cooking school book 111212

“We Train Cooks for Oil Field
and Tug Boats. We Ain’t No
Culinary Arts School.”
28
28--day hands
hands--on course preparing
onboard cooks for Supply Boats,
Towboats and Oil Rigs.
Tuition includes room and board at coed
campus in Bayou La Batre, Alabama.
Offered through Sea School 1-800-BEST-ONE (237-8663)
SON OF A SEA-COOK
WORKBOAT COOKING SCHOOL
At the site of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in Bayou La Batre (Mobile),
Alabama 9180 Little River Road
Bayou La Batre, AL 36509
COURSE & PROGRAM
As the normal shift on a workboat is usually 28 days, Son of a Sea-Cook Workboat
Cooking School has chosen to make it’s Basic Boat Cook(BBC101) course 28 days
long. The curriculum of the course includes basic food production, biscuit making, food
safety, food service, food management, purchasing, galley safety & sanitation, and
group cooking with meat, poultry and seafood.
The curriculum is focused on a unique segment of the culinary sciences, with lots of
practical hands-on cooking to help students become proficient and efficient in a workboat kitchen.
Students have the opportunity to cook for real boat crews that are attending many of
Sea School’s US Coast Guard approved courses.
Sea School, The Law School of The Sea, on the campus of The College of Nautical
Knowledge, offers room and board, (they like to call it bread and bed) to all their students at the Bayou La Batre facility.
Son of a Sea-Cook Workboat Cooking School, is making the same offer.
The kitchen-classroom was specifically
designed to help the student become a
practical workboat cook.
The classes are limited in size to enable
us to give ample personal attention to
each and every apprentice Cook.
Classes start every two weeks, (on a
Tuesday) for the 28 day, Basic Boat Cook
(BBC101) course.
View of kitchen/classroom through serving window
IMPORTANT ELEMENTS
This career focused education, with the emphasis on boat cookery, offers quality
hands-on training that is essential to a successful career aboard workboats. This
school prides itself on teaching the practical application necessary for successful employment in today’s highly competitive workboat cooking job market.
ADDITIONALLY
The school considers food-service sanitation to be high on the priority list.
Our graduates are well prepared to pursue careers in the floating kitchens of the workboat community.
GOAL
Son of a Sea-Cook Workboat Cooking School offers its students the necessary
and requisite skills to find decent paying jobs in the fishing, commercial, tug and
towboat industries as well as the booming market of offshore supply vessels
(OSV), delivering supplies to the oil rigs and wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
LOCATION
This school offers the unique opportunity of living and learning in the village made famous by Forrest Gump and the Bubba Gump shrimp factory. Bayou La Batre, near
Mobile (30 miles), is the shrimping capital of Alabama and one of the Gulf Coast’s
largest provider of fresh oysters and shrimps.
AREA OF STUDY
Important elements of this training include soup stock, sauce, starch, sauces, roux, salads,
menu planning, nutrition, basic food purchasing & production, costing, regional cuisine, cajun
cooking, safe meat cutting & poultry handling, galley management, food-service sanitation,
storeroom operations and introduction to baking.
FACILITY
Just thirty miles Southwest of Mobile, Alabama, on picturesque Bayou La Batre (meaning" in
the woods"), the 12 acre campus includes dorm housing for 47 Sea School students and up to
12 male and 6 female Son of a Sea-Cook cooking school students. Study halls and TV rooms
are provided. Clothes washing machines are available.
Offered through Sea School 1-800-BEST-ONE (237-8663)
TRANSPORTATION
Bayou La Batre is a world unto itself with one grocery store, two gas stations, one bar,
a radio shack, Sidney’s chicken restaurant, Hardies hamburgers and a Sonic, lots of
boat yards plus tons of oyster and shrimp production/shipping companies. What more
could you ask for?
Cars are not necessary and transportation to and from Mobile Airport and bus station
are provided.
TYPICAL STUDENT PROFILE
There is no typical student profile,
although the school gives preference
to those with some type of boating
experience. The motion of the ocean
(rock & roll) is a limiting factor in the
Gulf of Mexico, but less of a factor on
Oil Rigs in the Gulf and inland towboats
working on the Mississippi and the
Western Rivers.
The OSV industry seems to attract a
younger crowd, while the commercial
fishing industry and towboats seem to
beckon to an older more mature group.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Most vessels in the oil industry require the crew (including the cook) be a member of
the Merchant Marine service and to have a Merchant Mariner Document (MMD), also
known as a Z-card, to work on the boats. At the entry level, this security card, issued
by the Coast Guard, allows employment on US vessels, as ordinary deckhand, food
handler, stewards department and wiper.
Cooking students for the oil industry will be required to have a drivers license and birth
certificate or other acceptable forms of identification to acquire this card. Also required
is a physical and drug test. Assistance to provide these requirements is offered at the
school.
Many of the above requirements are not mandated yet for the commercial fishing or
towboat jobs.
ADDITIONALLY
Many oil field boat companies are in need of able seaman (AB) to fill the manning requirement of the Certificate of Inspection (COI). In many instances the person responsible for the cooking can also fill the AB position, making him or her more valuable to
the boat company. For those that may be qualified by experience on vessels to be eligible for the AB rating, Sea School has agreed to make available time slots and instructors to train cook students for the AB MMD.
FINANCIAL AID
Some partial tuition scholarships have been offered by boat companies wanting a first
look at our graduating students.
We have renewed our approvals with the VA for VA student loans to veterans.
Many agencies including incumbent worker workforce, rehab. and state unemployment
can help in financial aid.
HOUSING
Free room and board for cooking students.
On the top deck (3rd floor) of the main building there are 9 clean dorm rooms with 3
double decker beds with custom made mattresses in each room for Sea School students. On that floor is a separate sleeping room with 12 beds for male cooking school
students. Showers and bathrooms are convenient, as well as a quiet study room for
the studious. No TV, video games or cell phone conversations are permitted on the 3rd
deck quiet zone.
Female’s Bunk Room: light, airy and comfortable.
On the 2nd deck of the main building which houses the front office, office of the School
Director, Harold McKerchie and the security officer (24/7), there are two dorm rooms
available for up to 12 females attending Sea School or Son of a Sea-Cook Workboat
Cooking School.
Study hall, TV room, shower and bathroom, refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot and
computer work area are provided for the ladies on this deck.
CONTACT
INFORMATION
Registration for the
cooking school is
handled through
the Sea School
Bayou La Batre,
AL Campus.
Please ask to
speak to Nellie at
1-800-247-3080
A well equipped kitchen/classroom is the beginning if a great career as a workboat cook
The only thing missing in the kitchen/classroom is Rock’n’Roll. The motion of the ocean needs to be
considered if contemplating a career in the gulf of Mexico
Reprinted by permission of Workboat Magazine (the Dec 06 issue)
What’s Cookin’
On workboats, cooks play a big role in keeping the crews
happy and healthy.
By Pamela Glass, Washington Correspondent
As most crews on workboats will tell you, If the cook ain’t happy, we ain’t happy.₤
“If the cook ain’t happy,
we ain’t happy.”
And as most company managers will tell you, if the crew isn’t happy, the company
isn’t happy, because productivity suffers and then profits slip. There’s little doubt that
the talent level in the galley can have a big influence on onboard attitudes and performance.
If the cook is unfriendly or prepares consistently bad fare, morale can hit rock bottom.
Workers can become grumpy, and their attitude can turn sour. But if the cook is pleasant and a galley pro, crews look forward to their next meal, and can sleep better and
improve their job performance.
“It’s a generally accepted rule that the captain runs the boat, and the cooks run the
lifestyle on the boat,” said Mark Knoy, president of AEP Memco Barge Line, St.
Louis, which employs about 60 cooks on its inland towboats that ply the Mississippi
River system.
Cooks on workboats conjure up two different images. One is the crusty old salt, with a
few tattoos on his biceps and a heavy hand with the saltshaker and frying pan. Another
is of a petite grandmother who possesses a quick wit, an acerbic tongue and a talent
for turning out biscuits, gravy, mashed potatoes or a seafood gumbo that would give
fancy New Orleans restaurants a run for their money.
It takes a special kind of person to be a workboat cook, and they aren’t easy to
find, industry officials say.
The job description is enough to scare off many landlubbers. After all, a vessel cook
must often run a 24-hour-a-day restaurant. A cook also must conform to an unusual
lifestyle. He or she is away from home for as long as a month at a time, and it can get
lonely. There are different tastes to please, from the meat-and-potatoes appetite to the
guy who has sworn off fats and butter to bring his cholesterol down. A cook must be
well organized because he or she can’t just run out to the store when short on sugar. A
cook also must roll with the waves and have a strong stomach, as cooking in rough
waters can be dangerous and tricky. And he or she must be a nutritionist, able to prepare balanced meals and explain the effects on the body of too much caffeine or not
enough whole grains or vegetables.
Inland and offshore companies have different ways of hiring cooks. Some recruit directly from culinary schools, while others get applications from cooks who are looking
for higher pay, more time off, and better benefits than their land-based jobs. (Most vessel companies offer full-time salaries, health benefits and pension plans.) Many cooks
hear about the jobs from friends in the workboat industry, while others apply through
employment agencies or listings on a company Web site. Backgrounds of the cooks
vary, with some coming from the military, while others have food-service experience at
restaurants, diners, school or hospital cafeterias or grocery stores. A small number attended cooking schools or worked with great chefs, such as one food service manager
for an offshore company who learned his culinary skills from renowned New York Chef
Daniel Boulud.
INLAND VS. OFFSHORE
Cooks who work on inland river towboats tend to be older women, age 50 or more,
while offshore cooks tend to be older men. Inland river cooks are not required to be
licensed mariners, so generally they are not. But the river cook does more than prepare three or four home-cooked meals a day for a small crew, and keep the pantry
stocked and grocery list filled. She often badgers the captain to fix things on the boat,
or reminds the crew to clean their rooms or call home. She can also be a good listener
— a friend or adviser who’s there when a crewmember has a problem. “She helps the
younger guys deal with some of life’s issues, and can also cut a crewmember’s hair or
act as a seamstress,” added Dave Brown, vice president, marine human resources at
Ingram Barge Co. The Nashville, Tenn.-based barge operator employs 140 cooks on
80 of its line-haul towboats.
Offshore cooks, because they work on larger vessels that can go up to 200 miles offshore and serve up to 40 or more workers, often have their mariner documents as
well as cooking experience. Being licensed (most go for their AB) is not a requirement, but offshore companies recommend that cooks seek documentation because
it can improve their chances for pay raises and advancement, and it contributes to
productivity on OSVs.
At Montco Offshore Inc., which specializes in 145' to 245' liftboats that service the
Gulf of Mexico energy industry, 25 cooks work on the Galliano, La.-based company’s
six liftboats. Those with documentation are paid more. The average pay for nondocumented cooks is $180 a day, while a documented cook can earn from $240$270 a day, according to Robby Gisclair, Montco’s food services manager.
“Documentation is definitely a plus in getting hired,” said Gisclair, who has a degree in
culinary arts and worked in a New York City restaurant under a French chef, “because
vessels mandate a certain amount of licensed personnel onboard. The more documentation they get, the more your pay will go up.”
Dominic Fava, a cook for Edison Chouest Offshore, another Galliano-based offshore
service vessel operator, has an AB rigger’s license and is working toward his mate’s
license because it opens doors to advancement. “They let you work on deck — two
weeks in the kitchen, two on deck. It shows the company that you’re willing to advance.
The galley pays the least in the fleet and there’s no advancement for cooks.”
Vessel cooks are not required to take food handling or sanitation courses like many in
the land-based food preparation business, but companies often provide this training. At
Montco, the company is working with a national restaurant association to get its cooks
a certification on food sanitation, while Memco trains its cooks in proper food handling
techniques.
Seacor Marine LLC, Houma, La., one of the largest OSV operators in the Gulf, utilizes
a combination of cooks — those who work for a catering company and crewmembers
who double as cooks. On Seacor’s large anchor-handlers, cooks are also mariners
with AB certificates or other merchant mariner’s credentials. “Our view is that when
you’re not cooking, they can hold navigational watches or assist on deck,” said John
Fontenot, Seacor’s director of safety and human resources. “We like to have all our
employees be mariners. It’s really unique. We don’t have any typical cooks.”
“We don’t have any typical cooks.”
Finding people who can cook and are also interested in becoming mariners is difficult,
Fontenot said, as it requires another level of training and exams. ‚It is a unique individual who is both a cook and a mariner.
ONBOARD NUTRITIONIST
Increasingly, today’s workboat cooks are also assuming a new responsibility: playing a
key role in the health and well being of the crew by serving healthy food and informing
them about the importance of healthy eating habits. This is driven by the many national
health reports that warn of the negative effects of obesity, high blood pressure and
high cholesterol — conditions that are being found increasingly among aging mariners.
The Coast Guard has gotten into the act, taking a more aggressive role in this aspect
of mariner training and job performance. With the industry’s help, it is developing the
Crew Endurance Management System. CEMS identifies risk factors that contribute to
a drop in physical stamina and mental alertness among mariners.
One of the key recommendations is improving a mariner’s diet. This often means eating better, avoiding caffeine and drinking more water. CEMS suggests that vessel
cooks modify daily menus to include more fresh vegetables, fruits, fruit drinks, wholegrain breads and low-fat meats such as turkey, fish and chicken. How much and what
crewmembers eat impacts on energy, mood, stamina and sleep, a recent CEMS report to Congress said.
Following the lead of CEMS, Memco is training its cooks on how poor nutrition relates
to job fatigue. “Cooks can help with this,” said Paul Werner, who is in charge of safety
and the CEMSprogram at Memco.
However, cooks and the vessel operators they work for acknowledge that changing
mariners’ eating habits is a big challenge, as most crews are accustomed to a highcalorie diet that includes fried foods, lots of butter and other fats and starches. Workers
love their steak and potatoes, seafood gumbo, fried chicken, deep-fried catfish, cornbreads and cakes. Many cooks are making efforts to put out more salads, vegetables
and fruits, but it’s been hard to break old habits.
“Oreos, Doritos and Coke are still at the top of the shopping lists, but we do our best
to provide nutritious choices,” said Seacor’s Fontenot.
“Providing a balanced diet is a big concern for us,” added Montco’s Gisclair. “Three of
our employees had heart attacks recently, and one died after 27 years with us. So we
know we must provide healthy food.”
“Oreos, Doritos and Coke are still at the top of the shopping list.”
Caloric intake is also a challenge. On inland boats, for example, deckhands are much
more active than those in the wheelhouse. The challenge to the cook is to accommodate a guy who is burning lots of calories, and the guy who is burning far less, said
Brown of Ingram.
Cooks say they are adopting more healthy cooking methods, with less frying, and
more broiling, baking and steaming. But there are no set guidelines or mandates, so
it’s up to individual cooks, with the encouragement of their companies, to institute
gradual changes.
Some companies, however, are also taking steps to improve employee nutrition,
which can increase productivity and lower medical insurance costs. Many are encouraging employees to improve their diets and exercise more, both on and off the
boat.
At Ingram, the company is working with experts at Vanderbilt University to
develop personalized diet and exercise plans for mariners.
“Our employees have a physical every two-and-a-half years to coincide with the
five-year license cycle. They go to Vanderbilt, see a nurse, and she helps develop a
plan with them to improve their diet, exercise or stop smoking,” said Brown. “We’re
doing the same wellness sessions with the cooks. A person who is in better health
and in good shape will be more alert and able to deal with emergencies.”
Already, Brown said, things are changing. “We’ve got treadmills on all our boats and
other kinds of exercise equipment, and guys are walking around the boats. I think
we’ve changed a lot of guys’ habits.”
SIDEBAR
GALLEY MASTER DOES MORE THAN JUST COOK
Sue Perryman has been cooking up a storm on the inland rivers for years. But the
inland towboat cook would prefer to be remembered for how she cooked after a storm.
Because that’s just what she did soon after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf
Coast in 2005. Her towboat, the 7,200-hp Douglas J. Fischer, and other AEP Memco
Barge Line boats were loaded up with supplies and became impromptu relief centers
for small vessels less equipped for longer runs.
“Within one to two days after Katrina hit, we were pulling barges back into the river,
and when Igot on the boat there were cases of food and water. I was impressed that
this was for the hurricane victims,” Perryman said. “People on tugs would come on our
boat and eat a meal and take a shower.”
Onboard the 1 92'x52' line-haul towboat, Perryman, 64, found herself cooking for
more than the boat’s normal 11-member crew.
“I served 300 extra meals beyond our crew,” she said. “Many of these people had lost
everything and were living on tugs.” On one of the vessels there was a baby in need of
milk, which Perryman supplied from her galley.
Katrina was an exceptional call to duty, she said. Most of the time, however, her days
are much more mundane — and she likes it that way. She’s up at 3 a.m., and in the
galley getting breakfast ready at 4 a.m. By 9:30 a.m., she’s back in the galley again to
get lunch going. After the midday meal is over and the galley is cleaned up, there’s just
a short break before she’s back at it again around 3:30 p.m. to whip up dinner.
Like many workboat cooks, Perryman is older than the majority of her crew, and is regarded as a combination mother, grandmother and counselor figure. She feels that
she’s not only responsible for the nutritional well being of her charges, but the emotional side as well. Many confide in her and talk about whatever is on their minds.
She’s the only woman onboard.
“We get along real well on this boat, and you get to know the guys pretty well,” said
Perryman,who works a 28-on/28-off schedule. The crews are on 14/14 schedules.
With a background in catering and experience in a meat department, Perryman is well
organized in the galley. She’s in charge of ordering groceries and preparing meals that
are well balanced and nutritious. “I always have fresh fruits and vegetables, and I try to
provide choices for those watching their weight and those who are not,” she said. “If
they ask me to cook special things, I do it. My job is to keep them happy with the food,
and I’m very happy doing it.”
“My job is to keep them happy with the food.”
“I really believe that if the crew is happy and healthy the are more likely to stay with us.”
Perryman heard about river cooks from a friend in the industry. She said it tool nearly
three years before there was an opening. “Cooks hardly ever leave,” she said.
The Douglas J. Fisher’s galley was renovated three years ago and offers the latest
amenities. She treats it like her kitchen at home, with a well-stocked pantry and handmade curtains on the windows.
“I like to make it look homey.”
— P. Glass
WB Focus
Cooking School
School offers
training to
future OSV and
towboat
methods have had consequences. Workers have gotten sick from unsanitary food.
Many cooks, unprepared for
the a floating kitchen, have
quit. And workboat operators
must deal with the after-math:
unhappy crews, empty galleys
and the expense of hiring new
people.
Enter Ron Wahl, who saw
a need and an opportunity.
Last fall, he launched the
Son of a Seacook
Workboat Cooking
School in Bayou La
Batre, Ala., a shrimping and fishing town
made
famous by the "Forrest
Gump" movie. It is
part of St. Petersburg,
Fla.-based SeaSchool,
also founded by Wahl,
that offers U.S. Coast
Guard approved
navigation, deck, engine room and tankermen courses.
"This is simple
cooking," Wahl
explained. "Not
he job requirements for a workboat cook
are usually pretty basic. Can you make
biscuits? Can you cook chicken? Unlike
other jobs that require training and certification, the cook's position comes with no standards for employment. Yet as Most boat crews
will tell you, a cook is a very important and
comforting person to have onboard. A person
who can provide good hearty fare contributes
to a happy work environment.
But lack of training and unfamiliarity with both
the workboat environment and basic sanitary
T
Based on a typical workboat shift rotation,
the school teaches a 28-day cycle of meals,
with emphasis on basic food production, biscuit making, food safety, food management
and purchasing,
galley safety and sanitation, and group cooking with meat, poultry and seafood.
The goal, Wahl said, is to provide professional food training to cooks who will take jobs
on either offshore service vessels or inland
towboats.
“There were a lot of guys getting sick because cooks didn't know how to handle meats
And poultry,"Wahl said. "Our students
are trained in safe handling techniques
and in how to keep a galley clean. We
tell them that they must use gloves
because the guy on the boat doesn't
want to see your fingers in his food."
The school follows food-handling
standards set by the FDA and DOT. A
lot of instruction time is spent teaching
about the importance of refrigeration
and food handling, including proper
cooking temperatures and defrosting
methods.
deckhand, food handler, steward and
wiper. The school helps with all the
procedures in obtaining an MMD, including the physical exam and drug
test. The price for the 28-day course
A cook is more
valuable if he or
she can also fill
the AB position.
COOKING AND A Z-CARD
All students leave the program with
a health certificate for safe handling of
food. Those who will work on an OSV
will also have a Merchant Mariner's
Document (MMD), since most vessels
in the oil industry require the crew including the cook - to carry an MMD,
also known as a Z-card. At the entry
level, the MMD permits employment
on U.S. vessels as an ordinary
WB Focus
For those who have enough
experience on vessels to be eligible for
the AB rating, Wahl said the Sea
School offers time slots and instructors
to train cooking students for the AB
MMD.
The school's kitchen duplicates a
typical workboat galley, without the
rock and roll of the water. Instructors
offer up recipes that focus on healthy
and nutritious food. "There's no reason
to fry food on a workboat," said Wahl,
who has had a long career in the maritime industry. "You have an oven, so
you can do oven `fried' chicken and
potatoes. You can offer more vegetables. We push salads and fruits."
is $3,500, which includes room and
board.
Wahl said that there is no typical
profile of a cooking student, but he
prefers those that have had some type
Wahl said that that since many OSV of boating experience. He's honest
companies need able-bodied seamen
with the students, telling them that the
to fill Coast Guard manning
job can be boring and sometimes isorequirements, a cook becomes more
lated from the rest of the crew.
valuable to the boat operator if he or
she can also fill the AB position.
He also explains the differences between cooking on offshore and inland
Cooking School
vessels. "The biggest problem with
cooks is that they don't understand the
motion of the ocean," he said.
Offshore cooks often prepare meals
while the vessel is plying rough water,
while inland cooks have the luxury of
a steadier ride. Faced with rough seas,
offshore cooks must plan ahead and
prepare their meals in advance. "If
someone won't like the rock and roll, I
suggest they switch to a brownwater
job"
No matter where they work, though,
cooks must have a thick skin. "The
crew won't complain about the captain
or the engineer, but they will about the
cook," he said. "And they'll tell the
cook when they don't like the food,
when it doesn't measure up to mama's
cooking. I just tell the cooks to turn it
into a positive, to ask for mama's recipe so that they can make it" on the
vessel.
Students get hands-on experience as
they prepare meals for boat crews that
attend many of the Sea School's U.S.
Coast Guard-approved courses. The
school offers room and board for all
students, including a separate secure
area for female students.
No matter where
they work, cooks
must have a thick
skin.
Wahl said his graduates are in great
demand. They are either hired directly
by boat companies, or they have been
sent for cook training by their employers. "I have waiting lists for the
courses," which run every two weeks,
he said. "I could place 30 cooks .a
month, but only take 12 to 16."
The boat companies, he said,
"need the cooks but don't want to get
involved with training, so they are
happy that someone is finally doing
it." Wahl said that his facility is the
only workboat cooking school in operation.
Wages are good. Many cooks can
expect to make $220-$250 a day,
while those with an AB can command about $325.
Wahl said he advertises his cooking program in boating publications
and those that specialize in cooking.
He also sends mailings to high
schools. "I'm not having any trouble
finding students," he added.
"I interview all of them, and ask why
they want to work on a boat. I emphasize that this is not a glamorous job,
and that you're not wearing a white
chef's suit and working at a fancy hotel. These are workboats with odd
hours, where people get dirty in their
jobs and don't leave you a tip at the
end of the meal."