Specialised Chefs Talk Sustainable Fish with Matt Budden at Schpoons & Forx

Matt Budden, Executive Chef, Hilton Hotel Bournemouth hosted The Chefs’ Forum at the hotel’s Schpoons & Forx restaurant to celebrate Hilton being the first hotel chain to be Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified in using sustainable fish in its menus across the UK.

Matt joined Hilton Bournemouth just over a year ago and brought with him his passion and personal crusade for using only sustainable fish in his menu. Hilton has announced that over 50 of its UK hotels are now certified to the MSC chain-of-custody. This Chefs’ Forum was held to showcase responsibly-sourced seafood to forty professional chefs and thirty Specialised Chefs Scholarship students who attended The Chefs’ Forum quarter 4 event from Bournemouth & Poole College.

The day commenced with a canapé and fizz reception which showcased Matt’s menu and allowed the visiting students to network with potential employers, chefs to meet up and compare notes and suppliers to showcase the latest chef equipment, top quality produce and services to the hospitality industry.

Matt Budden said

“It is great to host The Chefs’ Forum here today. I hope the students and chefs now have a better idea about sustainable fish and conserving our environment. More than 30% of our oceans are over-fished and we can all play a part in tackling this issue through supporting more sustainable fishing methods. I can see a couple of students who have worked with me here at the hotel before and it is fantastic to see such a great number of you here today talking to employers and opening doors of opportunity”.

The Chefs’ Forum is a really useful quarterly for the chefs as they need not take time out of their busy kitchens for meetings; rather, The Chefs’ Forum brings everything into one place under one roof saving everyone time whilst sharing knowledge and expertise – A very valuable and useful event for all involved.

Holly Bailey, Apprenticeship coordinator for Catering and Hospitality at Bournemouth & Poole College added:

“We are very grateful for the opportunity to bring our students to Chefs’ Forum events as it is great exposure for them and a chance for them to network. We hope that meeting the professionals here today inspires them in their future careers. Our Specialised Chefs course has been running for 28 years in partnership with the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and aims to help address the shortage of young chefs in industry”.

First year Specialised Chefs Scholarship students Robbie Blake and Annie Ryder joined Chefs’ Forum Founder Catherine Farinha on the microphone to tell the chefs and students how much they were enjoying their day at Schpoons & Forx.

Annie concluded:
“Today has been really useful in enabling me to talk to local employers and realising that it bodes well for us to just introduce ourselves and network with industry professionals. I really enjoyed the fish filleting demos and meeting all of the suppliers, it’s all really interesting”.

Matt used Induced Energy Induction and showcased his top of the range kitchen (complete with integral tandoor oven) in performing a trio of cookery demonstrations:

Tandor Roasted Monkfish on the bone, saffron risotto, salsa verde
Tandor roasted whole chesil beach mackerel, chermoula dressing
Charred Guinea fowl, pomegranate, ,basil and mint salad

The WSET then educated the guests on why various wines go better with foods and how each part of the tongue can affect the way wine tastes. The guests learned a great deal about their individual palates as they sucked on a ‘sour strip’ then slurped a white, sipped red wine after rock salt and munched on a meringue prior to drinking dessert wine.

A sustainable fish demo and fish filleting competition was then held by Kingfisher Brixham as they showcased various filleting techniques to the chefs and students. Five Specialised Chefs Scholarship students then tried their hand at filleting a plaice. It was 1^st year Specialised Chef Bailey Drew who impressed fish Ninjas Tom Allerton and Steve Hoare with his knife skills to win a day in the kitchen with Matt Budden and a day at Kingfisher Brixham.