A Chef's Guide to Scotch Beef & Lamb
Quality Meat Scotland
Copies through info@amscotland.co.uk

Fish and Shellfish
Chris Leftwich, Libby Woodhatch, Fred A'Court
Quantum Business Media, 35 (mail order 020 8565 4255)
ISBN 1-902278-15-1

Dealing with skills gaps are a reality for many head and executive chefs. Now, two practical books concentrating on the key raw produce of beef, lamb and fish are available to help them overcome some of the shortfalls.

A Chef's Guide to Scotch Beef & Lamb has been assembled by government quality bodies Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb. But don't let that put you off. Obviously it's been done as a promotional tool - but it contains lots of essential information about the two red meats.

It's structured around a series of chapters following both meats' gate-to-plate journey, within which are covered subjects like ageing and hanging on the bone, how to check for produce quality, yield guides, types of cuts and how to use them - there's even a table with suggested wine matches for the meats and their offals.

Fish and Shellfish has been put together by the Fishmonger's Company and, like the meat book, discusses issues such as traceability and, naturally, sustainability. It has a useful A-Z guide on species and their seasonality which helpfully incorporates species alternatives and nutritional values.

Basic skills are given the step-by-step photographic treatment - for instance, scaling, gutting, filleting various types of fish and pinboning. There's also a guide to prepping tuna loin for carpaccio and a good user-friendly table matching up cooking methods with species.

Both publications are extremely useful references for the kitchen and provide relevant practical information. They are perhaps best used to augment one-to-one kitchen training, for which there is actually no real substitute.