Fire It Up At Spokane’s Station Houses, Busy Firefighters Serve Up Some Increasingly Tasty Meals
A couple of hours before lunch, chicken boils in a large pot at Spokane’s Fire Station 8.
Nearby, Lt. Mike Rose prepares a tangy dressing with garlic, ginger root and jalapeno peppers, which he shakes in a jar. He slices green onions and cucumbers with a large cleaver for his crew’s lunch of Chinese Chicken Salad.
“Something smells good in here,” says Lt. Larry Hart, who stopped by the station near Spokane Community College.
Something should smell good. Rose is no amateur in the kitchen. He’s considered one of the Spokane Fire Department’s top cooks.
“He’s the very best,” Hart says of Rose. “He’s our hero.”
Firehouse cooks have become a tradition. They’re the firefighters who actually enjoy the task of making meals for their appreciative peers.
“There’s usually someone on each shift that does most of the cooking,” says Tony Yuen, a firefighter who fills that role at Station 13 at 1118 W. Wellesley.
One of Rose’s crew members looked forward to his arrival long before he recently came to Station 8.
“His talents are many and well-known,” says Jack Tritt, a fire truck driver. “I’ve been waiting for him for three or four years.”
Firehouse cooks have built a reputation nationwide, publishing cookbooks, competing in cooking contests, even opening their own restaurants.
Mike Sparks, a Spokane firefighter who also owns Sparky’s Firehouse Subs at Monroe and Indiana, is well aware of his talents.
“What do they like? Whatever I make,” Sparks says of his Station 2 co-workers. “I do a lot of big five-course French meals.”
But healthy, leaner menus, like Rose’s salad lunch of chicken, vegetables and noodles, are becoming more the norm for increasingly health-conscious firefighters.
“It used to be meat and potatoes,” Rose says. “Everybody’s trying to eat healthier and lose weight.”
Adds Battalion Chief Gene Pehan, a 27-year firefighter: “We’ve pretty much changed our style of eating in the last five or 10 years.”
Leaving out the salt helps the natural flavors of vegetables come out, says Yuen.
“I don’t even season with salt anymore,” he says. “The guys don’t even notice.”
Nutritious meals are a must for firefighters, according to Al Baeta, the Sacramento Fire Department’s fitness director.
Baeta, who also is head manager of the men’s 1996 U.S. Olympic track and field team, says his department is progressive in its emphasis on healthy cooking.
“It’s important for one major, specific reason, and that is they need the proper energy to do the work in emergency situations,” he says.
But the biggest factor in planning a menu isn’t diet. It’s what’s on sale at the grocery store.
“I never know what I’m going to cook until I get to the store,” Yuen says. “I’m kind of a budget shopper.”
Fire crews pool money for their meals, so getting the most for the buck is important.
Rose says his meals cost about $3 or $4 per person. That’s enough for lunch and leftovers for dinner.
Rose enjoys doing his crew’s cooking. Since he cooks, he can avoid more tedious chores such as scrubbing down fire trucks and mopping up the station. And the firefighter who cooks doesn’t have to do the dishes.
Of course, sometimes the demands of the job come before even the most arduously prepared meal.
Yuen worked in Honolulu before coming to Spokane. He’d spent hours preparing a five-course Chinese meal when the city was hit by a major storm and firefighters waded through 3 to 4 feet of flood water.
When Yuen got back, the meal had turned to slop and wound up in the garbage.
Even firefighters sometimes make the types of errors they get called out to correct.
Rose forgot to turn off the stove once when his crew was called to an emergency.
“There was a layer of smoke this high,” he says, holding his hand at shoulder level.
Sparks says his cooking makes him unpopular with one group. Spouses of the crew members - even his own wife - complain about missing his gourmet meals.
“My wife really gets mad,” he says. “She’ll call and say, ‘What did you make’ and I’ll say, ‘chicken cordon bleu’ and she’ll say, ‘Why don’t you ever make that at home?”’
Chinese Chicken Salad
A Mike Rose favorite.
6 cups canned chicken broth
6 cups water
4 pounds chicken thighs
8 ounces thin rice stick noodles (mai fun)
3 large cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
9 large Napa cabbage leaves, cut into julienne strips
3 tablespoons black or toasted sesame seeds
Oriental dressing (recipe follows)
24 whole Napa cabbage leaves
Additional sesame seeds for garnish
Optional garnish: 2-inch-long pieces green onion, cut into brushes and crisped in ice water
Bring broth and water to a simmer in Dutch oven. Add chicken, reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 25 minutes. Transfer chicken to bowl using slotted spoon; reserve broth. Cool chicken completely; remove skin and cut into julienne strips.
Bring reserved broth to a boil. Add rice stick noodles and boil until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water; drain again. Cut noodles into 4-inch-long pieces.
In a large bowl, combine noodles, chicken, cucumbers, sliced green onions, cabbage strips, 3 tablespoons sesame seeds and dressing and toss well. Let stand 30 minutes.
Arrange 4 whole cabbage leaves decoratively on each of 6 plates. Mound salad on top of leaves in center of each plate. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and garnish with onion brushes, if desired.
Yield: 6 servings.
Oriental Dressing
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 cup (or more) minced, peeled fresh ginger
5 large garlic cloves, pressed
3 jalapeno chilis, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Oriental sesame oil
Whisk all ingredients in small bowl. Can be prepared 1 day ahead; cover and let stand at room temperature.
Custard Pie
A Tony Yuen specialty.
1/2 cup cottage cheese
2 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs, separated
1 cup sour cream
1 (8-ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
Powdered sugar, for garnish
Combine cottage cheese with milk, oil, 1/3 cup sugar, salt, 1-1/4 cups flour and baking powder and mix into a smooth dough. Roll out on a floured surface and line the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan.
Beat egg yolks with remaining flour and sugar and the sour cream. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in. Stir in pineapple chunks and pour mixture into pie crust.
Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes (you may have to cover with foil to keep from burning). Let cool to room temperature and dust with powdered sugar.
Yield: 8 servings.
Firehouse Floaters
A hearty, meat-and-potatoes recipe from Mike Rose.
3 pounds lean ground beef
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
4 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 medium onion, diced
Combine ground beef and onion soup mix and form into 6 patties. Brown patties, place in a casserole dish and cover with mushroom soup and diced onion. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Serve with mashed potatoes and your favorite vegetables.
Yield: 6 servings.
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