Yacht Cookery
Achieving your goal of working as a yacht chef in a yacht galley / kitchen can be an exciting and rewarding endeavour. Our four week cookery course will arm and prepare you with specific techniques, tips, and an awareness of some of the challenges you will face. See our approach to cookery training in the box below.
During the first week of the cookery course you will be given a sound working knowledge of basic cookery techniques. Working on board a yacht will require you to improvise from time to time. As you learn how to improvise by using time-saving cooking methods and workarounds, you will become more confident and effective. Take a look at our student feedback to see how others have benefited from this.
A yacht galley chef will be expected to cater for the yacht owner and the guests during cruises to a variety of locations. You will have to plan your menus very carefully to ensure supplies are fully covered before the yacht leaves port. Last minute changes to menus may be required in response to varying weather conditions.
Yacht cookery is normally carried out within limited work space. We teach you how to develop planning and preparation skills. Yachts may come with varying cooking facilities so you will find our professionally equipped kitchen will give you the chance to try out and use a wide variety of kitchen equipment. Be sure to view our virtual tour of the yacht cookery course kitchen.
 The course gave me the confidence to try different and new dishes and the family I worked for on the
yacht loved it. I would do the course again and again. Fran and Chris are amazing people and made me feel
very much at home. I came out of the course glowing and I would recommend the course to everyone. - Charlotte B 
We cover dining etiquette including formal and informal table laying and teach kitchen management, organisation and hygiene. We also include a session on matching food with wine. You may have the chance to work on a yacht owned by a millionaire or a royal personage in which case you will be expected to use these particular skills. We are a Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene registered training and examination centre for the Foundation Food Hygiene Certificate.
The four week cookery course syllabus also includes budgeting and stock control, client liaison including handling complaints, and housekeeping skills such as cleaning and bed making are also covered where required.
Course fees include accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner. You do not need to bring any special cookery equipment, you will be provided with everything you need to enable effective learning. This includes a well researched and presented 500 page course book (yours to keep and make notes in). Past students call it their bible!
Finally, we offer our students free use of a nearby luxurious four star sport and fitness centre (including fabulous pool) at Tortworth Court ( http://www.four-pillars.co.uk/Tortworth/lclub.html)
Our approach to your Cookery Training
The Gables School of Cookery has an excellent teacher/student ratio, with one to one help for students experiencing difficulty. We are a small personal school and get to know our students well. We help students on the cookery courses with development of their CV’s and discuss career options. We also provide follow up support once students have left our cookery school, offering advice and help with job seeking and circulating incoming vacancies.
Our students develop good practical cookery skills, which they can apply confidently in a range of environments. In addition to clear practical tuition we provide close support with the development of their cooking skills to the standard that you would expect to find in a good restaurant.
Our four week cookery courses are multi-disciplinary and typically have a mixture of yacht, ski chalet, gap year, people wanting to work in hotels/restaurants and those planning to run their own catering businesses. The beauty of this arrangement is that you will be exposed to a wide range of influences.
You may well come on a course intending to work in ski chalet cookery and end up going into yacht cookery. In summary in addition to teaching you to cook to a very high standard the four week cookery course also offers an invaluable way to re-assess your career or business plans.
 I just very successfully finished my luxury charter as chef on board a motoryacht. I had to cook for kosher people (luckily not to very strict,
in regards of using pan, pots and plates...). Been cooking up a storm, breakfast lunch and five course dinners! They loved it! Me too! Thank you so much
for being my back bone! I have to admit, that I was pretty nervous before the charter. This people pay a lot of cash and have high demands. But I was very well
organized and always prep the food/ingredients well! Thanks again!. Gabriela A - France 
I came to the course with a few years of yacht cooking experience but now I
can provide more upscale cuisine and presentation. Not only did I learn quite a
bit, but I had a great time in the process. Anna K - Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
I wanted to say BIIIIIG Thank You for great four weeks I've had in your school. I have learned a lot and enjoyed every minute of it.
You guys were very caring and I really like the variety of different teaching techniques you provide. Each of you taught us
a lot and I think learning based on practice is the best way to go. Thanks All of you again.!!!
Sorry, I didn't have time write you earlier. I was very busy with organizing my work.I'm in Turkey at the moment working on a yacht
called Capri as a Sous Chef.It is very very busy and I'm glad I can use everything what I've learned at your cookery course.It's great
to have a little base I can build on. I'll keep you posted with my little travels. - Zuzana
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