Municipal Credit Union helped New York’s bravest turn up
the heat by sponsoring The New York Daily News “5 Alarm
Cook Off” competition for New York City Firefighters.
Each New York City borough had its own competition, with
the winners going on to compete against other borough’s on
“The Rachel Ray Show.” Food network personalities Sissy
Biggers, known for the show “Ready, Set Cook” and Amanda
Freitag from “America’s Next Iron Chef” hosted the five
borough-wide competitions. Over 60 firefighters submitted
recipes to be a part of the competition and contestants
had an hour to prepare and present their meals. The
competitions were judged by local chefs, restaurant owners
and representatives from Municipal CU. Each borough winner
received a 52-inch flat-screen television for his
firehouse.
The
competition recipes included meals like flank steak
pinwheels with a teriyaki ginger glaze from Jimmy Lowe in
the Bronx, pan-seared scallop and shrimp Asian spring
rolls from Steve Brunner in Manhattan, pork meatloaf with
pineapple topping from John Sierp in Brooklyn, jumbo
shrimp a la Terry Diablo named after firefighter Terry
Farrell who died on 9/11 from Keith Young in Queens and
chipotle jambalaya from Sal DePaola from Staten Island.
DePaola was crowned the winner on Ray’s show and received
a new kitchen full of gourmet appliances for his
firehouse. Also, all of the finalists were given a
complete set of Rachel Ray cookware.
“Sponsoring the competition was a natural fit for us
because the FDNY is one of our biggest SEG groups,” said
Geraldine Light, vice president public relations and
corporate communications. “It was so different from other
events, and it was great being involved in something that
is just fun.”
With 20-30 different editorial pieces printed and online
in the Daily Newsm Municipal gained a significant amount
of press from the event, and Light said it brought the
credit union closer with the FDNY. Municipal employees
that served as judges at the competitions were quoted in
the articles about their thoughts on the meals and why
they selected the winning recipes.
“The FDNY puts their lives on the line for New York City
everyday, and it was wonderful to see these guys having
fun, not just racing off to rescue in some disaster. They
were creative and cooking up some great food. I was truly
impressed with all of the dishes,” said Ken Currey, vice
president of business development who served as one of the
judges in the Manhattan competition.
Light said sponsoring the event is definitely something
the credit union is planning on doing again next year and
that the firefighters said that they are looking forward
to participating every year.
