Several chefs shared their least favorite meals to make on board, but why they’re unpopular may surprise you. Yacht chefs are known for being cool, calm, and collected. After all, it’s a high-pressure environment when you work aboard yachts and are responsible for multiple five-star meals daily. It’s a challenging job, with the weight of charter expectations hanging over the galley — chefs are expected to pull off amazing meals for guests with discerning palates and endless expectations. Freelance Chef Ranada Riley has only been in yachting for a few years, but she has extensive restaurant experience. For her, “My least favorite dish to make would be just basic things that have no flair or palate. For instance, chicken tenders.” For Chef Brittany Adkison, a yacht chef with eight years of experience, “Funny enough, I’m currently in Maine, and a Maine Lobster Boil is my least favorite dish to cook! While the outcome of a lobster boil is always a hit, unfortunately, the smell of steaming lobsters lingers for days. I’m also not too fond of being responsible for sending the live little friends into a boiling jacuzzi of death.” Chef Ranada Riley Freelance Chef Olga Lupu is a veteran yacht chef with nine years under her belt. “My least favorite dish to cook on a yacht (especially while freelancing) is soufflé. The main reason is the unstable oven temperature or [if there is] only one oven for cooking all the meals. Besides that, it requires a lot of attention, preferably as little commotion as possible, and ‘perfect serving time,’ which is often not easy to achieve. So I rarely offer it on my menus. Otherwise, I love the dessert itself and enjoy making it in a good cooking environment.” Chef Adrienne Gang weighed in on her least favorite dish: “Sushi. It seems like as soon as guests find out you can make sushi, they ask for it CONSTANTLY. It’s time-consuming, and honestly, I don’t want carpal tunnel when I’m older…” Chef Marie Scully has a more personal reason for her dislike. “Oddly enough, [my least favorite is] pasta. I am celiac and hate serving dishes I can’t taste, so every time a guest says they want ‘Something simple, pasta,’ my heart sinks. I would much rather make a soufflé! I usually kidnap a deckhand and make them taste it obsessively until it is perfect. On the other hand, I have nailed bread and croissants.” Chef Adrienne Gang