Has anybody here (successfully) cooked anything on your car's exhaust manifold?

I've heard of people putting loaded baked potatoes in a couple of heavy wraps of aluminum foil and driving several hundred miles before stopping to eat.

I've never done it but wondered if anybody here has done so and how it worked.

sardines

While snowmobiling, used a hotdogger for burritos. Would probably work in a car too.

http://www.mfgsupply.com/hotdog4.html

Here's a bigger one....called "Muff Pot"

http://compare.ebay.com/like/360539853466?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

I've reheated burritos on the intake manifold - it worked ok.
The exhaust manifolds are too awkwardly shaped to hold much without falling off on the road, IME.
Make sure and place the food somewhere that isn't next to a big oil leak.

Originally Posted by prairie_goat

I've reheated burritos on the intake manifold - it worked ok.
The exhaust manifolds are too awkwardly shaped to hold much without falling off on the road, IME.
Make sure and place the food somewhere that isn't next to a big oil leak.

Good points.

I thought something like a heavy wire-mesh screen could be formed to fit the manifold and then partially wrapped around the items being cooked.

Originally Posted by slumlord

sardines

Yep, but it wasnt my car!

Originally Posted by Gregdoo

While snowmobiling, used a hotdogger for burritos. Would probably work in a car too.

http://www.mfgsupply.com/hotdog4.html

Here's a bigger one....called "Muff Pot"

http://compare.ebay.com/like/360539853466?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

I had hotdogger on my snowmachine and heated burritos on it too. It was kinda tricky at first on how long to leave 'em in the cooker but after a few experiments an hour seemed about right. The thing eventually cracked and started rattling so it got tossed.

My buddy liked tuna fish sandmiches wrapped in tinfoil and always stuck a couple in the trunk behind the seat. After a couple hours of hard riding and bouncing around they turned into tuna ball sandmiches.

I think I'd just stop & build a fire in some Wal Mart parking lot along the way.

Mike

canned goods only, but have done it..
followed by "O chit do we have a can opener?" LOL

Originally Posted by Talf

canned goods only, but have done it..
followed by "O chit do we have a can opener?" LOL

Canned goods ? Won't they get too hot & kersplode up under there ?

Mike

I've done canned chili many times. The exhaust manifold on a friends truck was shaped perfectly to hold several cans in place, even on bumpy dirt roads.

Does a Siamese cat count? Had we know it was going to happen, we'd have sprayed a bit of Pam on there. Cleanup a few days later was not that easy......

Originally Posted by JPro

Does a Siamese cat count? Had we know it was going to happen, we'd have sprayed a bit of Pam on there. Cleanup a few days later was not that easy......

Does cat taste like chicken?

I ate some Thanksgiving turkey near Moab, Utah, one year that was cooked on the manifold of a Ford van driven down from Green River, Wyoming, by some friends. It was actually pretty good except that the woman (who was from California) had no clue about how to make decent dressing.

Not on a vehicle, but we cook on our train engines all the time. Lots of different places in an engine you can cook stuff depending on what it is and how well done you want it.

Back when I was a young marine in Spain we cooked some snails on the guard truck manifold and ate them.

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KdKffT5pMRc[/video]

I have also reheated breakfast burritos on the truck engine. We always did that the first morning of our prairie dog shoots. After driving most of the night to reach the dog towns at dawn, we would pop the hood and place the foil wrapped burritos on the engine to heat up while we were shooting. It worked just fine.

I fairly well cooked the back of one hand on the exhaust manifold of a small block Chevrolet.

Originally Posted by CCCC

I fairly well cooked the back of one hand on the exhaust manifold of a small block Chevrolet.

How did it taste ? , like chicken ?

Mike

Originally Posted by Jocko_Slugshot

I've heard of people putting loaded baked potatoes in a couple of heavy wraps of aluminum foil and driving several hundred miles before stopping to eat.

I've never done it but wondered if anybody here has done so and how it worked.

Well I'm not that cheap. But I did cook bear brains on the cylinder head of my Electra Glide in Mt Robson Park, it wasn't intentional though.

Way back when, I was in an Army Nat Guard armor battalion. We were out on maneuvers and one of the guys who was driving an ACP decided to set a can of C-rats on the engine to heat it up since we'd been parked for a couple of hours. He also neglected to open the can. Then we got the order to move and we didn't stop for several hours. His can exploded and the food (at least it was roughly defined as food) was thorough baked on the engine. It took him many hours to clean up that mess.

I knew mafia apprentice one time who tried to blow up a car, but he burned his lips so bad on the exhaust pipe he sought work in another field.

I don't recall all the details, but my parents would cook an entire meal in one pound coffee cans wired to the engine of the old '36 Pontiac Touring Sedan (really cool suicide rear doors). In 1950 I was 5 years old, even with my awesome memory, that was a long time ago. In those days coffee cans had a tear strip that was wound off with a key soldered to the can's bottom. Once open the can lid could be placed back on the can to seal it - well sort of - and provided you didn't cut your finger on the sharp edge. So my father, ever the experimenter, lined the cans with aluminum foil, then placed a layer of sliced potato, a layer of canned whole kernel corn, a seasoned hamburger patty on top, then a layer of onion rings. The lid was placed on and secured (here I don't recall if it was wired down or somehow taped in place. One for each passenger was wired to the engine. I recall a trip to L.A. from S.F. once where we stopped somewhere, maybe near the Holister cut off, don't exactly know because the roads were far different then. I do recall they brought paper plates and the food was tasty, but heck, I'd eat anything. They'd do the same thing for camping out, except use embers of the campfire. Good thing they lined the cans with the foil as the cans were likely to leach lead into the food.

Newer coffee cans were introduced which opened with a can opener, and we switched to packing a picnic lunch. Now of course there are gut bomb parlors everywhere and that rural magnificence of two lane county roads (some still with spring fed horse troughs) is long gone.

The trick to heating cans on manifolds or anything it to knock a dent in the can and when the dent pops out it's ready. Open in a safe direction.

I've been using the hotdogger on snowmobiles for 5-6 years now. Actually have them on 3 different sleds. Used them to heat Brats, leftover baked ham, beef roast, pork roast, even baked beans. Nice having a warm meal while on trail.

Never did on an automobile, but cooked much on an old D-8 Cat back in the 80's when I actually worked for a living

Mostly was reheats but did lots of dogs, chili, spam, stew, bacon and eggs- all the good stuff! Was always gonna bake a Salmon but never had the time later on. Would have worked great. Always kept my gloves warm when ripping frost in the winter.

Car/truck should work fine...

bhtr

I recall a few (??) years back seeing a book titled "Manifold Destiny" about this very subject. You could probably find a copy on Amazon.

Here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Manifold-Dest...amp;sr=1-3&keywords=manifold+destiny

Maybe an updated edition as well.