THE Cookbook

[efdcapt115 1,511]

A couple of days ago, while mulling around the house trying to think about something interesting to write about, I pulled out a soft cover book from under the coffee table. It’s a little cookbook, and I’ve had it for so long I know quite a few of the recipes by heart, so I hadn’t really looked at it for some time.

So here I am holding “The Firefighter’s Cookbook”, John Sineno. “Award Winning Recipes From a Fire-Fighting Chef.” The book is a compilation of recipes, submitted by members of the FDNY. It contains drawings of firehouse scenes, sketched by one Robert Paul Scudellari. The first one is so simple and peaceful on page 2; two turnout coats hanging on hooks, two pairs of folded down rubber boots beneath.

Only a couple of pages in, and there’s some info:

A Vintage Original

First Edition August 1986

by John Sineno

It dawns on me; I bought this book about five months after I got on the job. This soft-cover book that has somehow stayed quite intact, save the rounded corners, and the dripped clam sauce on page 77‘s recipe, “Linguine with Clam Sauce” submitted by a Lt. J. Shea, of the Brooklyn/Queens Holy Name Society.

An Introduction

John Sineno was appointed to the New York City Fire Department on October 2, 1962. He describes his attitude as “cavalier” and his wife worrying, when after graduating probie school he get’s assigned to the “Fire Factory,” home to Engine 58 and Ladder 26, in the heart of Harlem. He is concerned on his first day reporting for duty. Can he live up to the job? The only question asked of him was from the then Captain of Ladder 26, Raymond Kelly, “Can you cook?”

I slump back into the couch, realizing this book had become much more than a cookbook. It’s also become a history book. A very gracious look back in time, when fires were constantly raging, but within the firehouse a calmness, decency and Brotherhood.

I remember looking at the illustrations and thinking they were kind of boring back in 1986. Just simple sketches of daily firehouse life:

A child visiting the firehouse with his mom, and the chauffeur standing next to the open door of the cab, having lifted that child behind the wheel.

A probie standing at the slop sink, wringing out the mop.

On page 46 a dish entitled “A Polish Farewell To Lent.” Sketch of a hook and a leather helmet, hanging on the railing of the engine cover in the open jump seat.

There are numerous sketches of men working in the kitchen of the firehouse.

But now I see the beauty in these drawings. The purpose of this book obviously, was not to convey the horrors of fire, or the danger these men faced, working in the busiest firehouse “on earth.” There are plenty of other books written about the fire service, particularly the FDNY, that have all the tension and seriousness of the business a fireman is faced with.

No, this one is special. It’s about the kitchen, the hub of life in any firehouse. It’s about the in-between time, the before time, and the after time in a very dangerous profession. The prep time for meals; “some good, some not so good, some great.” It’s about the chops busting and laughter that goes on in a firehouse kitchen. And it’s about the food. Recipes.

Smiling on the cover, wearing their gear with a table load of prepared dishes on a red tablecloth, and a Mack fire engine behind them; John Sineno E-58, and three Brothers, all from different firehouses around the city; E-202, E-248 and L-156. Sineno, who referred to his Italian grandmother in the introduction, is holding his award winning cheesecake, coupled with an appearance on the Phil Donahue that actually set the wheels in motion for this book to be made.

I stare at this cover. I can almost hear laughter in the background coming from behind the rig. Members joking around. What a great day this must have been. What a great day later on, for John Sineno to see his cookbook published.

There was however a greater purpose described within this wonderful book. It started with the Harvard Business Club visiting the Fire Factory; eighty people. John and company fed them well, even though they had no idea how many people would show up that day.

John and two fellow firemen, Jack Meara and Joe Hickey, were trying to establish a Burn Center in New York city. They felt “too many people were succumbing to burn injuries, and something had to be done about it.” That connection with the Harvard Business Club ended up with the formation of The New York Firefighters Burn Center Foundation.

The book states that “persons receiving third-degree burns in excess of 25 percent of their anatomy were for all practical purposes dead, unless transported to a burn center.” Do you relate to the compassion and dedication, to want to do something so incredibly humane? Not only did they pull the victims out, but now wanted to establish a state of the art burn center, so the victims might live. And they did it with New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, establishing what firemen referred too as “The Miracle on 68th Street.”

John gave away half the proceeds of the book to the Burn Center.

In the book there’s a request to make a donation to the Burn Center Foundation.

I started out not knowing where this entry would end up. But I think we should acknowledge with extreme gratitude, the work these men did in helping get the first Burn Center in NYC established. Something I imagine today, with Level One trauma centers here and there, might not have the same meaning it did back in the days when burn victims were “the most neglected of hospital patients.”

Thank you John Sineno, who passed away on April 2, 2003, and all the Brothers that fought those fires, made the saves, and then helped get a hospital built for the victims. And thank you for the cookbook. I think tonight I’m going to make the Shrimp Parmesan, page 12, and continue to think about this great little book and the heroes behind it. A cookbook that literally saved lives.

NEVER FORGET!

Book is out of print, Vintage publishers out of business, but still available from some on-line bookstores.

Photo and description of book from my own purchased copy.

[Bnechis 3,961]

Nice story about a great cookbook. I prepared my Probie dinner with help from that book.

"How to serve man.......................Its a cook book"

[efdcapt115 1,511]

Nice story about a great cookbook. I prepared my Probie dinner with help from that book.

"How to serve man.......................Its a cook book"

Do you remember what dish you made Cap?

Also, how about some of the other members sharing their memories of the book? Did any of you use it to help you prepare meals in your firehouse?

PS: If you have a copy of this book hold onto it. You might be able to see the price in the upper left corner @$7.95. I saw one listed on a website; used, close to $100!

Edited December 22, 2010 by efdcapt115

[Mofire24 27]

I think Mr Pinto can add something here especially because he has a recipe in the book come on joe

[antiquefirelt 994]

I just purchased a copy a few years ago at a book sale for $3. Who knew it'd be an investment as well as culinary resource?

[jack10562 414]

I found a used copy online, I can't wait for it to get here!

[robert benz 344]

lots of good recipes for sure, ok for some old timer out there who has a copy of the GREAT HUDSON VALLEY FIREHOUSE COOKBOOK. soft cover, flip chart style, lots of good firehouse recipes in that one also