By Thadeus Greenson
Eureka Times Standard (California)
Copyright 2006 Times - Standard
All Rights Reserved
ARCATA, Calif. — When a house is on fire, a cat can’t find its way out of a tree or there is a multiple-car pileup on the freeway, you can count on the Arcata firefighters to be there.
Just don’t turn your back on them around any sweet, frozen desserts.
“Firemen just aren’t honorable when it comes to ice cream,” explained Arcata Fire Chief John McFarland.
Having served the Arcata area for more than 120 years, responding to more than 2,000 calls a year, the Arcata Fire Department is well-known as one of the area’s primary first responders.
What isn’t widely known is that many of Arcata’s 10 full-time firefighters can navigate their way around a kitchen as well as any fire scene.
On a recent Wednesday morning, McFarland, Fire Captain Curt Watkins and volunteer and former chief Archie Bernardi buzzed around the downtown station’s commercial-grade kitchen and offered the Times-Standard a firsthand look at firehouse cooking.
As the three-man crew busily prepared a lunch of “Archie’s firehouse chicken,” a fresh vegetable medley, couscous Alfredo, “killer” garlic bread, a garden salad and a vibrant strawberry lemonade, McFarland took a minute to show off the station’s freezer.
There, alongside trays of enchiladas and bags of chicken breasts, were the most coveted items in the station: Butter and ice cream. And we’re talking about pounds of butter and gallons of ice cream.
Despite donating money out of their own pockets for a “chow fund,” Watkins said disputes over whose food is whose are few and far between — except when it comes to ice cream and butter, which, he said, the guys have learned from experience to keep in abundance.
Watkins said one shift once grew so frustrated with another shift’s devouring of ice cream they decided to get even. After finding the station’s last five-gallon bucket of Dryer’s perilously low, Watkins and company took drastic measures. They melted down the remaining ice cream, added salt, and re-froze it, taking care to remove it from the freezer to stir it occasionally, ensuring that it retained its fluffy texture.
Needless to say the next shift had a rude awakening and learned a cardinal firehouse rule: You’ve got to respect another person’s ice cream.
Practical jokes aside, firehouse cooking is taken quite seriously.
A short list of rules govern Arcata Fire Station cooking. Some are tongue-in-cheek, like “ice cream can correct any questionable meal,” while others are taken to heart, like “never ever run short on food” and “don’t overcook, it will probably get re-heated.”
With the constant threat of a siren putting an early end to meals, cooks are ready to leave the stove at a moment’s notice and meals are prepared with the idea that they might not actually be eaten until hours down the road.
The Wednesday of the Times-Standard’s culinary firehouse tour, lunch went off without a hitch, or in this case without a siren.
An eerie silence fell over the room as a group of about 10 dug into lunch. After an initial feeding frenzy, forks slowed down and conversation sprang up and wandered from weed-control ordinances to fire truck maintenance.
The meal was capped off with firehouse strawberry shortcake — a Hostess twinkie smothered in strawberries and whipped cream set next to a slab of vanilla ice cream.
As forks scraped up the last bits of strawberries and whipped cream, nothing could be heard but the highest compliments to the trio of chefs. Perhaps everyone enjoyed the meal, or perhaps they just remembered firehouse rule number 15: “Whoever irritates the cook, is now the cook.”
“It’s really good camaraderie,” the 93-year-old Bernardi said of these lunchtime gatherings, while reflecting on his more than 60 years with Arcata Fire. “We’ve cooked just about everything together.”
McFarland agreed, saying “chow time” is really a chance for the crew to fuel up and bond.
“Firefighters are a lot like seagulls — we just eat and squawk,” he said. “It’s kind of a ceremonial thing. Firehouses and food are an American tradition.”
McFarland recently sat down with the Times-Standard to talk about where he likes to eat and some of the similarities between fighting fires and cooking meals.
Times-Standard: Did you cook growing up?
McFarland: Yes. I best remember my birthday number eight. Several of my buddies were present to see me open the gift of bounty from my family. The best gift was an electric mixer, then a cast iron frying pan and an electric ice cream freezer. I was officially into cooking, specializing at the time in fancy desserts. My buddies didn’t get it.
T-S: Have you ever worked as a cook?
McFarland: Short answer, no. But, I have catered some grand events for 50 to 300 guests by special requests from friends and family. Usually, the rest of the friends and family tried to hide when they were recruited to assist.
T-S: What made you decide to become a fire fighter?
McFarland: The Arcata fire whistle. In 1966, I came to Arcata to attend Humboldt State University and was intrigued by the sound of the fire whistle, followed by sirens. When I inquired as to what is that noise, I was directed to the Arcata Fire House, where I was greeted by Archie Bernardi. Archie explained how volunteers were called for a fire and asked me if I was interested in joining... The rest is history- over 40 years of fire fighting and it’s still fun. As you can see, I’m still cooking with my mentor, Archie, at the firehouse. At age 93, Archie is still active in fire fighting and cooking.
T-S: Are there similarities between cooking a meal and fighting a fire? If so what are they?
McFarland: Multitasking. If you can’t multitask, you can’t do either one. You’ll end up with seven tiny one-course dinners if you can’t figure this one out. Additionally, you must always have a “plan B” in mind while cooking a meal or fighting a fire. What if you can’t find the needed ingredients? What if you don’t have the proper utensils? What if it is cooking too fast? There is no difference between the kitchen dilemmas or the fireground disasters — you better react quickly or you will lose. Famous last words: “What burns never returns,” food or houses, it’s all the same.
T-S: What have you learned from fighting fires that you can apply in the kitchen?
McFarland: The power of steam. Steam is water vapor — really hot water vapor. Steam is high-temperature water expanded 1,700 times at over 212 degrees. Human flesh can withstand 500 to 600 degrees of dry heat for a short time — how long can you hold your hand in the oven? Wet heat, in the form of hot water or steam, can cause a severe scald injury in only a second or two at any temperature greater than 115 degrees. Remember the basic first aid for any burn is cool water for several minutes. The show must go on to complete the assignment, whether you’re in the kitchen or the fire engine. Cool the burn. Suck it up. And, get back to work.
T-S: What kinds of things do you like to cook at home and at the station?
McFarland: I like to prepare an entire coordinated bill of fare from start to finish. Potlucks and assigned side-dish events drive me crazy — just let me do it all. My favorites include “real food.” “Real food” includes meat dishes with bones. I especially dislike the phrase “boneless and skinless.” It always brings to mind the Far Side cartoon of the Boneless Skinless Chicken Ranch. I like chicken, real chicken. Not the boneless, skinless chicken breasts that appear on every menu everywhere. I like lamb. I like duck. I like prime rib. Fat guys like everything.
T-S: What is your signature dish?
McFarland: Seafood pasta primavera. A bed of fresh fettuccine loaded with bay shrimp and tiny scallops, tossed with parsley and a creamy alfredo sauce made from scratch. Garnish it with giant prawns, sea scallops, artichoke hearts, olives, mushrooms and any assorted fresh catch available. Serve with a green salad and a whole plain French baguette, not sourdough for this one, with lots of unsalted butter. Always a big hit. Make a lot, they’ll eat it all.
T-S: When you go out to eat, where do you like to go?
McFarland: Eating out depends on the occasion and the location. In Arcata, I really like Folie Douce. In Eureka, it’s Sea Grill, unless it’s for prime rib, then it’s O-H’s. In Crescent City, it’s always Northwoods, where the chef is also the fire chief. If I’m just hungry, late or in a hurry, it’s Niveens in McKinleyville because it’s close to home and always good.
T-S: As a firefighter and as a cook, what piece of advice would you give a home cooking enthusiast?
McFarland: Experiment. Don’t be afraid. But, try it on a control group first. There will be fatal errors and failures, I guarantee that. My family still hates the thought of my Cherries Jubilee experiment. Just move on quickly with “plan B.” Don’t admit anything and don’t confess — ever. Hide the evidence. If you’ve taken shortcuts, hide the cans and boxes.
T-S: When you’re not fighting fires or cooking meals, what do you like to do?
McFarland: I like to garden. Growing your own garnish items is a real highlight -- both in the vegetable and flower categories. Lawn is still the toughest crop anyone could ever try to perfect. Don’t let the grass grow.
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Bernardi offered the following recipe for his famous Firehouse Chicken:
Archie’s Firehouse Chicken
-- 1 fryer chicken, cut into quarters
-- 1/3 cup sherry wine
-- 1 pound sliced mushrooms
-- 1 package Lawry’s dry spaghetti sauce mix
-- 1 stick of butter
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Wash chicken and place in a casserole dish. Dab with butter and sprinkle sauce over chicken. Spread mushrooms over chicken and top with sherry wine.
Cover pan with tinfoil and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Serves 4 people or 1 to 2 firefighters.