Car engine packed with foil packets of food
The problem with becoming obsessed with your own food blog is finding and using any opportunity to cook or eat food. Not that this particularly troubles me but it may trouble those around me who I forcibly hijack along for the ride. My husband is a very good natured man who goes along with most things and he, used to my inopportune flashes of inspiration, simply rolled with the punches so to speak on this idea.
Foil packets of prawns and potatoes ready for the car
Some men would never consider the idea of cooking in their car. My father being one of them. He won’t even let my sister or I drive his car and he grits his teeth when we open the door lest we scratch it so cooking in his precious baby is most definitely out of the question. However my husband and I agreed, that with the proper research and an abundance of foil, that this wouldn’t hurt the car a bit and planned our Manifold-ish Destiny. I say Manifold-ish as getting a copy of this rare out of print book can set you back $200US on ebay and whilst I’d have loved to buy a copy, I resisted.
There was an invaluable website that showed step by step instructions on how and when and the risks of cooking in your car http://www.instructables.com/id/Cooking…-with-your-car/
I found some hilarious comments on this site such as one from poor Rhoula:
“I tried to cook some chicken the first time, i was driving from oklahoma city to tulsa, when i arrived to tulsa, i looked for my meal but never found it.
I think i lost it somewhere on my way there. I was both hungry and broke, thanks god i had some more raw chicken and vegetables left. on my way back i put everything as suggested in an aluminum foil and covered it with a towel so it woudn’t slip it was about 2 am next thing i know my old chevy truck caught on fire. To tell you the truth i was more worid about the chicken that i was about the truck.
thank god the food was just fine. my truck was still burning when i was enjoying the great chicken and vegetables. I even let my kids roast some marchmellows on the fire. To tell you the truth their marshmellows tasted more like gasoline but I had to keep my kids busy so they wouldn’t eat my a la car te meal or should i say a la burnt truck meal.”
Thinly sliced potatoes with salt and grapeseed oil ready for the car
Garlic prawns ready for the car
Sweet chili prawns ready for the car
That story is surely worthy of a movie script! In any case, as we were traveling to the Blue Mountains (about a 120 minute drive), we couldn’t cook anything that took an overly long time. We chose prawns, pre-bought and pre-skewered from Coles (I was making home made muesli, vegetarian sausage rolls and lime Portuguese custard tarts so peeling prawns and marinating them was the last thing on my mind) and I par boiled some potatoes in salted water and thinly sliced them and wrapped them up in several layers of foil and off we went.
Placing the packets carefully on the car, we noticed one thing straight away. Our car looks nothing like the car on the website. The engine has very few flat places that get hot on which to place the packets of foil. Hmmm a problem. And whatever flat places we had weren’t secure enough. So my husband placed them wherever he could keeping in mind that we didn’t want to ruin our car like poor Rhoula all in the name of one food experiment.
Semi cooked sweet chili prawns
Less cooked garlic prawns (as they were sitting on top of the sweet chili ones and not directly against hot engine)
Semi cooked potatoes
It was only when we set out for the drive that we kept on the lookout for telltale smells and also for falling packets of foil on the road. It was only when we got close to Leura that we smelt the delicious garlic scent of the prawns and when we reached the lodge, we were eager to partake of our spoils. One of the packets were mysteriously cold, it was the one that my husband had put on top of another so this had not actually touched a hot surface. Ah well, this would have to get the grill treatment. The other packet of prawns was slightly cooked but needed a blast under the grill to finish them off. Once everything had a moment under the grill, it was very tasty.
Prawns and potatoes finished off under the grill (we don’t mean car grill)
Experiment over, I would have to say that I would recommend this mainly for people that drive a lot further than 2 hours and if you happen to drive a Peugeot, that unfortunately the lack of hot flat spaces in a Peugeot meant that it isn’t exactly made for cooking 
I was also told that my rather unique Father in Law used to do the washing in the back of a truck. That is to say that he filled up a container with water, clothes and laundry powder (or a bar of soap knowing him) and drove around, the movement of the truck being driven giving the clothes a good sloshing around much like a washing machine 
My husband also found this item: an exhaust burger for cooking burgers on your exhaust!
Prawns and potatoes finished off under the grill (we don’t mean car grill)
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18 Comments | Add your own
What can i say? You’re quite mad!
HAHAHAHA Cool idea!
haha how interesting…I might give it a try one day just for the hell of it!
Hi Nic-Its true, I am quite mad – and now everyone that reads my blog knows it!
Hi Popeye-Thanks! You should definitely try it!
Hi Alexandra-Ooh yes please do and tell me how you went! I hope your version ends up more cooked than ours
Engines require heat to run yet designed to not overheat. Imagine a radiator connected to a heat exchanger, boiling eggs, cooking rice, legumes…
A wide mouthed thermos (stainless steel) is easier. Pre heat with boiling water add food and 1-3 hours depending on the dish is ready to eat.
My thermos includes a 2l and 1 litre billy can and lids. Pre heat, add main course below in large billy also other food above in smaller billy. Don’t wait… enjoy your drive. When ready, enjoy the meal.
bon appetite
Hi Roger-Thanks for that. Interesting idea about the thermos! I think its best for the foods that you mentioned, for meat it might be best on the grill instead of boiled but its an interesting idea for soups.
Madness! I love it. Completely brilliant.
This is absolutely one of your best blogs ever – should be featured on Top Gear! Very informative and entertaining, a must for a long road trip when the engine would get the chance to really heat up and thoroughly cook the food.
Hi Pieds Des Anges (Kyl)-Thanks, it felt a little insane (but in a good way)
Hi queen viv-Thankyou so much!
Hehe that would be hilarious if it were on Top Gear. Hubby would be ever so delighted as he loves the show!
lol. I’ve seen this on telly, I’m sure, but your attempts to re-create it are worthy of much applause. Your hubby is a great sport too. Thank goodness the foil held!
Hi Helen-Yeah the foil breaking was my biggest concern. I didn’t want to end up with a huge mechanics bill in the pursuit of one food story. Imagine us explaining it to the mechanic too…
Sooo, i take it all back you’re not mad at all! I don’t you could share your recipe for vegetarian sausage rolls?
+ “suppose” between “don’t” and “you”. How does one miss an entire word from a sentence??
Hi Nic-let me see if I can remember them…I didn’t work to a recipe, I actually wanted to make the Sanitarium vegetarian sausage roll mix as it was great but they stopped making it. I think I combined roast pumpkin, peas, corn, ginger and herbs with some stuffing mix (the kind that you buy) and filled some puff pastry with it and sprinkled sesame seeds on top. Other times I’ve just put a vegetarian sausage inside some puff pastry and added sun dried tomato and cheese to it.
Great minds think alike. take a look at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dietinfo/exhaust_manifold_oven.htm
Ho Roy-Ah brilliant! I only wish I drove far enough. The furthest we drive is 2 hours
2 Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] Observatory dinner, met my two favourite chefs Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson, Dumpster Dived, cooked on my car engine, been to a Hangi, eaten at a 3 star Michelin restaurant, received a cease and desist letter from a [...]
[...] such brush with destiny. A Manifold Destiny to be exact. I first tried cooking on my car relatively early on my blog on a trip to the Blue Mountains and I was ambitious: I tried cooking prawns and sliced potatoes. [...]
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