Have you ever cooked using your car's engine?

[sunnysmile]

I've heard of cooking or heating food as you drive by putting it on the manifold of the car's engine. Wish I knew what a manifold is. My son would get a kick out of this. If anyone has done this, can you tell me where to put food on the engine, and how do you keep it from falling out while you drive?

 

[Uncle Bob]

Sunnysmile......

Without being to technical, the manifold you refer to is part of the exaust system of your engine...thus exaust manifold. It bolts on the side(s) of your car/truck engine where it directs the exaust of the engine to the exaust pipe, then to the muffler, and subsequently through the tail pipe at the rear of the vehicle. It does get dangerously hot!!!! On modern vehicles it can be precarious to get to, having to reach through a maze of other componets, some which are hot!. If you managed to put some weiners wrapped in foil on the mainfold, and they didn't fall off, then they probably would be heated. Hardly worth the effort, considering the danger of coming into contact with hot or moving parts of the engine. My advice; Don't Go there!!

Be Safe!!

 

[BreezyCooking]

Actually, the infamous (& EXTREMELY funny!!!) "Car Talk" guys, who have an NPR radio show, did a very funny tongue-in-cheek episode with guest Martha Stewart - all about how to roast a chicken on a car engine - lol!!!

 

[jpmcgrew]

HB heats a frozen homemade burrito wrapped in foil on his ranch truck manifold it goes from frozen to piping hot in about an hour but that is easy since it can fit on there well.

 

[GrillingFool]

Nope, but I used to heat my sandwiches for lunch by leaving them
on the dashboard, wrapped in tin foil.

Somewhere I saw a contraption that bolted to your back bumper. It rerouted your car exhaust to use as a heat source for cooking.

I think I'd stick to Quickee Take Out gut bombing hot dogs, 2/$1.00!!!

 

[sunnysmile]

LOL you guys...not sure I want to try this now after your replies, but guess what I found? A cookbook for this called Manifold Destiny...apparently it has cooking times set by how fast you drive and how many hours to drive.

Amazon.com: Manifold Destiny: The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine!: Books: Chris Maynard,Bill Scheller

Pretty pricey for a little paperback at over $60!

 

[GrillingFool]

Currently $5.58 on ebay!
Manifold Destiny Cooking On Your Car Engine on eBay, Cookbooks, Books

 

[*amy*]

Sorry, I have to be the stick in the mud here. I would not risk causing major damage to my vehicle, or placing someone behind the wheel/operating a motor vehicle while trying to cook, as a joke, for fun or otherwise. Sounds like a dangerous prank by college or h.s. kids. Just my opinion. Stay safe.

 

[sunnysmile]

placing someone behind the wheel/operating a motor vehicle while trying to cook,

They don't actually DO anything...not like they'd be flipping saute pans or anything, they just drive.

 

[Caine]

No, but I've seen it done on television, and I also watched that hoser, Bob Blumer (The Surreal Gourmet) poach salmon, wrapped in aluminium foil, in his dishwasher.

Although both were extremely amusing, I can't anticipate any occasion where I would have to resort to such shenanigans to prepare a meal.

 

[RPCookin]

Why in the world would you want to???? I doubt that any harm would come to your engine, other than spilling whatever you were cooking all over it, but for me the real negative here (besides looking really stupid), is the possiblilty of contamination of the food. There are all sorts of things on and in your engine that you really, really don't want to eat. Not only would they be unhealthy, but I seriously doubt that youd' like most of those "seasonings" either.

Even just the smells coming off a hot engine don't exactly whet my appetite.

 

[sunnysmile]

Just a friendly question guys, no need to get hostile. It's just something I heard about and wanted to know more about. I'm new here, perhaps there is a list of approved questions somewhere? I wanted to tell my son about it, because he is into cars, and kinda likes to cook. I'm not stupid, nor do I need to "resort to these kinds of shenanigans."

 

[Andy M.]

Just a friendly question guys, no need to get hostile. It's just something I heard about and wanted to know more about. I'm new here, perhaps there is a list of approved questions somewhere? I wanted to tell my son about it, because he is into cars, and kinda likes to cook. I'm not stupid, nor do I need to "resort to these kinds of shenanigans."

Well said. All questions are acceptable. Don't hesitate to ask. Sadly, some answers are not acceptable. Please ignore those.

I think it might be worth a try for the fun of it. Newer car engines have so many shields and plastic housings, etc, it may be difficult to get access to a part of the engine that's hot enough to be effective.

 

[GB]

I know that a ton of people have done this with success. Personally I think it would be fun to try and if done correctly would not be dangerous. The food would be wrapped up well so it would not be contaminated. I love cooking things in alternate ways like this, even if it is more effort and not as efficient as normal kitchen cooking. Cooking is partially about having fun and I think this would be fun.

I do not know cars well so I would not know the manifold if I was looking right at it, thus I won't be trying it, but if your son can find his I think you both should try this (and let us know of the success and fun you have).

 

[YT2095]

I don`t drive a car, but I`ve done it with my Bike loads of times if that counts?
both on the exhaust and a little tin I had spring clipped to the motor head, hot toasted cheese buns are the best or even hot dogs, in the tin I put chili or rice in there.

Happy Days

 

[Katie H]

I've never cooked anything using my car's engine, but did steam some fish on the top rack of my dishwasher once. Turned out great.

 

[TiggerHomeMom]

Never cooked on engine, but hubby did a few time. Well, heated, not cooked per say. He is a long distance truck driver and there have been times that he has heated thing on the engine. Now he has a microwave and has abandoned this "trick of the trade".

 

[JMediger]

On our car's manifold - no but on our snowmobile's - yes. There is actually something built that you can buy to cook while you ride (it looks like a tin box with 2 straps that go around the manifold under the hood). It's nice when you are out for the day and can stop for a hot lunch rather than either bar food or a cold sandwich. We've only done burritoes and hotdogs but other people I know have done hamburgers and even hash brown potatoes. Pretty tasty with a cold beverage in the snow .

 

[SierraCook]

I never have, but a contractor or two that I work with has. Once they gave me one of their homemade burritos it was nice and hot, so it does work. If I want a hot lunch and don't have access to a microwave, I just bring a thermos of soup, chili, etc.

 

[mikki]

Years ago my husband was an over the road trucker, driving with a partner, so the rarely stopped, He had heard of this method so tried it to reheat things at first, the started cooking soup and easy stuff. He works for a diiferent company now, but just yesterday heated hamburgers on the trucks engine. My advice go for it if you want to. Just make sure you wrap your food good.