Gillard tries hand at chook stuffing

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard might not be a master chef - but she is no chicken.

She smiled bravely as she stuck her hand up a chook's behind and admitted to one of Australia's most eminent culinary figures her speciality is the humble toasted sandwich.

"I reckon there have been six-month periods where I have lived on toasted sandwiches," she told Guy Grossi as he schooled her on stuffing a chicken as the media looked on.

"Oh yuck!"

"Brrrooook," Grossi clucked, as he lurched the chicken carcass towards Ms Gillard, who had donned chef whites for the occasion.

"Okay it's dead isn't it?" she joked.

Ms Gillard was in South Melbourne on Thursday visiting the Hospitality Employment and Training (HEAT) program, which is set to benefit from $290,000 of federal funding for a commercial kitchen.

If it came to a choice between deputy prime minister and chef, Ms Gillard said it was best she stick to the former.

"I would have to say I'm not really intending during the days of being deputy prime minister, where I have a fair bit to do, to branch out into a cooking career," she told reporters.

"Fortunately I'm not the one who does the cooking at home. That probably makes the meals a lot tastier and more edible."

However Grossi said he suspected Ms Gillard was underplaying her skills in the kitchen.

"I think she did a magnificent job don't you?" he asked AAP.

"She handled herself, she was very quick on her feet. I think she's being modest about her cooking.

"I probably suspect she can cook a lot better than what she admits to."

Grossi has been patron of the HEAT program for disadvantaged youth for two years.

He said it was a great initiative for young people to learn cookery and hospitality skills and to gain self confidence.

"One of the most important things they get is self esteem and a sense of being able to achieve something and do something where it is not normally the case in most of these young people's lives," he said.

Several students have completed work experience in the kitchen of his iconic Italian restaurant in Melbourne's central business district.