In The News: NHS culinary team stays cool under pressure

Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic

Team lauded for having communicated well at the Oregon ProStart Championships

The Newberg High School culinary club’s competition team did not place in the top five at the Oregon ProStart Championships Feb. 27 in Salem, but did receive a lot of good feedback about its professional demeanor and Pacific Northwest-Asian fusion meal.

The team, which is comprised of seniors Tim Forbes, Sydney Roesli and Katherine Shephard, junior Taylor Coen and sophomore Michael Forbes, said they were especially proud of how they communicated during the pressure-packed competition.

That is a big reason why it was such an enjoyable experience no matter the result, as scores and rankings for the 15 schools that did not make the top five have still not been released.

“It was a lot more intense than I thought it was going to be, but at the same time I was surprised at how well we kept ourselves together,” Coen said. “When we were in the actual cooking situation, we made a cohesive unit.”

Roesli noticed that many teams at the competition maintained a very strict division of labor, but feels Newberg benefitted from a more cooperative approach.

“We each knew each part of the menu and recipe so well that if someone needed help, we could just jump right in,” she said.

Tim Forbes and his younger brother, Michael, were members of last year’s competition team, which placed in the top 10 with a Hawaiian meal.

This year’s meal was a blend of Western and Asian cuisines, specifically focusing on fresh local ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

“I found it really fun and interesting doing something outside of what I’m used to,” Tim Forbes said. “I’m used to French, Italian and Spanish, those types of cuisines. Doing something entirely different, I found, played a really big part.”

As part of his senior project, Tim Forbes took the lead in crafting the menu, which consisted of fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce for an appetizer and an entrée of poached salmon with a hazelnut glaze atop crafted semolina pasta with Szechuan beet greens, stir-fried vegetables and fresh mushrooms.

The kicker was their artistic dessert, a bao (Asian steamed bun) shaped like a yin yang, with one side consisting of a white chocolate bao with Clementine and the other a traditional chocolate with raspberry.

“I was pleased with the overall product,” Tim Forbes said. “I really enjoyed it. I think we did our best and it came out really well.”