Newswave...read all about it

   Welcome to Newswave.. where as the name implies, we talk about what's happening and what's new at New Wave.

 

New Wave sponsoring the Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards 2013

We are proud to be sponsoring the category of Best Newcomer at the Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards in July. With some fabulous new establishments popping up in the Cotswolds there's going to be some stiff competition.  The finalists this year are Purslane Restaurant in Cheltenham, Prego Restaurant in Broadway and Whole Foods in Cheltenham .

As for the other categories we have a whopping 16 customers that have been nominated for awards. We're really looking forward to the night and meeting lots of our customers old and new.

http://surveys.questionpro.com/a/TakeSurvey?id=3423605 

 Wild fish market report and fish specials 20/05/2013

 

This week's fresh fish specials 20/05/2013

Every Monday we put together a Every Monday we put together a list of fresh fish specials to reflect what's superb quality and value and in season. We run this through the week, buying daily, but committing to price for the week.

 

On special this week we have  live Cotswold Crayfish, wild native black bream , whole plaice, whole lemon sole,large monktails,farmed halibut,  jumbo ray wings and Cornish haddock ...................as well as lots and lots of other fresh seafood through the week.

If you do not currently receive our fresh fish specials and promotions on email but would like to, please let us know by sending an email to nellie.abbott@new-wave.co.uk

 

To see more information about what's good at New Wave this week, please visit http://www.new-wave.co.uk/seasonal.php  

 

Wild fish buyer's market report 20/05/2013

There was a really great selection of fish available this morning on Plymouth and quite a bit on Looe today. Now that the weather has calmed down we've seen some really good catches in the South West and in elsewhere along the South Coast

 Plymouth market had a great selection available today and we have a fantastic range coming through. On the oily fish side we have sardines, line-caught mackerel and herrings. We have a good selection of prime fish coming too including turbot, brill, john dory,red mullet, monkfish and dovers.Mid range fish includes jumbo ray wings, wild black bream, squid, hake, cod , haddock, lemon sole and plaice. Plymouth market is one of our main supplies of fish and we send our van ready to collect from Cornwall on a  daily basis...arriving direct to New Wave ready for despatch the next day

 Looe market had a reasonable quantity on it today and as well as lemon sole, whiting and monkfish from there, we alos have some great shellfish such as lobster, diver-caught razor clams and lobster coming. We buy from Looe every day and believe it to be a truly sustainable market as the weather prevents the small boats getting out, which gives the fish a natural break many times per year.. and time to replenish stocks.  .

Newlyn was a bit limited today.., there was some turbot and megrims there in good quantities but we picked these up at Plymouth anyway

Brighton and Newhaven get really good landings of plaice and dovers, but more importantly for us they land good quantities of dayboat caught native black bream. The first fish came through a couple of weeks ago but the season is now in full swing and we will be running with these on special through this week. You can have either a 300-400gm whole fish which we can scale and gut for you if required, or use a 550-750gm fish ideal  for 2 portion sized fillets.

Shetland Fish Auction at Lerwick had a really good selection of white fish today and we have some cod, haddock and hake coming for Wednesday Clean deep water means the fishermen can get back to land quickly and maintain freshness. The fish is sustainably caught and is absolutely first class quality.  . You don't get the variety of the Cornish or Devon markets, but there is generally more volume of white fish such as cod and hake particularly. Megrims can also be abundant there.

Lowestoft fish auction  has had some good catches of fabuous quality line-caught bass which we have been taking advantage of. We were going to buy today but with some rod-caught fish coming from Brighton there was no need.

 

from South Wales, Pembrokeshire  we have several bass fishermen that land hook and line caught wild seabass directly to us when available.. tonight we have a few spanking 2-3kg fish as well as some cracking 3-4kg fish.. some are already sold so you need to be quick.. but these fish are simply stunning.. or 'stiff alive' as they say in the fish trade ! Quite often as we move into the spring and summer, we could also be getting some fabulous sea-caught grey mullet, sometimes up to 2kg each.

Fleetwood/GrimsbyWe get our natural smoked haddock from a traditional smokery in Fleetwood on a daily basis, which is a stunning product. We don't buy our main species from these markets except in emergency, but we do pick up little 'titbits' such as cod, ray and monk cheeks and sometimes small graded cod fillets if short in Cornwall.

Live Shellfish report 20/05/2013

 

Mussels, Clams and Cockles..coming from Brixham every day, packed in 500gm, 1kg or 5kg bags, all with health marks etc.. fantastic quality from www.brixhamseafarms.co.uk..

 

Live Crab and Crabmeat

We will also be having a delivery of live cock crabs from Salcombe, as well as handpicked crabmeat and more live crab from either Plymouth or Paignton. Dressed crabs are also available either fresh with a limited shelflife, or pastuerised with a 2-3 week life.

 

Rock oysters superb, available daily from Colchester or Brixham ..native oysters are now out of season.

 

Cornish lobsters are starting to come through  and the price is finally starting to ease up. We havge tanks at our depot so that we can generally supply lobster 6 days per week subject to availability.

 

Langoustine .. bright red, lively, amazing quality, creel caught from Scotland, coming to us  in seawater tanks, these are generally available from thursday and friday..subject to weather.. please pre order...

 

Diver-caught Scallops we get from the north of Scotland, delivered to us in seawater tanks.

We buy medium, large and extra large. These are generally available for thursday delivery onwards, again subject to weather. We have also have a diver that gets scallops for us from Dartmouth Bay.

 

Razor Clams

 Wherever possible we buy hand dived razor clams from either the North of Scotland or North Cornwall.. we normally have them most days subject to weather..

 

 

 

 

Farmed Fish report 20/05/2013

From Norway tomorrow we are getting some stunning farmed halibut ranging from 1.5-5kg.These are going on special this week as they reresent brilliant value for a prime fish in excellent condition.

 

We are bringing some large farmed turbot from Norway at the moment, coming in at about 2-3kg which are generally much cheaper than the wild at the moment. These fish are stunning quality and have an outrageously long shelflife, please speak to the sales team to get a price and to check availability

 

Farmed bass prices on the 600-800 size are still quite high although still superb and much cheaper than the wild.. but the smaller portion sized fish 300-400 or 400-600gm fish represent better value.

 

The gilthead bream is a great replacement for farmed bass or it stands up on it's own as a lovely and consistent farmed fish. We generally always have the 600-800gm fish , which yields two perfect sized main course portions.as well as the smaller 300-400 or the 400-600.. However with wild black bream now in high season we're expecting fro gilthead sales to drop a little in the next few weeks.

 

Salmon prices are still high but we're hearing this is coming back down in a few weeks. However it's no longer a 'cheap' fish.. but it seems that many customers that really do want salmon are paying that little bit extra and moving across to the superb Var sustainable salmon from the Faroes and really pushing the sustainable story.. With Bibury trout farm on our doorstep we can offer daily deliveries of superb portion sized rainbow trout, harvested to order. We can also source medium sized brown trout to order. 

What's good value and in season now?

Please click on the link to see what's good at New Wave on http://www.new-wave.co.uk/seasonal.php with a few pictures and a nice bit of text

We're now onto our live Cotswold Crayfish coming though and have them on special this week

Wild black bream are now in season and are on special this week.. superb 300-400gm fish to serve whole or a bigger fish suitable for filleting.

Whole Cornish Plaice are now much plumper as they have just finished their breeding season and so we are now promoting these and we have them on special this week. Take either a portion sized 330-500gm , or a bigger fish for tranching or filleting

Cornish sole (or megrims) .. best described as something between a lemon sole and a plaice are great quality and we can offer a fabulous price of just around that £2 mark per fish if you take a box.

Lemon sole has come down this week and we have responded by buying a good quantity and putting it onto special. With a portion sized fish coming out at just over £3 it really is well priced for a really popular fish.

Hake is great value this week and we have some spanking 2-3kg fish coming from Newlyn. When available in Cornwall at the right price we'll buy it there otherwise we look to Scotland or Shetland. Hake is pretty well a staple for us and for us to not have hake means something's wrong, or we've sold out !  

Cod, haddock and line-caught pollack are still coming through in fairly good numbers, subject to weather of course, but generally white fish is very reasonable when the quantity is there.

We're still getting our fantastic haddock nearly every day from dayboats , or from bigger boats that are part of the Responsible Fishing Scheme on either Looe or Plymouth. It really is a stunning product and our biggest seller by far, We've now started to buy in Shetland too.

Gurnard is a fish that seems to be getting more popular by the day and we normally buy the 500fgm-1kg fish which will yield 2 perfect portion sized fillets. If you want something larger then ask us for the 1kg + .. a bit more expensive per kg but thicker and sometimes over 2kg . Baby gurnards are fabulous for boullabaisse , and we do our own mix to include dory, conger gurnards and sometimes red mullet.

 

Fish to avoid or be aware of

At almost any time of year there will be some fish that will be scarce , or in roe, and/or overpriced and so probably best to avoid unless you're tied in with your menu.

Wild bass prices can be high depending on the day but that can change overnight with a good catch.

 

Farmed salmon prices are fairly high at the moment, but it's still not a really expensive fish.. and we can offer the premium Var salmon, which is farmed sustainably in the Faroes and is absolutely first class.. or the Loch duart if you'd prefer that.

Fine Foods and Rungis

Our fine foods department are in second heaven with the superb Wye Valley Asparagus readily available, as well as new season rhubarb and a whole range of other exciting produce. Although we already buy from Rungis market twice a week we have now appointed an agent on the market that we will be working closely with and we will be able to offer a unique opportunity to purchase almost anything , to order, from the world’s biggest fresh food market.  

 

 

 

From Rungis and overseas

 

 

From Rungis we regularly buy Mediterranean stonebass, anchovies, freshly cooked and raw crevettes, brown shrimp and some any specialist products not available in the UK.

Edible seaweed such as nori, wakame, haricot de mer, dulse and sea lettuce are also available to order. We can find you anything that is available on Rungis and normally deliver within 24-48 hours.

 

 

Fine foods and dry store

From our fine foods department we get 2 large deliveries per week from Rungis. We are coming to the end of the game season but still have a good selection, as well as wild mushrooms, duck legs dozens of specialist local cheeses, charcuterie and a whole warehouse full of dry store including lots of specialist products that we bet you didn't even know that we did...http://www.new-wave.co.uk/seasonal.php

 

Please call the sales team on 01285 715160 for further info or to place an order.  

 

Mackerel has been taken off MSC list of sustainable species

Although hand line-caught mackerel is a totally sustainable way of catching these lovely fish in Cornwall, the problem is with the species as a whole. In Iceland and the Faroes, huge boats are using modern techniques to catch vast amounts of mackerel, which are the same fish that should be returning to Cornwall. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21149554

As a result MSC have advised that this species' stock levels could be in danger and they are advising that we move across to sardines or herrings, which are both still regarded as totally sustainable. 

 

 

New Wave, new unit 

We are pleased to say that we have recently added some exciting improvements to the business. We now have a fully refrigerated prep area as well as an extended walk in fridge to ensure that the cold chain is never broken at any time at New Wave. We have also recently taken unit 3 next door to us, so that we have more space for our growing sales and logistics team.

 

New Wave Profiles

We have recently produced a profiles to introduce New Wave's customers, suppliers and staff. In this edition read about Eton College, our Fine Food division, and meet two of our sales team Andy Brown and Oz Harbor

Take a look at our new Profiles section here. 

 

New Wave demonstrating preparation at Thyme cookery school


 

Oz Harbor, one of our principal filleters and account manager teamed up with Bob Parkinson of 'Made by Bob'  for his fish cookery class at the newly opened Thyme at Southrop. Bob cooked a fabulous array of seafood for the class including red mullet, bass, oysters and scallops. Oz has been responsible for training many of the up-and-coming New Wave filleters. At New Wave, we are dedicated to preparing fish properly and treating the product with the respect it deserves. 

New Wave at Le Manoir
 

 

Gary Jones looks on as Oz fillets a whole cod at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons . We spent the afternoon there, demonstrating how we fillet certain species, and providing training for some of their junior staff.  New Wave has built strong relationships with Le Manoir over the last 15 years and continue to supply on a regular basis.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Wave filleting

See how we fillet your Cornish Haddock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQqHKMniXl8

See our night-shift in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8AKDDH9Leo

See our top filleter deal with a Salmon perfectly in just over a minute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-TVjqDKGMs

 

New Wave at Rungis International market, Paris.

A mecca for all foodies, Rungis market in Paris is such an eye-opener. 15,000 people work there every night. You can eat a shellfish platter at midnight and then go and choose your produce. You'd be lucky to fit it all in within 6 hours and then you have to slog it back to the ferry. We've done many trips there, but have now set up with a superb mushroom wholesaler and a great poultry supplier.

The fish-hall is also first class, when we go we pick up Fin de Clare oysters, sardines and anchovies and various seafood delicatessen products such as brown shrimp.
We also have a regular fish and shellfish supplier on Rungis who can give us a daily delivery.

 The fish hall opens at 1am and is about half a mile long.See more pictures here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.457067277652188.103662482.148225381869714&type=3 

The fish is amazing so we always pick up a few products, normally fin de clare oysters, crevettes, maybe a bit of bass and anything else that is good value.

 

 

 

 

The poultry and game halls are also vast and have the most amazing cockerels, duck, foie gras, bresse chicken, suckling pigs, milk-fed rabbits and loads more.. It's well worth a visit.

Whether we go or not we still buy fish, mushrooms and poultry from Rungis each week http://www.rungismarket.com/en/vert

 

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