How to Cook on Your Car Engine

Winter storms have hit across the United States and you should be prepared. What would you do if you were stranded and needed to cook food? You can use your car to cook delicious meals, keeping you and your family warm, safe and upbeat if you’re stranded in the snow storm. Here’s how you do it:

1. Spread multiple sheets of heavy-duty tin foil on top of each other. You’ll want to create a sheet with multiple layers so that no juices or food escape the bag during heating. It’s better to have too much tin foil rather than too little.

2. Spray the tin foil with butter or a non-stick spray. (Optional in emergencies) - Read about 10 Awesome Uses for Tin Foil - 

3. Add a single serving of a meal of your choice to the center of the tin foil sheet. You can add a slice of meat along with some vegetables and seasoning. We’ve included some sample recipes below.

4. Do not use dishes that are overly juicy. If the juices escape, they can cause drastic damage to your engine.

5. With the serving of food in the middle of the tin foil sheets, fold the right half of the tin foil to the middle of the dish and press the tin foil together. Then fold the left side to the middle and secure. Pull the top and bottom over the top of the dish.

6. The serving of food shouldn’t take up the whole space of the tin foil when it’s folded. Begin to fold sections of the tin foil up and press down. Continue this process until the package is as small as possible.

7. Make sure the engine is off and open the hood of your car.

8. After the car has been running for a few minutes, hover your hand over different parts of the engine to determine which is the hottest part of the engine. Very hot parts of the engine are great for thick meats while warm parts are good for vegetables or fish. If you’ll be driving with the dish secured, you’ll want a cooler section so the food doesn’t burn. -Read about how to winterize your home -

9. Now that you’ve figured out where you want to place your food, make a simple tin foil cone with extra tin foil. Place the cone in that section and close the hood. Open the hood and see if the hood smashed down the cone at all. This will give you a gauge on how tall your meal can be. If the hood didn’t smash the cone, you can cook it in that location.

10. If you’re going to be driving around with the food cooking on your engine, you’ll need to secure the food using wiring.

Note: Just a few things to consider when choosing a location for your dish. Don’t block any airflow in the car while cooking and don’t block any moving parts of the engine. Especially the accelerator linkage (the part that connects the gas pedal to the carburetor or fuel-injector system). If you mess that up you won’t be starting or stopping your car for a long time.

11. Cook the food by allowing the engine to run. Different meats will need different time to cook. Here’s some ideas to help you know how long to cook the dishes: • Shrimp - 1/2 hour • Salmon - 45-55 minutes • Boneless Chicken - 1 hour • Pork Tenderloin - 4-6 hours If you’re driving, plan on driving a few miles at an average of 65 mph. Here are some ideas on how far you’ll have to drive to cook those dishes: • Shrimp - 35 miles • Salmon - 40 miles • Boneless Chicken - 60 miles • Pork Tenderloin - 200-300 miles

12. Turn off the engine and open the hood to the car.

13. Remove the dish with tongs or another tool so you don’t burn your hands.

14. Open up the tin foil carefully and enjoy!

Car Engine Recipes

These recipes are from Manifold Destiny: The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine! While they may not be able to be used in an emergency (due to supplies), they still would give you practice if you ever needed to use this skill in an emergency.

Good & Simple Cajun Shrimp/Crayfish - Cooking distance: 35 miles I love shrimp, and this is a quick journey. For most, it's an average morning's commute. What a way to start the day.

Ingredients: • 1 pound large shrimp or crayfish tails, in shells. • 6 small green hot peppers • 2 cloves garlic • 1 medium onion, finely chopped • Butter or spread • Salt & pepper Remove seeds from peppers and mince with the onion and garlic. Butter your foil, add the shrimp and cover with your spicy mixture. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper, then triple-wrap and place in a medium-heat part of the engine. Delicious, seasoned, spicy shrimp or crayfish await.

Any-City Chicken Wings (sweet) - Cooking distance: 140-200 miles Is there a better snack food than buffalo chicken wings? I can't think of one. Feel free to swap out ingredients according to how hot/spicy/tangy you like your wings.

Ingredients: • 18 chicken wings • 1/2 cup ketchup • 1 cup red wine vinegar • 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes • 4-6 minced jalapenos • 3 cloves garlic • 1 tbsp oregano • Pinch of salt Blend together all of the ingredients (except wings) and pour over chicken wings. Cover tightly in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Drain wings (save the marinade) and divide into three foil packages. Brush with marinade, then triple-wrap each package tightly and place on medium-hot part of the engine. I like my chicken well done so I do the 200 miles, or around 3 1/2 hours. - Read more about how to survive in your car for 48 hours -

Feedback Time Have you ever cooked on your engine? How did it go? Were you able to do so in an emergency? Comment below and share your knowledge.