Chalet Cooks Academy
The Tante Marie Chalet Cooks Academy is the perfect starting point for school leavers or those embarking on a year out and looking to work a ski season. As the UK’s flagship ski chalet training course, graduates of the Chalet Cooks Academy have access to the best ski season jobs, with some of the best chalet companies.
A 1 or 2 week course where you learn how to follow a week’s worth of recipes will not prepare you for work with a quality ski company. There’s much more to a ski chalet cooking role than you can cover in a couple of weeks. Our Chalet Cooks Academy has even been endorsed by a number of the UK’s leading ski chalet companies who offer employment to students who complete the course.
This bespoke course will take students through a range of essential, culinary skills across several areas of cookery and introduce them to the practical knowledge and skills required from ski chalet hosts. Students will leave with the ability to cook good food, in any environment and perfect hosting etiquette – an ideal precursor to a fun and successful working gap year.
Students are also given access to our comprehensive Virtual Learning Environment prior to, during and after their course, including for the duration of your ski season.
- Group booking discount available. Call one of the team to find out more.
* Subject to our annual fee review in April of each year, in accordance with our Terms and Conditions of Enrolment
What’s included?
The Chalet Cooks Academy consists of a 3 week cooking programme covering the foundations of cookery, followed by an additional 1 week ‘Guide to Chalet Hosting’ offering the essential skills needed for chalet work at any level.
We also recommend this course to those looking to gain a new life skill of practical cookery, whether considering a career in food or simply broadening their home cooking range in a state of the art and fun environment, taught in small groups by professional teachers.
Included in your course:
- Professional chef’s whites
- Tante Marie apron
- Chef’s knives
- Tante Marie Recipe file
- All ingredients and equipment
- Lunch each day
In addition to the above, students will have access to our extensive library of cookery books as well as ongoing careers advice and support from our knowledgeable teachers and support team.
Students are also given exclusive access to the Tante Marie Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) which contains extensive guidance, advice and reference resources. You’ll have access to this for the duration of your ski season, meaning Tante Marie Culinary Academy’s extensive resources are at your fingertips at every step of the way.
You will benefit from guidance across the following areas:
- General overview to chalet hosting
- The different roles of a chalet host and cook
- What’s in it for you: the employment package
- Finding a job
- Visas
- Getting ready to go
- Surviving the season
- Post season opportunities
- Menu planning, budgeting, special diets… and a whole load more!
- Going the extra mile as a chalet host
- Cooking at altitude
- HACCP training
- Cookery skills and knowledge reference guides
What you will learn
Weeks 1-3
Your course will begin with an introduction to working in a professional kitchen environment, incorporating practical skill development such as knife skills, before moving on to the foundations of basic cookery.
Lessons are designed to include a variety of detailed recipes suitable for inclusion in a chalet menu plan and techniques that will build your understanding of how food changes as you cook, enabling you to make adjustments and correct mistakes as you go. At the end of your 3 weeks, you will have the confidence, skills and inspiration to create a full menu of dishes in your own kitchen – the basic skills you will need for entry level chalet work.
You will be taught in a small group of like-minded students of a similar age, and all of your time at the Academy will be spent in our state of the art kitchens. You will gain a comprehensive understanding of areas such as sauces, soups, meat, fish, canapés, pastries, bread and many, many more.
A Level 2 Award in Food Safety is also included in this course.
Week 4 – A Guide To Chalet Hosting
Those choosing to stay on for the fourth week – Guide to Chalet Hosting – will benefit from a number of practical and theory lessons tailored to the additional, specific skills required of ski chalet hosts. The week will include crucial aspects of chalet life, including:
- Menu planning
- Budgeting
- Ordering and stock management
- House-keeping
- Table setting and delivering top-class service
Our bespoke Guide to Chalet Hosting has been designed and developed in direct consultation with ski chalet companies and contacts, who have commended the Chalet Cooks Academy as an advanced platform to launch straight in to a chalet host position.
- To find out more about subjects covered in the Tante Marie Chalet Cooks Academy or explore some of our alternative courses click here.
- To find out more about a typical day at Tante Marie Culinary Academy click here.
Homework & Assessment
There is no formal homework assigned on this course, but we encourage all students to spend some time practicing cooking dishes at home.
Our Virtual Learning Environment offers students a state-of-the-art resource which you can refer to before, during and after your course. We encourage all students to use this resource, available online or via a handy phone and tablet app.
There is no assessment or exam on this course.
Career Prospects
Students who graduate from the Chalet Cooks Academy, are fully equipped to pursue work with many highly regarded ski chalets and agencies. Over 65 years, we have developed the UK’s largest network of ski chalet partners who recruit Tante Marie graduates into varied and rewarding roles. Our graduates are known for their unsurpassed standards and professional discipline, putting them in high demand from ski chalet employers. Click here to view our network of ski companies – some offering guaranteed interviews to successful Chalet Cooks Academy graduates.
This course is also a good precursor to our longer courses, such as the Intensive Cordon Bleu Diploma, for students looking to achieve a formal qualification in cookery.
“…the skills taught by Tante Marie are ideal for our working environment i.e. an upmarket chalet operator employing well-honed dinner party cooks.”
Gareth Marshall
Director, Simply Morzine
Alumni
Kim Somauroo
After leaving Tante Marie in 2007, Kim began his career as a freelance chef. He is now one of the UK's leading Home Economists, working with Jamie Oliver running his Supper Clubs for the Fifteen Foundation.
Gap Year Cookery Courses
Our Gap Year courses are the perfect starting point for students looking for a year out filled with food, fun and travel whilst also gaining a valuable life skill.
More than ever today people want to learn to cook well and with confidence, whether this be for ski seasons with the best chalet companies, university survival skills that are a cut above the rest or travel and job prospects leading to life-changing years out. Gap Year opportunities have never been more exciting and no-one knows more about these than Tante Marie.
Our short Summer cookery courses include Food Camp - home-cooking for those starting an exciting year out or heading off to university, and our fantastic Chalet Cooks Academy - the perfect preparation for a fun, working ski season. During the rest of the year you can find the same valuable content in our 1 and 2 Week Beginners Cookery Classes, 4 Week Essential Skills and 1 Term Tante Marie Cordon Bleu Certificate.
