Daddy’s Firehouse Recipes

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Yep, my daddy was a fireman in San Francisco for many years. His father was a fireman was well. My dad made it to the rank of Lieutenant, while my grandfather made it to Captain. I’ve spent many a day visiting and getting to slide down the fireman’s pole in one or another of the many firehouses at which he was stationed.

Dad was always telling some interesting tales about life at the firehouse. You see they work 24 hour shifts, then have at least 2 days off. Schedules vary in other areas and have probably changed considerably since the 1980’s when he retired.

Dad was a great cook and often cooked for all the guys. In fact they took turns cooking and cleaning on their shifts. The cookbook pictured above contains 4 of his recipes, 3 of them desserts. So I’m going to quote right from the book and then add a story of my own about one of them. You’ll notice a difference in cultural attitudes in the writing from the book published in 1965.

Desserts

“Firemen are dessert men when it comes to eating – but not so generally when it comes to cooking. It’s a rather a rare fireman-cook who is a general dessert-maker. But there are a few – and they are exceptional. And there are also those who have a single specialty.

Bob Burns says he like to make sweet things because he likes to eat them. (But it must also be because he’s so skilled. Even with a temperamental firehouse oven, he can make cream puffs so light they look like puffed golden clouds as they’re stacked on the serving platter, powered sugared, and almost bursting with softly sweetened whipped cream.)

He admits he always gets a lot of compliments with this splendid cheesecake and his warm apple torte served with ice cream.

Probably never was there a fireman who borrowed his wife’s recipes who didn’t take license with them: ‘The recipe says a half cube of butter for the crust, but why fool around with half a cube; I use the whole thing.’ The wife’s version says to bake cheesecake 45 minutes. The husband says, ‘Bake it till it gets brown on top, maybe even an hour; it should be nice and stiff.’”

Unfortunately the recipe for the cream puffs is not in this book and I don’t know if anybody in the family has it. There is a story that goes with this recipe. You see, one day when Dad was making the cream puffs, it got a little frisky there. The cream puffs turned out huge. One of the guys got to tossing one of them (without the cream filling) around like a football. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was my dad that started it.

As I remember it, someone realized the brass had just arrived to do an inspection. The last throw of the day was long and high. It landed up in the rafters! The guys all lined up for inspection and prayed that the brass would not see it. Story goes that if you were to stroll down to Truck Co. # 3 and look amongst the rafters, you will still see one of those cream puffs tucked away where it landed oh so many years ago.

Recipe 1: Chocolate Shot Cheesecake

Crumb Crust

• 1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup melted butter

Mix together thoroughly crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter, and press over bottom and sides of a buttered 9-inch spring form pan. Bake in a slow oven (300˚) for 5 minutes; cool.

Cheese Filling

• 2 large packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs, separated

In a large mixing bowl, beat cheese until fluffy. Add sugar, lemon peel and juice, and vanilla; beat thoroughly.

Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry, and fold in. Turn into crumb crust. Bake in a slow oven (300˚) for 55 minutes or until golden and set.

Topping

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Chocolate shot candy decorations

Mix together sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Spread over top of hot cake. Return cake to slow oven (300˚) and bake 10 minutes more. Cool thoroughly. Sprinkle top with chocolate shot. Remove sides from pan. Makes 10 servings.

Recipe #2 – Apple Torte A La Mode

“The texture is compelling – crusty on top, cakelike on the bottom, most apple slices layered throughout. Bob Burns describes it as being “like apples in chocolate cake.”

• 4 tablespoons soft butter
• 1cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into lengthwise slices 1/8 inch thick
• Vanilla ice cream

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, soda, and salt into mixing bowl, and beat in thoroughly. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, gently stir apples into batter. Turn into a buttered 9-inch pie pan, and spread smooth. Bake in a moderate oven (350˚) for 1 hour. Cool slightly. Cut into wedges while warm, and serve with ice cream. Makes 6 servings.

Recipe #3 – Cheese-Crusted Apple Pudding

“Though called a pudding, it’s really a deep-dish pie.”

• 6 tart cooking apples, peeled and sliced
• About ¾ cup sugar
• About 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Sugar

Toss together apples, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg; turn into a buttered baking dish (about 1-1/2 quarts).

Cream Cheese Pastry

• 1 small package (3 ounces) softened cream cheese
• ½ cup soft butter
• 1 cup flour

In a mixing bowl, stir together cream cheese and butter. Mix in flour. Gather into a ball, place between two sheets of waxed paper, and roll out to top of baking dish; cut decorative vents.

Arrange cream cheese pastry over apples, turning under and fluting outside edges. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in a hot oven (400˚) for 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is brown. Allow to cool partially. Spoon out to serve. Makes 6 servings

There are a lot more family recipes to be shared, but that’s for another time. That’s it for now from the Grandma on the Go.

Grandmas Rock On!