HC-One provides a fish masterclass for staff

Eight staff members from HC-One, all of whom were selected in recognition of their outstanding passion and the dedication they have shown in developing their skills to provide nutritious food and kind care to HC-One residents, recently participated in a specialist masterclass with renowned chef CJ Jackson at  London’s historic Billingsgate Fish Market.

Mark Meacham, head of catering and housekeeping support services at HC-One, explains: “The day provided an opportunity to celebrate the hard work of some of the fantastic staff who are such a vital part of our care homes. It was a joy to be able to offer them the chance to further expand their knowledge, as we support them to go from strength-to-strength in care home catering careers.”

There are many benefits to adding fish to older people’s diets ,especially since recent research suggests that oily fish can help slow down the progression of of dementia symptoms. Accordingly, the group, which included two chefs, two assistant cooks and four kitchen assistants, together with the regional director for the North West, Nicola Garner and Pete Coles, HC-One’s group development chef, enjoyed an early morning tour of the fish market, guided by CJ Jackson, who is the principal and chief executive of the prestigious Billingsgate school and the author of many popular recipe books. She then showed the group the best ways to prepare fresh fish in a filleting masterclass.

The group were then given several tasks to work through together, including the creation of marinades and stuffings for their fish. Once their filleting skills had been suitably refined, they were encouraged to create and cook the specialised fish dishes that CJ Jackson had devised, using ingredients that included fresh garlic, ginger and chillis, as well as more rarefied items such as ‘seaweed’ butter.

As a finale, the group were encouraged to serve the fish that they had prepared, with appropriate garnishes, for everyone to sample and critique. This was followed by a highly stimulating Q&A session, with CJ Jackson inviting the group to quiz her about her life and culinary journey.

This was the second consecutive year HC-One has run this masterclass experience, which was originally developed as part of a programme of progression for HC-One’s catering teams across c.300 care homes, including through the company’s group development chef scheme. This scheme supports catering colleagues of any level to progress to senior roles with additional leadership, strategy and innovation responsibilities.

Commenting on his experience, one of the group, Adam Hardy, a kitchen assistant from Cwrt-Clwydi-Gwyn Care Home, says: “I was delighted to be selected for the event as it was an amazing opportunity that provided me with so much knowledge and really helped me build up my confidence.

 “I ate and handled fish for the first time in over 30 years, which has opened a whole different world to me. I’ve learnt lots of new skills that I can now put into practice to provide a variety of nutritional meals for residents  and I’m looking forward to progressing further in my career at HC-One.”

 Mark Meacham, concludes: “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in this training and development day including Robot Coupe for sponsoring the event and CJ Jackson for providing such excellent and informative sessions, which I’m sure will be of immense benefit to both our catering teams and, most importantly, our residents too.”

You may also be interested in…