Chicago Firefighters Show Off Culinary Skills
CHICAGO --
NBC5 went inside Chicago's Fire Department. But we're not talking about fires or rescues, we're talking about food. Every day, firefighters cook up their own lunches and dinners in the firehouse. NBC5's Alex Perez dined in at some of Chicago's finest firehouse kitchens. They can be ready in seconds and race to the scene of an emergency. But Chicago firefighters also can cook and clean.
"Power washing, yes ... that's invented by all the guys that pass all their knowledge to us," said Rich Stack, from Engine 63. Every morning starts the same at Engine 63. "We do a collection in the morning -- 15 bucks a firefighter buys lunch and dinner groceries," Stack said.
Each shift has its own refrigerator. By 10 a.m., lunch is under way. "Another firehouse favorite is the Louisiana hot sauce. If a food tastes really bad, you can put a lot of hot sauce on it to mask it," Stack said. "Our shift doesn't use that much. The second and third shift need a lot." Just like in the field, it's a team effort.
"What we're doing here is making chicken sandwiches. My partner Dave Navarro is pounding out chicken breasts," Stack said. "We'll grill up the sandwiches, add cheese, bacon and barbecue sauce, and that will be lunch."
One firefighter at Engine 63, Jim, has been grounded from cooking. "For lunch he made octopus, right? ... He's been in the penalty box ever since," one firefighter said.
As the chicken hit the grill, an emergency call came in. "You are just getting ready to eat, and you leave your stuff and you run," Stack said. "All of the sudden you're gone. And hey, could someone run back to the firehouse and turn the ovens off?" The chicken was saved.
"My mom always said, 'I cook it, you got to eat it,'" Navarro said. "You understand now." "And yes, we got Pepto and Tums because you never know what the day may leave for you," Stack said. Jokes and partnerships are made in the kitchen and they translate to the field.
"It's as much a part of our jobs, fitting in in the firehouse as on the fire grounds," Stack said. "When you're involved in that, you're involved in the house and life here is enjoyable."
"This the best perch sandwich I've had in the firehouse," one firefighter said.
"What does it tastes like?" another asked.
"Chicken," the first replied.
For dinner, Perez headed north to Engine 108, where pizza was on the menu.
"They've done something different to the sauce here, and it's not spreading as nice as it usually spreads. They sabotaged me," said Joe, the day's firefighter cook.
"I got the best help in the world here," he said.
It's a new menu but the same story -- the food makes the team.
"I think this is the most important room in the firehouse," firefighter Rich Savoy said. "Not because of the food. The food helps, (but) this is the one time we get to sit around together.
From the north to the south, it's the food that makes the house.
"I think our food beats every other firehouse in the city," one firefighter said.
But a firefighter at another engine said, "You just started a war!"
There are perks for those who offer to cook. Cooks don't have to take a night watch, so they get a little extra sleep.
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