Masterchef at Sea!

Well do you fancy yourself as the next Michel Roux Junior, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver or whichever other chef floats your boat?

Do you become a culinary expert when you watch Master chef or start cooking up a storm in the kitchen when the Great British bake off is on the screens?

Keep reading this article it could be right up your street.

P&O Cruises new ship, Britannia is to host the very first British cookery school at sea.

 Opening next March it will offer a full schedule of cookery classes aimed at all ages and abilities as it travels to some of the most exciting ports around the world. What better way to inspire a would be Chef than to take them to Italy, France the Far East or even Australia!

James Martin who has had excellent connections with P&O since his first restaurants were opened on Ocean Village way back in 2003, which I might add I have eaten in and thoroughly enjoyed,  will run the School in Consultation with the other Food Heroes  Marco Pierre White; Atul Kochhar; master patissier Eric Lanlard and cheese expert Charlie Turnbull.

The Cookery Club will have 24 state of the art stations for participants.  When on-board the Celebrity Chefs will host master classes and interactive classes over lunch and dinner at the chef’s table. As well as the Food heroes, many other celebrity chefs will be joining the ship for special demonstrations and classes so watch this space.

Resident chef and manager of The Cookery Club Rob Cottam, who joins P&O Cruises from Leiths School of Food & Wine and Ashburton Cookery School, will be ensuring the classes are reflective of current trends and tastes.  Rob has lived and worked abroad/internationally including Malaysia and Australia and is an expert in Far Eastern cuisine and will be running a series of dim sum and Thai street food classes as well as a variety of other themed and seasonal classes.

Rob Cottam said: “Many of the classes will reflect the ports of call so passengers can go to local markets, vineyards and see speciality producers in the morning before an afternoon learning how to use wonderful Mediterranean, European and Caribbean ingredients, herbs and spices to create exciting dishes they can recreate at home.

“For example during our call to Lisbon the classes may include traditional pastel de nata, custard tarts; or our day in Olden may have a fish master class to include filleting and many different cooking techniques. There will also be chocolate, Moroccan and bread speciality classes as well as more general Sunday brunch and French and Italian bistro favourites.

I have to say it is a great way as I said to inspire people to use fresh ingredients literally plucked from the shore and for some it will be the first time they have had the opportunity to cook with some of the more exotic ingredients on offer.  The Chefs will be able to show people how to cook with these ingredients and whether they are novices or gourmet geniuses there will be something for everyone who has a passion for food to learn.

I have been saying for a while now that cruise companies need to find new ways of keeping their guests entertained and with the success recently of cookery shows like Master Chef, Great British Bake off and The Taste people seem to have developed a real taste for cooking.

My favourite bit of course would be the tasting! Yum!

What do you think? Would you give it a whirl?