CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Robin Matsuda, left, added a jar of kim chee to the shopping cart pushed by fire Capt. Jay Whalen at Safeway in Kapolei last week.

Firefighters must master
cooking on a tight budget

---

By Betty Shimabukuro
betty@starbulletin.com

A meal allowance of $7 per day would buy you a loaf of bread, a package of baloney and maybe a head of lettuce. Sandwiches all day long, oh joy.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM The firefighters' cookbook sits in a toy firetruck at the Kapolei station.

Pool that $7 with your co-workers, though, and that Econ 101 phrase "economies of scale" becomes the world's clearest concept. View it in practice at firehouses across the state every day.

A week ago today, for example, the men of Tower 40 from the Kapolei Fire Station were at their neighborhood Safeway. It was their day to cook and they were power-shopping.

In about 30 minutes, this trio would fill a cart with the fixings for chili, shoyu chicken, pork stir-fry and a roast, plus tossed salad, all to be eaten by today's crew. No lists, no recipe cards, no calculator. Their budget: $119 ($7 times the 17 firefighters on duty, notwithstanding vacations or sick days. "Whether the guys are there or not, we still get the money," Capt. Jay Whalen says.)

Their total at the checkout line comes pretty darn close: $126.65.

Firefighters may be the ultimate economy cooks, says filmmaker Edgy Lee, whose recent documentary, "A Tribute to Hawaii's Firefighters," took her into many stations at many mealtimes.

At one station, they shared kalua pig and cabbage with the crew; at another, panko-crusted sushi.

She was so impressed that she took on two side projects: firefighter cookoffs that aired on KHON/Fox TV's "Hawaii's Kitchen" a few weeks back and a cookbook, "Hawaii's Favorite Firehouse Recipes," which hit stores last week.

By and large, firefighters practice reality cooking, Lee says, watching the budget and the time. "You can't be spending four hours on a meal." So really, the recipes in "Firehouse Recipes" are the practical sort that mesh well with everyday life.

"I think a cookbook made by the firefighters of their favorite recipes is something really special," Lee says. "Meals are really a focal point of life in a fire station."

A shift at a Honolulu fire station runs 24 hours, 8 a.m. to 8 a.m., covering three meals. Everyone takes a turn as cook. This can involve a steep learning curve, as many recruits arrive with no kitchen experience.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Dan Nakaji, above, loaded groceries into the Tower 40 truck outside Safeway in Kapolei last week.

Robin Matsuda never cooked before he signed on with the Nanakuli station 5 1/2 years ago. "I learned all these easy-kine stews and chilis. It's kinda cheap and it goes a long way."

Now he cooks at home, even.

Nanakuli's one of those smaller stations, but Matsuda's on loan on this day to the Kapolei station, so he's prowling the aisles of Safeway with Whalen and the third cook du jour, Dan Nakaji.

Matsuda's contribution to dinner will be pork stir-fried with kim chee. He carries two large jugs of kim chee to the cart and says, "I'm done."

The first stop for the crew is normally the meat department. Their usual strategy is to check out the meats on special and build around that.

"If you make a plan, it always comes out more expensive," Nakaji says. "So it's better to go with what's on sale." He adds a bargain beef roast to the cart, surrounding it with carrots, potatoes and celery.

Nakaji says he's never had a horrible meal at a firehouse. Overcooking or over-seasoning is about the worst that happens. "Usually somebody makes a mistake like that. They never do it again."

His roast, Matsuda's stir-fry and a pot of shoyu chicken will all be served for dinner. Leftovers are recycled at breakfast.

BETTY SHIMABUKURO / BETTY@STARBULLETIN.COM Back at the firehouse, Capt. Jay Whalen scooped up some of his chili.

Whalen, meanwhile, is loading up on beef to make chili for lunch. He'll spend $30 on steak, ground beef and hot dogs.

The city pays the $7 per person maximum, raised from $6.50 this summer. Staples such as rice -- 10 cups cooked daily at lunch and another 10 at dinner -- are purchased out of a pool of funds that everyone at the station contributes to. The same fund covers their cable service and other incidentals.

There's always a chance they'll be called away in the middle of a shopping trip, Whalen says. "It depends where we are in the process. If it's already in the bags, we rush it to the truck and take it along. If we're still in the process, we leave it and come back for it later."

The store is normally accommodating, given the circumstances.

This shopping trip reaches completion without incident, and the men carry their bags out to the truck, which is taking up four parking spaces outside.

Honolulu fire crews work every other day for three shifts, then get four days off. Whoever's working on Saturday cleans the stove and the refrigerator. ("Our wives love us because we always know how to cook and clean," Whalen says.)

Tower 40 won't be on duty at Christmas, but the crew has drawn New Year's Eve, often the busiest day of the year. Still, Whalen says, they'll plan a special dinner -- it just might take longer to get to the table, what with emergency calls and all.

For holidays, crews supplement their meal allowances with their own money and put together menus that might include shrimp and prime rib, or perhaps turkey and all the fixings, Whalen says.

"We invite our families and we all sit down and enjoy."

Begin this dish, Whalen says, with "a good grade of steak -- whatever's on sale that looks good." He says the heat level can be adjusted to your family's taste, although at the station, "I make it the way I like it and they have to eat around that."

Firehouse Chili

4-1/2 pounds steak, trimmed of fat and sliced
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, diced
4 stalks celery, sliced
5 14-1/2 ounce cans kidney beans
4 14-/12 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1/4 to 1/2 cup chile powder
1 heaping teaspoon pepper
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or more to taste
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon salt

Brown steak and ground beef in oil with garlic; drain.

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Serves 20.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 330 calories, 13 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 80 mg cholesterol, 790 mg sodium, 22 g carbohydrate, 31 g protein.*

Firefighter Geoff Shon contributed this hearty but meatless recipe to the "Hawaii's Favorite Firehouse Recipes" cookbook.

Baked Tofu Loaf

2 21-ounce containers firm tofu, mashed and squeezed to remove water
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, grated
2 cans water chestnuts, chopped
2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and finely chopped
6 eggs, beaten
1-1/2 cups mayonnaise (Best Foods preferred)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except soup. Mix well. Pour into a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and bake 80 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Warm soup on stove (do not dilute). Spread over top of the loaf. Slice to serve. Serves 12.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 470 calories, 37 g total fat, 6 g saturated fat, 125 mg cholesterol, 625 mg sodium, 19 g carbohydrate, 21 g. protein.*

Tributes The cookbook: "Hawaii's Favorite Firehouse Recipes" (Filmworks Press, 2002) sells for about $12 at most bookshops. The film: Edgy Lee's "A Tribute to Hawaii Firefighters" will show at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. Tuesday and 4 p.m. next Wednesday at the Art House at Restaurant Row.

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