By Debra Vaughn
Staff reporter

Oak Harbor High School’s state championship culinary arts team is packing their pots and pans and heading to nationals this weekend.

The team of five students will compete against the best in the country at the National ProStart Invitational at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, Calif.

“We have a very good chance of winning,” said Scott Fraser, owner of Frasers Gourmet Hideaway and mentor to the Oak Harbor students.

The students have spent two or three hours a day practicing their skills in preparation, Fraser said.

“They are definitely a team,” he said. “It’s taken hard work and dedication to get to this point.”

The students are Dylan Crogan, Angela Cueto, Lance Garon, Patrick Punch and Patrick Salgado. All are seniors at Oak Harbor High School enrolled in a culinary arts program led by teacher and chef Mary Arthur.

The students are scheduled to compete Monday. They’ll be judged on knife skills and preparation, including how they’ve packaged and transported all of their supplies. The team brings everything with them on the plane.

They’ll have one hour to cook a three-course meal using nothing but two butane burners set up on folding tables. No running water, no refrigerators and no fancy stoves.

The Pacific-Rim-inspired menu is an appetizer of Korean pork bone soup containing shrimp noodles and a slow poached egg; a main entree featuring lamb loin encrusted with pistachio and cranberry sausage served with oxtail barley and creamed stinging nettles; and a flocked white chocolate peanut butter bar with a banana cream sauce and brulee pearls.

Stinging nettles, by the way, are tastier than one might expect. Just don’t eat them raw.

“As soon as you cook them they have a great taste and texture,” Fraser said.

You can watch the students compete live at the National Restaurant Association’s website at www.nraef.org