How to Cook Under the Hood of the Car

A car's engine bay gets hot enough to cook a meal.

Road trips can be fun, but are less so when you start to wonder what you will eat when you stop. If you learn to cook under the hood of your car, locating food will no longer be an issue. Wet foods such as soups or stews are bad ideas, because the juices can get loose and ruin your engine. However, relatively dry foods such as cuts of meat and fish, vegetables and even noodles can be cooked when wrapped securely and tied under the hood.

Things You'll Need

• Aluminum foil
• Car owner's manual (optional)
• Car shop manual (optional)
• Steak
• Mixed vegetables
• Salt and pepper
• Steel wire
• Wire cutter
• Meat thermometer

Instructions

1. Drive your car for 20 minutes, then park. Identify the hottest parts of your car, such as the exhaust manifold; use your owner's manual or the car shop manual if you need the names of the parts. Touch metal parts quickly, or come very close to touching them so that you do not burn yourself.

2. Salt and pepper the steak, then wrap it securely in 3 layers of aluminum foil. Make sure the package is completely sealed so that no juices can leak out of the package. Season and wrap the vegetables the same way.

3. Place the steak on the hottest part of the engine and tie it securely in place with steel wire. Tie the vegetable packet to a cooler part of the engine to let the vegetables steam at a lower temperature. Avoid any moving parts of the engine.

4. Drive the car at 55 to 75 miles per hour for 30 minutes; the higher the speed, the quicker your food will cook. Obey all local speed limit laws.

5. Test the internal temperature of the steak with a meat thermometer. The FDA recommends a minimum safe internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit for beef. Take care not to puncture the foil with the thermometer to avoid getting juice all over your engine.

Tips & Warnings

• Chicken, fish and other cuts of meat can also safely be cooked on parts of your engine using the same method. According to the FDA, fish should be cooked to 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Shrimp, scallops and lobster should be firm and opaque, with no signs of pink. Oysters, mussels and clams should be cooked until their shells open. Pork should be cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, while chicken breasts should be cooked to 170 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Do not place your food on any plastic parts of the engine. Plastic does not conduct heat very well, and your food will not get hot enough to cook properly.

• Do not use cable ties or any sort of plastic-sheathed wire to tie your food packets under the hood of your car. Steel wire is suggested because it can withstand the heat of the engine and will not melt or cause damage to the car.

References

• Wise Bread: Cooking Great Meals With Your Car Engine
• Road Roast: How do I Cook With My Engine?
• FDA: Safe Eats - Meat, Poultry & Seafood