Cow Pig Dog Day growing tradition at Wolfville fire station
There are plenty of traditional meals around the Christmas season: Turkey dinner, chowders and Chinese takeout are just some of the meals that people have on specific days at this time of year.
But for nine years, proteinheavy fare has been on the list for some current and former firefighters in Kings County.
A group of Wolfville firefighters had gone out for a Christmas Eve lunch for years, until a particularly bad meal had them rethink things. That led one of them, Capt. Matt Sponagle, to suggest Cow Pig Dog Day.
For those unfamiliar with the culinary masterpiece, you take a grilled hot dog, add oven-cooked bacon and a piece of real cheese, and wrap it up in hamburger before baking it in the oven and finishing it on the barbecue.
Retired deputy fire chief Adam Forsythe said about half a dozen people were at the first CPD day, which in the intervening years has expanded to include current and former firefighters from other departments as well. This year, firefighters from Kings, Hants, Annapolis and Queens counties attended.
“The first couple of years we just did it for the group of us, but in 2012, I said ‘let’s start opening this up to other departments and former firefighters,’” Forsythe said. “Last year we fed 87. It’s a chance to get the guys and girls together and have fun on Christmas Eve... it’s a good time.”
The first hot dogs and bacon started cooking at 7:45 a.m.
“This year we’re doing 30 pounds of hamburger, 12 pounds of bacon, 174 hot dogs and two pounds of cheese,” he said in the kitchen of the fire hall, where the smell of maple bacon was heavy in the air.
An assembly station was in place, where Forsythe would roll out the hamburger between pieces of waxed paper, place the hot dog, bacon and cheese that were handed to him on top, and roll them up.
The record for consumption the of the roughly quarter-pound delights is six, Forsythe said.
Pop, chips, rice crispy squares and cheese and pepperoni helped round out the feast.
And for those who want a healthier meal?
“We have bottled water,” Forsythe said.