Texas Cooking Demonstration Highlights Firehouse Recipes

Two Wichita Falls firefighters shared several of the firehouse favorite recipes with the public during a cooking lesson at Natural Grocers during lunchtime Saturday.

Wichita Falls Fire Chief Jon Reese and Bill Weske, retired assistant fire chief, showed about a dozen people how to make three recipes – firehouse meatloaf, Elks loaded potatoes and cornbread salad.

“The meatloaf and cornbread salad are both from retired firefighters. That recipe (the meatloaf) has been in the drawer at several of the fire stations for 20, 25 years probably,” Reese said.

Firefighters share the cooking duties during their time spent together at the fire station. They use meal times to pass on traditions and recipes to the recruits.

“Cooking is a huge part of fellowship around the fire station,” Reese said. “Everything centers at the firehouse around the kitchen, the coffee pot and the table.

“There’s a lot of good lessons learned that we pass along in that informal atmosphere. It’s a good avenue to pass on our traditions.”

Recruits at first help with the preparation of the meal, including cutting onions and other smaller tasks, before being given the duties of being in charge of a meal.

“That’s part of the dues you have to pay as a recruit firefighter – proving yourself as a good firefighter, proving yourself as a good team member and, somewhere in there, as a good cook,” Reese said.

“If you go your whole career and you don’t learn how to cook and aren’t able to go home and cook, then you just didn’t pay attention at the fire station.”

After the demonstration, the group was able to come up and sample the food, as well as ask questions, including how to store leftovers and how they prepared the leftovers in the fire stations.

The Fire Department is putting together a recipe book which should be ready in early December to share their recipes with the public and other departments.

“We hope that’s going to be a success. It’s a fundraiser for the Jeff Hardin Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Kelly Crush Memorial Scholarship Fund,” Reese said.

For more information on where to purchase the cookbook, check the Wichita Falls Fire Department Facebook page or call the central Fire.