Anyone else cook under the hood?

[carguyinok]

I learned a little trick WAY back in the day & that's cooking under the hood using the heat from the engine. Just wrap up what you want cooked in a few layers of foil & tie it off near the best heat source for what your needs are. Obviously the exhaust manifold is your highest heat source. Then on top of the engine your looking at high 100s - low 200s. I'll foil up hotdogs and toss them on the intake manifold for about 15-20 min. Also a great way of reheating food. Sure It may sound nasty. But that's only if your trying this out on some nasty leaky engine. Just don't forget it's there if your headed for water or mud.

 

[Flipper]

We used to do this in our boat. Wrap some doggies in tin foil, put them on the intake manifold before we would head out. After our first dive, eat a good hot lunch , burn off some nitrogen then our 2nd dive. Works great!

 

[Buckaroo]

I learned a little trick WAY back in the day & that's cooking under the hood using the heat from the engine. Just wrap up what you want cooked in a few layers of foil & tie it off near the best heat source for what your needs are. Obviously the exhaust manifold is your highest heat source. Then on top of the engine your looking at high 100s - low 200s. I'll foil up hotdogs and toss them on the intake manifold for about 15-20 min. Also a great way of reheating food. Sure It may sound nasty. But that's only if your trying this out on some nasty leaky engine. Just don't forget it's there if your headed for water or mud.

Australians have been doing this for years.
I did a nice thick steak, seasoned with SPG and sliced onions, wrapped it all up in foil, tied it nicely to the exhaust manifold and closed the bonnet (hood to US residents).
Set off to the coastal town ( about a 1 hour drive) and.... road blocked, there had been a pile up.
forgot about the steak, only remembered about it when I could smell burning onions.
Traffic still wasn't moving so I opened the bonnet ( yes it's a bonnet) to find the engine vibration at tickover had worn through the foil, onions on the manifold, steak looked like an arabs flip flop, you could patch a tyre with it. That steak was destroyed.
I hope the crows enjoyed it.
Never made any bush tucker since.

 

[oldmopars]

A few years ago Myth Busters tried this out. They used temp probes and figured out the temps of various areas of the engine and then they used that to decide where to put different foods. They cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner while they drove to "Grandmas" house and for the most part it worked really well.


However, never put a can of clam chowder on the manifold of an excavator and forget about it. The can explodes and leaves a smell that takes forever to go away. Been there, done that.

 

[Kevtd]

Grew up cooking hotdogs and smokies on the exgaust manifold of my dads old dodge on road trips. Finaly have a vheicle it will work on again so I really should give it a shot!

 

[Flipper]

Australians have been doing this for years.
I did a nice thick steak, seasoned with SPG and sliced onions, wrapped it all up in foil, tied it nicely to the exhaust manifold and closed the bonnet (hood to US residents).
Set off to the coastal town ( about a 1 hour drive) and.... road blocked, there had been a pile up.
forgot about the steak, only remembered about it when I could smell burning onions.
Traffic still wasn't moving so I opened the bonnet ( yes it's a bonnet) to find the engine vibration at tickover had worn through the foil, onions on the manifold, steak looked like an arabs flip flop, you could patch a tyre with it. That steak was destroyed.
I hope the crows enjoyed it.
Never made any bush tucker since.

Great story!

 

[tjZ06]

We used to do this way back in my more "hardcore" wheeling days. We did a lot of day trips since we had Hollister Hills and other places very close so we didn't bring camping gear and proper cooking equipment. It always came out kind of "meh." For the SxSs and snowmobiles you can even find products made just for this: MUFFPOT, Muffpots, Snowmobile Muffpot, Snowmobile Cooker, Muff Pot, Hot Dog Dogger, Hot Pan, Ride it till its hot, Food Warmer, Exhaust Cooker, Stainless Steel Cooker, Muffler Cooker, Sled Cooker, Snowmobile Cooker, Sled Food Cooker, Snowmobile Food Cooker

That said, for Overlanding I don't see it as a great option for me. Getting things properly sealed enough that dust, dirt, mud etc. don't get in, and food doesn't get out and burn on your hot engine is always a bit of a challenge. Finding just the right spot with the right temp, and figuring out the right amount of time to leave it in there is an impossible science. I think most people have experiences similar to Buckaroo. If you're Overlanding you're probably bringing/planning a heat-source (camp stove, camp fire, JetBoil, etc.) so why bother?

-TJ

 

[bgenlvtex]

I wired a couple of baskets to the exhaust manifold on a 5.9l Cummins that I had.

It really wouldn't get hot enough to cook anything, particularly going down the road, but what it would do is keep things warm. I would nuke lunch then wrap in foil and drop into the basket(s).

I stopped to get my oil changed and the attendent came into the waiting area carrying my lunch and said "I found this under your hood."

I said, "It's my lunch put it back" and he just stared at me like he had seem Bigfoot.

Works great for tamales which is what was under the hood that day.

 

[Buckaroo]

Pull up, make a fire and hang the black iron pot.
A little BBQ will do the same job.
add the shrimps and crab claw meat for the last 20 minutes when you take it from the heat.
Jambalaya ...feeds 8 or 4 fat bastards.
Jambalaya is a complete meal, it doesn't need any sides.

good tucker
...make some quick and simple cornbread or jonny cakes ( yeah, I've heard of those in the UK) in another black iron pot if you are a big eater.

 

[Big Easy Overland]

Back in my "Dirty Boat Guy" days (late 80's early 90's NAVSPECWAR Special Boat Unit) we used to have what we called a "671 cookbook". It was a cookbook that took the different components of the MREs of the era and combined them in ways to make something better. It was called a 671 cookbook because many of our boats at that time ran 6-71 diesel engines and that was the heat source.

 

[Billiebob]

Just don't forget it's there

or every cat and racoon 'll be in yer engine compartment

 

[grubworm]

 

[64Trvlr]

I've cooked a lot of burritos on the exhaust manifolds in my Willys over the years.

 

[joshjunior]

When i was into rock crawling with Jeeps we would cook sausages fajitas.. All kinda things on the intake manifold. While everyone was eating cold soggy sammiches... Nope not us lol

 

[12C20]

Back in my "Dirty Boat Guy" days (late 80's early 90's NAVSPECWAR Special Boat Unit) we used to have what we called a "671 cookbook". It was a cookbook that took the different components of the MREs of the era and combined them in ways to make something better. It was called a 671 cookbook because many of our boats at that time ran 6-71 diesel engines and that was the heat source.

Did the same thing on our construction boats as an Army combat engineer.

Good times!

 

[Downs]

The 99+ XJs with the coil rail have a spot just behind the coil rail and next to the trans dip stick where you can sit a can of soup (my favorites are the Campbell Chunky Soups) and after about 30 minutes of wheeling you have a piping hot meal, it can go forward or sideways due to the dipstick and coil rail and it can't go up or back due to the firewall and hood. I did similar things with burritos and whatnot on the intake manifold. On the 4.0L Jeeps the exhaust header is on the same side as the intake so you get plenty of heat to get things warm.

 

[SinisterJK]

I totally have used the Overland Microwave plenty of times! I'll wrap sandwiches and just about anything I want to "WARM" up and put it under the hood of the jeep. It's not going to cook for you but to have a hot warm lunch or breakfast sandwich if you don't want to eat exactly when you jump into the rig it works great! I was driving down the turnpike here once pulled into one of the rest areas and pulled out a wrapped hoagie for breakfast and an aluminum coffee holder that was keeping coffee warm and yeah the people around me were dumbfounded this guy is drinking and eating food right from his engine bay. I closed up poured the coffee into my mug and kept on heading to where I was heading without having to stop waste money on breakfast or even get off the highway!