City News

One of Birmingham’s culinary kings has shown more than a hundred Midland chefs how to prepare succulent seafood while conserving fish stocks.

Sudha Shankar Saha, Executive Chef at leading Indian restaurant Saffron in Oldbury, cooked his own award-winning recipe at the Sustainable Seafood Road Show held at the city’s Botanical Gardens.

The first-ever event of its kind to come to Birmingham was hosted by leading seafood supplier M&J Seafood.   

Chefs from restaurants throughout the region tucked into the dish that won the Alaska Seafood Recipe Challenge held in London’s Covent Garden last February as part of a four-course lunch offered to delegates.

Sudha’s recipe for pan-fried spice-scented Alaska salmon included fish sourced from seas where all fish are maintained sustainably according to the Alaska constitution.

Guest speakers at the masterclass included renowned fisherman Sean Ryan, who spoke about how life has changed for fishermen over the past 20 years, and Phil McMullen of Seafish who gave an overview of the fish quota system.

The team of celebrity chefs who conducted the master class for M&J Seafood nation wide include Celebrity Chef Gary Jones, executive chef at Raymond Blanc’s prestigious Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons restaurant, celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala OBE, proprietor and Executive Chef of the prestigious Café Spice Namasté restaurant and regular guest on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, Celebrity Chef, George McLvor, former president of the Scottish Guild of Chefs.

Representatives from environmental groups the Marine Stewardship Council and Seafood Choices Alliance also spoke about the need to stop over-fishing and to source only sustainable stocks for menus.

Mike Berthet, M&J Director of Fish & Seafood, said: “The event proved an excellent way to spread the sustainability message to as many restaurants as possible and we were delighted that such an acclaimed chef as Sudha was able to support us.

“There are many local and plentiful seafood alternatives like red gurnard, mackerel and megrim that taste great on a menu that chefs should consider sourcing.”