Fish Butchery Essentials

Dive into the wonderful world of fish butchery in this interactive class. The skills you'll learn will allow you to buy whole fish from the market instead of pre-cut fillets and portions. Cooking with whole fish is not only fresher and better tasting, but is also more sustainable.
Students will have the opportunity to learn and practice fish butchery on high-quality fish that we will provide from Pierless Fish, a Brooklyn based fish provider which many of the top NYC restaurants source from. Participants will be able to bring home their cut fish fillets to show off to friends.
We will be butchering round fish from start to finish. These serve as a useful template for most of the fish found at markets.
Each student will have 2 fish to practice with; this is a hands on class.
We will cover the following topics:
gutting, cleaning, and de-scaling
filleting
removing the skin
removing bones and forming appropriate portions
We will also discuss how to select fish at the market, cooking techniques, brining, utilizing heads and skeletons for stock, and more. The instructor will demonstrate how to butcher flat fish, as well.
About our instructor: Will Griffin is a cook who has worked at numerous restaurants in New York, most recently at Lincoln Ristorante for chef Jonathan Benno. Will is one of our rotating chefs at our Supper Clubs and is the co-founder of I8NY, a brooklyn-based sandwich and catering company with a home at the Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg. He has worked on a pig farm in the southwest of France and studies wine in his spare time. He is originally from Seattle, Washington and is committed to the goal of making local, seasonal food a reality for New Yorkers.
About Local Roots NYC: Local Roots NYC is dedicated to creating a more convenient connection between New York City and their farms. We have created an alternative CSA model that accommodates the lives of New Yorkers and also host classes, supper clubs, and other events that spur creative ideas around cooking.