Frank Murphy (North Bend) is an Irish chef and storyteller and teaches culinary arts at North Bend High School. Murphy, who grew up in Dublin and attended culinary school there, also learned to cook from his mother and grandmother. He tells a variety of stories, some tall tales and others more historical or anecdotal, about his youth in Dublin, his grandparents, and the nearby countryside.
Bio
Frank Murphy (North Bend) is an Irish chef and born storyteller par excellence; he also teaches culinary arts at North Bend High School. Murphy, who grew up in Dublin and attended culinary school there, first learned to cook from his mother and grandmother. He tells a variety of tales about his youth in Dublin and the nearby countryside of Dunboyne, where his grandparents lived. Some of his stories fall into the realm of tall tales while others are more historical or anecdotal. An active member of his community in North Bend and Coos Bay, Murphy is a member of the Coastal Celtic Society and inspired the group to construct a currach (a traditional Irish fishing boat) at the Coos Bay Boat Building Center. As Murphy tells it, "I cannot remember not wanting to cook. I was always there with my grandmother and on my mom's cooking or doing something in the kitchen as far back as I can remember, climbing on chairs and stuff and getting my hands in flour. And so I kind of knew from an early stage that I kind of wanted to cook." And his father's brother, Paddy Murphy, a ship's cook, also inspired him to travel. Murphy recalls that his uncle "would come home once or twice a year, and he would tell us the stories about crossing the equator and all that type of thing. . . . and I wanted to be able to send postcards from all over the world and see all these places." After graduating from the rigorous Rockwell Hotel School in central Ireland and working in restaurant kitchens, Murphy, inspired by his uncle Paddy, moved to Florida in 1990 to work as a chef and then as a teacher at the Florida Culinary Institute. Some years later, a friend invited Murphy to visit coastal Oregon, which he promised looked like Ireland. And in 1997, he and his family moved to Coos Bay where he worked as a chef in the nearby Mills Casino, catered events, and eventually opened his own Grounds Café. Then, in 2012, the North Bend schools superintendent asked Murphy to teach culinary classes, and he has been doing that ever since. Within a few years, he and his students started a catering business with a mobile woodfired pizza oven, which they take to local events. Their earnings totally support North Bend's culinary program, which has also achieved national recognition. Johnson and Wales University International Symposium on Bread invited North Bend High School's culinary class to be part of their online event, which people from all over the world attended. Murphy, whose students manage The Blazing Bulldog Oven, has also made a video about the class, the oven, and his program's impact on student growth and spirit. Frank Murphy calls teaching culinary at North Bend the best job he's ever had. He enjoys being creative, inspiring his students, and teaching them to really cook. His philosophy of teaching is more that of a coach; he insists on respect from his students, whom he treats as professionals. He explains, "I think we really have gotten to a position where people think that to cook, they need to have a recipe. And they need to follow it exactly. So they can't make that soup because it needs six ounces of carrots and they only have four. . . . But [it] goes back to the method, and they know the method to create soup." Instead of teaching them recipes, Murphy teaches his students foundational skills, skills also necessary for life. "When we're cooking, we are reading, we are writing, we are learning math." In recognition of his dedicated teaching, the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce named Frank Murphy Educator of the Year in 2021.
