A brand new cookery school has opened in the heart of the Surrey Hills, dedicated to teaching chalet cookery skills.
The Abinger Cookery School was partly set up to meet the need for good chalet cooks – of which there are not enough – by lifetime foodie and majority owner Lewis Davies, in partnership with Holly Chandler and Phillipa Hartley who run gourmet chalet holiday specialist Fish&Pips. But it’s also open to anyone who’s interested in learning to cook like a chalet cook.
Intent on offering courses that reflect the way we eat now, as well as current food trends, the selection of courses available at The Abinger are designed to be upbeat, modern and fun – equipping you both with basic cooking skills along with the expertise to cook food we all want to eat. The school insists on using the best locally-sourced produce Britain has to offer.
Fish&Pips is the forerunner in chalet food excellence, and prides itself on staff retention, the quality of food, and the service delivered to its guests. As the company has expanded however, it’s noticed that it’s becoming harder to find the skilled chefs it demands.
The Abinger’s 5-day Chalet Cooks course covers all areas of chalet cooking, from planning and budgeting menus to executing them. The course is designed for university and school-leavers, and aims to teach all the knowledge needed to become a chalet chef.
All of school’s courses are led by Vincent Clist, the Head Chef of the The Abinger, who fell into cooking after working in his local pub, and went on to complete three seasons working as a chalet chef for Fish&Pips in the French Alps, before being awarded The Times Chalet Chef of the Year.
A former pub, which has been completely refurbished, The Abinger offers not only a place to learn to cook, but also somewhere to stay. Six double bedrooms above the school offer space to relax after a hard day’s cooking.
“Last season it was particularly difficult sourcing cooks. We finally managed to recruit some phenomenal talent and the season went fantastically, but there’s definitely a shortage of good chefs out there,” said Holly Chandler (nee Fisher, the “Fish” of Fish&Pips).
“Food is so high profile now, and top-end chefs in the UK are being paid more, so we thought we’d create the opportunity to train more. What better way to hone your skills than on the Abinger cookery course, followed up by a ski season in the Alps? If we can help introduce people to a career path then all the better.”
The 5-day Chalet Cooks syllabus takes hosts-to-be through everything they need to know to achieve great chalet or yacht cook status; incorporating knife skills, menu planning, how to plot the week from breakfast, through afternoon tea to dinner, and how to impress with remarkable canapés. Chalet Cooks students will also receive a copy of A Portion of Fish&Pips in their welcome pack to inspire them for the ski season. Course fees start from £695.