Tip takes chef to the top
North Servery’s Sarah Finster heads to national championships

BY MIKE WILLIAMS
Rice News staff

Raw talent abounds among Rice University’s chef corps.

Sarah Finster, a sous chef at the North Servery, took first place and won an American Culinary Federation Silver Medal (based on points) at the National Association of College and University Food Services Southern Regional Culinary Challenge Competition held earlier this month at Georgia Southern University.

	Sarah Finster, a sous chef at the North Servery, took first place and won an American Culinary Federation Silver Medal (based on points) at the National Association of College and University Food Services Southern Regional Culinary Challenge Competition held earlier this month at Georgia Southern University.

She will complete for the national title with top finishers from five other regions in Gaylord, Texas, July 14.

Rice was one of six universities at the regional, along with Georgia Southern University-Statesboro, the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, the University of Georgia-Athens, Texas A&M and Kennesaw State University.

Finster, a native of Indiana who joined Rice in 2010, won the right to represent the university at a campus competition before the winter break in December. She knew the challenge that awaited her in Georgia: Cook four portions of an original, nutritionally balanced, hot entrée using the mandatory ingredient — beef tri-tip — in 60 minutes.

Her dish combined pan-seared tri-tip with braised tri-tip, pressure-cooked with caramelized onion, black beans, diced tomatoes, stock and seasonings and then shredded. “You get a kind of meat like barbecoa,” she said. Fresh jicama, julienned with lime juice and chili powder, completed the dish.

Competitors could wash and peel vegetables and marinate the beef in advance, but all other work had to be completed in the appointed hour.

Timing was everything, Finster said. “By the time we got to the competition, I had practiced 13 times over a period of three weeks. It does make a difference, because you can work out the kinks and feel a little more comfortable with what you’re doing.” Other competitors who had practiced only four or five times quickly realized how well Finster’s regimen paid off, she said.

“It’s not a sport, necessarily, but it gets intense,” Finster said. “Unfortunately, I’m one of those who goes down to the last second and nearly gave Chef Ben (Fonbuena) a heart attack.” Fonbuena, Rice’s executive chef culinary educator, accompanies Rice chefs to the annual competition.

Finster was following in the footsteps of her boss, North Servery Executive Chef Edward Castillo, who won the national championship in 2006 in Toronto. He knows from experience what benefits competitors bring to their work at Rice. “You get the criticism and the critique, take that back with you and try to apply it here,” Castillo said.

This year’s national event is a little closer to home, which means Finster can cart rather than ship her pots, pans, knifes and other implements to the competition. “I told her she has home-court advantage,” Castillo said.