Fish tales

“AS A SMALL BUSINESS, WE’RE ABLE TO WORK ON SOURCING QUALITY OVER QUANTITY, AND THAT’S THE BIG DIFFERENCE”

Interview: Mark Riddaway / Images: Sim Canetty-Clarke, RED Agency

How did you come to be a fishmonger?

I used to run a pub just round the corner from here. It didn’t open at weekends, so I would to come to the market on a Saturday. I’d get some oysters, have a pint of Guinness over in the Market Porter, and just soak it all up. I was always fascinated by the way Les Salisbury, the owner of Furness Fish Markets, used to put his counter out. I’d watch him setting up. It was something I hadn’t seen before – definitely one of the most attractive stands in terms of the colours. I’ve always been interested in fishing – I used to fish as a kid, over at Hampstead Heath. Anyway, my life circumstances changed, and Les ended up offering me a job. That was 20 years ago. The rest is history, as they say.

The fish counter is still a thing of beauty. Who’s responsible for that?

When I first started here, Les wouldn’t let anybody else touch the counter. About 10 years ago he let go of the reins a little bit and handed it over to me. Now I’ve handed it down to one of my guys, Harry. It’s a real art. It’s like a painting: the contrast of colours, textures, different levels of ice, bits of wood, other decoration. It can take anything up to two hours. It’s got a bit more difficult recently because the fish isn’t as cheap as it used to be, so we buy a little more frugally – you can’t afford to waste anything – but we still make it look amazing. It only works because of the quality of the fish, and that comes down to the sourcing. I believe the reason for our success over 20-odd years is that we really do pride ourselves on quality.

How does your approach to sourcing affect the quality of the fish you sell?

It’s all about the process. I remember reading about these big American fisheries that fish for the supermarkets. They catch a load of fish out in the North Atlantic. The boat’s out there fishing for about five days at a time. When they dock, they send the catch off to China to be processed and packed. From there, it’s sent on to a distribution centre in the UK, where they repackage it and send it out again. That can be a 10-day process. By the time it’s on the shelves, that fish is nearly at the end of its life. As a small business, we’re able to work on sourcing quality over quantity, and that’s the big difference. If I’m getting my fish from the Shetland Islands, it’s here in two days.

How do you avoid waste?

It’s about getting the ordering right, it’s about the turnover of stock, how you manage your fridge. We’re also blessed with the paella. The last thing I want is for one of our customers to take a piece of fish home, leave it in their fridge for another couple of days and it be no good. At that point, I’ll put it into the paella, so the paella changes from day to day, week to week.

As spring gets underway, what should people be looking out for on the Furness Fish Markets stand?

For me personally, coming into spring and summer, it’s always going to be about sea bass and mackerel. I can’t wait to get my hands on a really nice Cornish day-boat sea bass. Mackerel is also just coming back into season. They migrate twice a year, once for food purposes and once for reproducing. There’s nothing like fresh mackerel. It’s fat, it’s plump, it’s firm. The inside will be grey, almost translucent, not flaky and brown like the pre-filleted stuff you find. For me, there’s nothing better than fresh mackerel chargrilled on a barbecue, so I love it when spring comes around. Brown trout will be coming soon to the counter. That’s amazing. You’re also going to get wild sea trout through May until August. That’s amazing too.

So, do you fillet everything on site?

Yes, we buy whole fish and we fillet here. If you buy fillets in, the quality is terrible. It’s a real skill. When I was young, my mum would say: “You need to get a trade.” Back then, I wouldn’t have thought about this. My dad was a mechanic, my uncle’s an electrician, another uncle works for BT. But this is a trade too. Once you’ve learned it, you can go anywhere in the world and use it. If you can handle a knife, if you can fillet a fish, if you know a bit about fish and fishing, you’ll always find work. I’m in a different role now within the company, so I’m not on the block as much as I used to be, but when I get the chance, I do love it.

There are so few fishmongers left these days. Are some people a little intimidated by what’s on offer?

Our counter can be very daunting for some people. There are certain things we have on here that you’re never going to see in a supermarket. That’s why it’s so important that we talk to people. I’m on at my guys all the time: if someone walks into that shop, you have to engage with them. “How are you doing? Is there anything I can do for you?”

Presumably that means everyone in your team needs to know a lot about preparing and cooking fish.

That’s the business. You have to be able to educate people. You have to know what you’re talking about. If you tell a customer something and they go home and it’s no good, they’re not going to come back.
When I came here, I had no idea about cooking fish. But what I’ve learnt over the years is, it’s so simple. I don’t really season fish – when it’s good, I want to really taste it. A little bit of pepper, a little bit of lemon when it’s cooked, but that’s all you need. It’s the speed as well – you can cook a sea bass fillet in four or five minutes, and you’ve got your dinner ready.