Homewood firefighter to participate in Iron City Chef

The Iron City Chef competition has drawn sell-out crowds with the chance to see Birmingham chefs show off their skills. This year, one of Homewood’s own firefighters will be stepping into the kitchen.

The Vestavia Hills Rotary Club, which hosts Iron City Chef, has decided to make the seventh annual fundraiser the Firehouse Edition. Representatives from Mountain Brook, Homewood, Hoover and Vestavia fire departments will be competing.

“For the last six years, this signature event has had the Iron City format, bringing in four Birmingham area chefs to cook a meal that is judged by those in attendance,” Howard said. “But club members started talking last year about mixing it up, and we decided to reach out to surrounding fire departments because, after all, they’re known for their great meals.”

Homewood’s representative is Alexander Glover, an apparatus operator for Station 2. He said he’s been cooking 30 of his 40 years and attributes his start to having heckled his mother.

“I’d be around the house while mom was trying to cook, and I’d keep asking when dinner was going to be ready,” Glover said.  “Finally, she just told me to get in there and help. Then later I graduated to making tacos or pizza for family Friday night dinners and eventually went on to being a restaurant line chef.”

With the Homewood department for 12 years, Glover has been a firefighter for 17 years, always serving on crews that loved to cook. Yet the Bluff Park resident, who has taken part in some chili cook offs before, said he’s “feeling some pressure” about the upcoming event.

“I had to cook in college or I’d starve, then I refined my skills at the firehouse,” he said. “But I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m a little nervous, though I know it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Glover’s competition dish will be shells stuffed with ground beef, Italian sausage and cheese and topped with a red sauce. It will be served with a side of sautéed zucchini and summer squash, and key lime tarts with strawberry sauce for dessert.

The Iron City Chef Firehouse Edition will be held July 18 at 6 p.m. at the Jefferson State Community College Culinary and Hospitality Institute. Tickets are $55 per person with corporate tables available for $400 and $800.

For more information, go to rotarytoast.org.