Lea este artículo en español aquí.
As a latchkey kid, Herbert Alpers learned how to cook out of pure necessity. He honed his craft during the almost 30 years he spent cooking for his fellow firefighters in a Santa Clara County fire station. Now retired, he inaugurated his food tent, Kettle and Smoke Catering, three weeks ago at Hollister’s Food Truck Tuesdays.
Besides his award-winning competition-grade chili, an absolute staple, he and his daughter Nalijah Alpers are making the ambitious choice to rotate new items through the menu every week, already debuting shepherd’s pie, corned beef and cabbage, chicken tortilla soup, and more.
“We’re just getting started,” he said. “So, we’re seeing how things go, a little bit at a time, here and there. But a food booth is a great way to start. Low overhead and there’s room to grow.”
Alpers’ first experience in a kitchen was cooking for himself. Raised by his father, he would have to fend for himself while his dad was at work. He used a microwave, learning from flashcards his father left for him.
“If I wanted to make scrambled eggs,” he said, “I followed the steps. That graduated up to cooking in the oven. My dad had previously worked as a chef, so I was exposed to that. It took a lot of practice, and I burned a lot of stuff. But I enjoyed it.”
The next step in his skill development came as a side benefit of his joining Cal Fire, an almost accidental move after he, at 26, quit his job as an alarm company dispatcher. Taking public transportation around San Jose as he dropped off job applications, he had a revelation at a bus stop in front of a fire station.
“An engine pulled up,” he said, “and they jumped out and stopped traffic as they backed into the garage. “I remember looking over and thinking, ‘Man, how do you get that job?’ I knocked on the door, and the captain came out to give me some pointers.”
After completing his training, Alpers typically worked three-day shifts, living at the station throughout. The three-person crew was supposed to rotate cooking duties, but he enjoyed the job so much—and the crew was eating so well—that he often picked up extra turns in the kitchen.
“Being able to cook as part of that career was something I loved doing,” he said. “I would always have a cooking show on TV at the fire station in our downtime.”
Not that things always went smoothly. Training and maintenance left the firefighters dependent, at times, on a crockpot, and pizza deliveries were more than welcome in the aftermath of responding to an emergency.
“You’re on call 24/7,” Alpers said. “I’ve had to walk away from the grill multiple times for a call and come back to nothing but ash.”
But days off provided the chance to join in cookoffs, and the opportunity to refine his chili, which has taken first or placed in several local competitions, including the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Cookoff.
The recipe he settled on—the same one he uses for both his catering business and his food tent—features a hearty combination of beef and pork, backed by three or four different types of beans.
“The secret to a great chili is the spice profile,” Alpers said. “Despite what you’ve heard about ‘five alarm chili,’ I prefer a good balance of flavor with texture and heat. It needs to come together in a great bite. Every spoonful needs to be delicious.”
Food Truck Tuesdays regular Craig Parsons is already a fan, saying the heat level for him is perfect and “not so hot that you can’t enjoy it.”
“It’s not typical,” he said. “It’s got a lot of meat in it and I like a lot of meat. There’s some tri tip in there and some real food, not just some ground-up burger and what have you. It’s definitely special, and it’s different than what most people make.”
The pressures of competition are a bit different from the day-to-day of running a food tent, Alpers found. The time constraints differ, but instead of a judging panel at the end of the day, each customer has to walk away happy throughout the day.
There is also the complication of his varied menu, which has seen him rotating one-day specials like his potato-leek soup to his trademark chili. Alpers uses a less conventional recipe: rather than the smooth puree of the traditional Potage Parmentier, he uses chunkier pieces of potato and bacon for more body and flavor.
St. Patrick’s Day specials were also diverse, though at the cost of extra effort that kept him from opening exactly on time. But his melt-in-your-mouth corned beef and aromatic cabbage, likely a menu first for the local mobile vendors, came out perfectly.
And his shepherd’s pie, with ground beef, carrots, peas, green beans and butter-drenched mashed potatoes, lived up to the reputation of being the ultimate meat and potatoes dish.
Luckily, he has the support of Nalijah, who helped convince him to make the leap to the food tent. Alpers said she developed an interest in cooking at an early age, and he encouraged it.
“I would quiz her in the produce section,” he said, “or have her smell herbs. When I was away at the fire station for three days at a time, she would take over some of the cooking at home. And now she’s nearly done with the culinary program at Mission College.”
At his most recent outing on March 24, the two served a hearty Chicken Tortilla soup from a recipe Nalijah developed. Featuring lime-marinated chicken, the soup’s base ingredients include tomatoes, chilies, bell peppers and onions.
“She makes a tremendous version,” Alpers said. “We were a little concerned about how it would go on such a hot day, but we actually sold out, which was great to see.”
The two also made an on-the-fly taco salad, as a cooler option, with fresh produce topped with a generous portion of darkly spiced ground beef and red beans, finished off with a choice of red or green salsa and a handful of crushed tortilla chips. It’s as colorful as it is delicious.
Plans for this upcoming week, with a chance of rain looming, will, of course, feature the chili —“chili people are fanatics,” he said—but will also include a couple of nice hot soups. Tomato is a definite, perhaps served with a classic grilled cheese, along with either chicken noodle or Tuscan chicken, to be determined this weekend.
Besides the satisfaction of starting his own business and the rave reviews he has been getting from customers who are just discovering his stand, Alpers says he has enjoyed the strong sense of community among the other food vendors at the food truck event.
“Everyone is there to help you out,” he said, “with whatever you need. Even though we’re in competition for sales, it’s not cutthroat. I’ve seen the tamale guy trading with the burrito guy, and I’ve been out here trading chili for drinks and crepes. We are just a big family.
Kettle and Smoke Catering can be reached by phone at 408-373-4372 or by email at kettlesmoke@yahoo.com.
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and for giving our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.
You must be logged in to post a comment.