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Firehouse Cooks Competition from AllRecipes.com. $5k First Place Prize

Apparently this contest is not doing well so they contacted me. Little do they know that this rag only reaches 2 readers…ha.

Anyways, AllRecipes.com is having a contest hosted on Zooppa.com. They want to give away $15,000 for firefighters recording themselves cooking!

Have I mentioned that I am the firehouse cook at my house? I will be doing my part to send in a video!

All the information you need is here

Five-alarm excitement in the kitchen with the nation’s firefighters. Make a video showing America’s bravest in a whole different light, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how firefighters live, cook, and eat when they’re not fighting fires or saving lives.

Read the full brief.

Here are some of the rules:

REQUIREMENTS

Firehouse Cooks logo bumper at beginning for 3 seconds.
An Allrecipes Production end bumper for 5 seconds.
Stick closely to the format and content in the provided video. Where possible, show the camaraderie and fun at the dinner table once food is made.
2-6 minutes in length.
Submissions must be in English, no subtitles.
Don’t show any third party logos
Upload an under 100mb submission to Zooppa, and at time of upload, also send a high-res version of the file (up to 300mb, 1920×1080, .mov or m4v.) to support@zooppa.com via wetransfer.com.

Posted by The Fire Critic on July 31, 2012 • Filed under: Cooking, News, Videos • Tagged: Allrecipes.com, Fire Critic, Fire Department, Fire Service, FireCritic.com, Firefighter, Firefighting, Firehouse Cook, IronFiremen.com, Rhett Fleitz, Social Media, Video, Willie Wines Jr., Zooppa.com

Gourmet Chicken Salad Recipe…Fire Critic Style!

5 comments

You guys have asked for it. I think I have dangled it in front of your faces long enough. It is time that I set you out on your journey to see if you can make the Fire Critic Gourmet Chicken Salad (Willie, the T is silent in Gourmet). Feel free to offer your ideas to make it better.

Here is how it goes…One day at the firehouse, the guys said they wanted chicken salad. I knew how to make chicken salad, but it wasn’t great. I didn’t want to make it. I don’t like it when cooking is a chore and not fun. One of the guys said that I could come up with a gourmet style chicken salad.

I did the only natural think I knew to do…I googled it.

I found a half dozen recipes on gourmet chicken salad. I looked them over and walked away. I can cook from a recipe, but it was not necessary. Therefore, the inspiration for this recipe was taken from several recipes. I knew I did not want to use mayo or that slaw dressing. I wanted something lighter and maybe healthier.

I can also tell you that while I can give you the ingredients, you will have to figure out how much of each you will need. I simply cook by sight.

Ingredients:

Oven Roasted chicken (broiled/grilled will work as well)
Walnuts (chopped)
Almonds (sliced)
Celery chopped small
Onion chopped small (do not use a lot of onion)
Grapes cut in half (black or red seedless work the best)
Dried Cranberries
Mandarin Oranges
Creamy Cucumber salad dressing (Kroger brand offers one)
black pepper

One way of making this meal cheaper is to cook extra chicken the shift before and have it cold in the fridge for the day you want to use it. Another way to make it cheaper is to buy walnuts, cranberries, and almonds in bulk and have it on hand for the next time you make this dish.

I typically season the chicken somehow before cooking. You could try lemon pepper seasoning or oven roasted with Italian seasoning. Pull the chicken from the bone or pull apart the meat on boneless chicken breasts. Save money cooking whole chickens and picking both white meat and dark meat to use. Make it healthier by using only chicken breasts.

In a large bowl, add the chicken, walnuts, almonds, celery, onion, grapes, cranberries, and some black pepper. Mix it up and then add the salad dressing. Mix thoroughly. Finally, add the mandarin oranges and mix up a little bit more. Put the chicken salad in the fridge to chill and serve cold. This stuff is great the next day too!

The photos used in this post were from today. I made a large batch of chicken salad for dinner tonight and lunch on Friday.

The amount of ingredients I used today were approximately:

4 lbs of chicken breasts and 3 whole chickens all oven roasted and seasoned with garlic and lemon pepper seasoning.
12 oz. of walnuts
8 oz. of almonds
1 stalk of celery
1 medium onion
1 lb. of grapes
1 tablespoon of black pepper
2 bottles of creamy cucumber salad dressing
4 cans of mandarin oranges

Optional: You can add apples to the recipe too. I add them occasionally.

The guys love this stuff. It is a meal and dessert in one!

Posted by The Fire Critic on March 21, 2012 • Filed under: Cooking, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health • Tagged: Cooking, Fire Critic, Fire Department, Fire Service, FireCritic.com, Firefighter, Firefighting, Firehouse Chefs, Firehouse Cooking, Gourmet Chicken Salad, IronFiremen.com, Recipe, Rhett Fleitz, Social Media, Willie Wines Jr.

Cooking Chicken Enchiladas with the Fire Critic

5 comments

Chicken Enchiladas

Feel free to send in your recipes to share as well!

One of my guys has been telling me for a long time that I should start writing about some of the food I cook at the firehouse. I agree with him and am finally getting around to it. I cook most of the time at our firehouse. The guys seem to like my food, or they are too lazy to cook good food and deal with it. I haven’t always cooked. I don’t like whining about eating what I consider “good” food. I have been at firehouses where I didn’t cook because the crew liked “meat and potatoes”. They ate some red meat, mashed potatoes, and green beans at every dinner. No herbs, no spices, no flavor…puke.

I enjoy cooking. I enjoy grilling while drinking good beer most of all, but I leave the beer at home. If you are friends with me on Facebook, I like to post a picture now and then of some of the food we eat at the house.

I am on the grocery getter this cycle…what the hell am I saying, I am always on the grocery getter. You know, the larger red truck that sits next to the medic unit that has firefighters on it. Actually, that is what our medics think it is…a grocery getter. They think that our sole purpose is to cook for them twice a day while they run calls. Unless they are riding the engine, and then it is just part of the job.

Here is one variation of chicken enchiladas…with pictures of course!

I don’t work off of a recipe that often, so use the amount of ingredients you will need.

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken Breast prepared in enchilada mix
Refried Beans
Spanish rice made with Rotel diced tomatoes
Pico De Gallo (onions, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, add jalapenos if you want)
Soft tortilla shells
Shredded cheddar cheese
Enchilada sauce

Start off with a soft tortilla shell on a clean surface. Remember, if one hits the ground you have 5 seconds...anything more is just disgusting. I only dropped two of them.

Smear refried beans on half of the tortilla shell. Don't worry, we will bake the farts out in the oven!

Add a row of spanish rice down the center as seen in the photo. You can chant Ole, Ole if no one else is around...I did!

Add a row of chicken on top of the rice. Keep it neat! What am I saying...be as messy as you want to be!

Next, add the pico de gallo. Add as much as you want. This is the good stuff!

Now fold the side over towards the side with the refried beans on it. Make it tight! Don't be scared...grab a hold of that thing!

Finally, fold the side over that has the refried beans on it...be sure to keep it tight. The refried beans will keep the enchilada held together.

I didn't get a shot of the ingredients all set up, so this is the set up here a little later in the production. I have pico de gallo on the left. In the pans are spanish rice, refried beans, and chicken.

Here they are! Like piggies in a blanket minus the bun and wiener! Ok, nothing like piggies in a blanket at all actually.

Place them in pans for the oven. Pour the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas liberally.

Douse the enchiladas with cheese. The more the better! If I were not at the firehouse, at this point I would be 3-4 Coronas into it. Substitute any other decent Mexican beer...No Willie, Coors Light does not count!

Put the pans in the oven and bake them for 20-30 minutes. Less if the firefighters look hungry, more if the medics are whining! Yeah, I know the oven is filthy...it seasons the food!

If you need help, look around to see if anyone is willing to help cook. In my case, nobody...not even a cricket was chirping. It's okay guys...the paid guy will get it!

Be sure to use every pan in the kitchen...especially since no one was around to help. Yeah, these guys think that food just magically appears at noon and 6pm everyday! Actually, I cleaned the dishes this time. I was feeling froggy. OH, and that is a knife in the sink...I live dangerously!

Here is the end result. 2 1/2 pans of enchiladas...did I mention it was only 4 of us eating. That's right, these things are excellent warmed up. Just pop them in the oven again for 30 minutes and they will be better than the first time!