2007 including plant facilities. This group of businesses was owned by Venture Capitolists under the banner of MWBrands, which in turn has been acquired by TUF (Thai Union Foods)

Likewise, in the states, they sold off Starkist many years ago (I believe) to Del monte. The upshot is, I don't believe that Heinz have had ANY presence in Tuna for a number of years. I could very well be wrong as I no longer work for Heinz :)

Can you quote your source for this and I'll get it checked out at work tomorrow - I work for MWBrands...
 
Tattysnuc. Cheers for your post. I have had a look through the OP again and I can't see anything about Heinz and Tuna, unless I am miss reading something. I have a few new bites of information to add soon to the OP so I will add links to all the sources I used in the making of the write up. :-)
 
Droolinggimp said:
Tattysnuc. Cheers for your post. I have had a look through the OP again and I can't see anything about Heinz and Tuna, unless I am miss reading something. I have a few new bites of information to add soon to the OP so I will add links to all the sources I used in the making of the write up. :-)
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Hi there. You mentioned it in this part of your post:

Purse Seining

This is the general name given to the method of encircling a school of fish with a large wall of net. The net is then drawn together underneath the fish (pursed) so that they are completely surrounded. It is one of the most aggressive methods of fishing and aims to capture large, dense shoals of mobile fish such as tuna, mackerel and herring.
Purse seining for yellowfin tuna in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, specifically ‘dolphin-fishing’, where dolphins are deliberately encircled to trap the tuna swimming below them, is probably the most widely reported example of marine mammal by-catch. However, since the introduction of legislation to protect marine mammals in 1972
(Marine Mammal Protection Act) the number of yellowfin tuna taken in nets set deliberately on dolphins now only accounts for a very small proportion (3.3% in 1997) of tuna on the world market. The most stringent
‘dolphin-friendly’ standards are those developed by the Earth Island Institute (see www.earthisland.org for details) and HJ Heinz Corporation (the largest supplier of canned tuna in the world). Since their introduction in 1990 dolphin deaths in this area have been reduced by 98% to about 2-3,000 reported deaths per year. Companies participating in the EII project represent more than 90% of the world’s canned tuna market.
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Ah yeah I see it now.. Easy to miss I guess lol.

In 1997, Heinz acquired the brand and the majority of the John West Food company operations, excluding those in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa which continued to be part of Unilever.[3] In March 2006, Heinz sold its European Seafoods business to French-based MW Brands, itself owned by Lehman Brothers banking group, for EUR 425 million.[4][5]
In 2010, Thailand-based seafood processing company Thai Union Group bought MWBrands, resultantly becoming the world's largest canned-tuna producer.
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Source

I guess the info on the site I copied from is out of date. I did use it just for fishing methods though. When I have a day spare I will update the OP and tidy it up somewhat as I have more information to add plus, all being well a few more videos.
 
Do you find many parasites (worms) in your fish?

Did some sea fishing a while ago and nearly every fish landed, from Mackerel to Cod had worms, either in the flesh or the gut area; not appetising at all!

I gather that cooking kills 'em but not a nice sight in something you're about to eat.
 
yeah we get worms and other parasites all the time. The worms you find in Cod are normally removed before we put on display however iirc I mentioned in the OP about they can retain inside the meaty part of the fish and are hard to see or find. They are alive so they will 'worm' their way out at some point. Freezing and cooking does kill them and are harmless to eat. This applies to all fish parasites.
 
I use to work on the meat and fish at Waitrose when I was younger - we were all fully trained in filleting and so on so it really frustrates me in some supermarkets these days when you ask someone to prepare something for you and they refuse. It's all well and good doing it at home if you have the knives and the space, but it's so much easier for them to do it with the amount of space they have.
 
daz said:
I use to work on the meat and fish at Waitrose when I was younger - we were all fully trained in filleting and so on so it really frustrates me in some supermarkets these days when you ask someone to prepare something for you and they refuse. It's all well and good doing it at home if you have the knives and the space, but it's so much easier for them to do it with the amount of space they have.
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I never get supermarket fishmongers/butchers to prepare my meat/fish. Unfortunately the guys on the counters around me aren't as skilled or as motivated as DroolingGimp, they tend to be nearer his name than his abilities with a knife. Once asked them to fillet a mackerel for me as I couldn't be arsed/didn't have time and the bloke made a right mess of it. It looked like the bloody thing had been cut off the fish with those jagged edged craft scissors.
 
Righty oh! then. I have got an email at work saying I am to attend a one day course on Fish at Billingsgate Fish market in London. This takes place a week on Wednesday. Never been there and only seen it on TV the other month or so. Should be interesting. We will be shown various fish we have never seen before, cooking and eating fish, an in depth insight into the fish industry too. Lots to cover.

Not looking forward to the trip on the train by myself and stopping over night either. There are about 20 fish managers going from all over whos' store is being converted into the Store of the Future. Obviously we will be staying at same hotel etc. but still a daunting few days.

Ill report back after I have been. Hopefully with pics.
 
Droolinggimp said:
OK here it is. My attempt at filleting the whole Salmon. Ok for starters it's not my best effort as the knife wasn't very sharp. I did sharpen it but rushed it. The trimming wasn't to standard so I do apologise :p I will, once I get more time record all the ways to fillet, skin, scale etc and put them up on here.

It wasn't my best time as I have mentioned before but I will beat 45 seconds...:D

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Hi mate, not bad for a first attempt.

Next time leave the head on and put the knife in through the belly up by the collar and then take the fillet off the bone. Also when de ribbing the fillet use a more flexible blade so as not to waste so much flesh.
 
We cant use proper filleting knives due to health and safety. So we are lumbered with Butchers boning knives which I have been using for 18 odd years, so quite skilled in that way. Morrisons are looking into filleting knives but that will take ages. The method you mentioned is one I do use. All depends on what I feel like doing at the time.
 
Tell me about it. I questioned this issue to Morrisons company trainer whilst on the course and he said they are looking into it. He said there is a H&S aspect of it and I said... a knife is a knife. Whether it be a steak, fillet or boning one. The metal itself isn't the issue its the person that's holding it. We are all trained on using them, if we have an accident then its our fault as we are supplied with PPE and have our training cards signed off by ourself saying we are fully trained.

Stupid non issue if you ask me.
 
Droolinggimp said:
OK here it is. My attempt at filleting the whole Salmon. Ok for starters it's not my best effort as the knife wasn't very sharp. I did sharpen it but rushed it. The trimming wasn't to standard so I do apologise :p I will, once I get more time record all the ways to fillet, skin, scale etc and put them up on here.

It wasn't my best time as I have mentioned before but I will beat 45 seconds...:D

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Top skills. This makes an excellent tutorial - definiteyl going to have a go at this rather than just chopping the next on up into steaks!

Normally by the time I realise that the fishmonger is preparing the fish, he's usually finished, which follows your 45 seconds target. Besides, most work with their back to you, which makes it doubly difficult to see :(
 
Droolinggimp said:
We cant use proper filleting knives due to health and safety. So we are lumbered with Butchers boning knives
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How times have changed,30 years ago when I worked at Safeways, we had proper filleting knives for fish, I would find it extremely hard having to use a boning knife.

Health & Safety has some strange ideas, more likely to have accident using the wrong knife.
Excellent post.:):)

I use take a lot of the trimmings home for my cat.
 
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Canoe a fish? Come on give me something worth trying.. I can do that with my eyes closed and one hand tied around my back :-p,

Now pocketing a flat fish from the tail, thats something worth trying for you guys.
 
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