Manifold Cooking
 

As some of you may know, my family tours a lot with our Model-Ts and we cook regularly on our engine's exhaust manifold as we drive so I enjoyed reading this. There is a write-up in the Macon paper featuring Anne Neely Beck, --who if you don't know her personally, she is a real sweetheart and a huge asset to the Model-A family. Click HERE to read about her recent adventure cooking with a Model-A.

http://media.macon.com/smedia/2012/1...o.AuSt.71.jpeg

Re: Manifold Cooking
 

Read the article and happened to look at one of the stories down below it. Interesting as well- http://www.macon.com/2012/08/30/2156...statesman.html That's what happened to so many old Fords...

Now, who's got better pictures or drawings of a manifold cooker?

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I have one of these, it is so much fun to go on a ride with friends, stop for 'lunch' and open the hood. They have them at Snyders, no clamps or screws, it just slides on. Very well made heavy grade stainless. I did add a small rack to keep the food up off the bottom.

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http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/se...e=2&q=manifold

Snyders sells this one...

Do not just wire an unopened can of beans to your exhaust manifold. You may have explosive consequences. Seen it happen and it is not pretty....

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We tried cooking bratwurst and onions on our manifold once in a home made tinfoil wrap that was tied to the manifold with bailing wire. When we got to our destination about an hour and a half away, we found that it was actually not cooked long enough. We were surprised! I wonder if these boxes (I've seen and actually held one in my hand) do a better job of capturing the heat and cooking.

So, you've seen good results, eh?

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I worked at a transmission plant before I retired. back when I started, the transmissions were tested by hooking them up to an engine,and running them through the gears. The engines were in (somewhat) soundproof cabinets, and every day , people would come back into my area to put foil-wrapped things on the engine manifolds. Once microwaves became widespread, this practice ended.

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Jason, I think the biggest difference is what you tried really did not have much surface area to heat the food. I suspect the aluminum foil dissipated much heat with the air blowing by and the only place you were actually heating/cooking is where the foil was in direct contact with the manifold.

If you look closely at Anne's cooker, you will see water that the food was cooked in. I have included several pictures below showing various trips. The first 6 pictures show us out in South Dakota cooking. We drove for about 30-45 minutes from the hotel and the last 10 minutes were climbing up to Mt. Rushmore state park. The water in the cookers were definitely boiling by the time we got to the top. We spend a couple of hours at the park so the food was still warm but not hot. Then we drove back down and thru the town (probably another 15 minutes) until we found a city park where we could stop. All of the cookers had water in them followed by a bag that contained the various food and everything was hot. I suspect it would have been ready to eat at the top of Rushmore if we were ready to eat then.

The other pictures just show various places we have eaten at. Where I think it is the best is when you have several cars with cookers so you can make a smorgasboard of food. The last two pictures were taken last month when we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway. We found a gas station/convenience store to pull around beside of and behind the building was some of these milk crates that I turned into tables. We cooked the meat in three cookers while we were driving, and when we pulled out the meat, Pennie had a bag of Cherry topping that she had taken out of a can and placed in a bag. The water in the cooker was still steaming so I set the bag of cherries in the water to heat up while we ate. Then Pennie went inside the store and bought an Angel Food cake. The cake was cut and the cherries poured over the top for dessert. My point is it can be done successfully but like anything else, it just takes some practice to be successful..

.

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Does anyone make a cooker for the waffle style manifolds?

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I worked in a mine ..there was a guy that heated up his beans on the manifold on his scoop...well one of the bosses drove by and got hit by something hot..thinking the machine blew a hydraulic hose. ..but he was just covered in beans

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Not that I know of Jon but it would be easy enough to make one out of stainless.

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I found that my "Manifold Cook Pot" sitting atop the Autolite Heater in my yellow car did not turn out nearly the heat as my friend's solution, who strapped the spud to the manifold.

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ctvpa,
Do those Snyder's cookers have a lid?:confused: Do they get hot enough while idling under an oak tree to make GRAVY?:D Bill W.

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We used canned beef stew and went on a 50 mile tour to heat it up. Worked great. Be sure to wrap the food up real good so it doesn't leak on your engine.

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Just over 30 years ago, while working harvest, we used to buy big burritos at 7-11, wrap them in foil and set them on our tractors manifolds to cook, while we dug potatoes or sugar beets.

Only question I have cooking on the Model A manifold, with the cooker, will the food OK, or will it taste like oil fumes inside the engine compartment?

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Bruce,
I'm gettin'excited, there's one with a lid, my driving would necessitate a LID. Where did you buy it. I've never been around Model A cooking, sounds like I've got to try it!
I can just see it now, INTERNATIONAL MODEL A KOOKIN' DAY! Bill W.

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FUNNY
I bought mine at a THRIFT STORE at my church, but at New England Meet thee was a non-associated flea market in Maine where I could have matched it for $ 2 last week.

Send me a private email to remind me, [email protected]
if you would like me to look at it for a brand stamp.

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modela,
BOOM! in the night, a GALLON can of REALLY outdated chili beans blew up in our pantry, stuff runnin' out under the door, the makin's for a Hitchcock thriller, "Mistaken Identity In A One Man Pantry!":eek: Bill W.

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More likely "The Beans"

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Hmmmmm. It was a dark and stormy night and .............. I bet that it wasn't a pretty sight either.

Another question is what are you doing with a one gallon can of chili beans? Are you going to start running your As on natural gas ??????:D

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Tastes just like normal but even if it did, I doubt you would notice it. The difference is the ambiance of where you are eating it. Generally speaking you have smelled the food as it has cooked, and now you are sharing with your friends/family in a setting outside of the norm. If you cooked on one each and every day, I think it would be much akin to warming up lunch in the microwave.

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Very interesting and enjoyable article about Anne Neely Beck. There have also been several articles in “The Restorer” ("Make Mine Medium Rare" on pages 26-28 of the November-December 1974 issue, “Cookin’ Along in My Model A” by Pat Duffy on pages 16-17 of the November-December 1985 issue; “Using the Model A As A Campstove” by William Johnston on page 21 of the May-June 1990 issue; “Manifold Cookery” on page 30 of the July-August 1992 issue; etc.) and no doubt other articles, both in “The Restorer” and in the “Model A News.” Also, several clubs have published their own cookbooks.

The “Make Mine Medium Rare” article has several roast beef recipes as does the "Manifold Cookery" article (Blackened Roadfish, Roadside Stew, Interstate 10 Chicken Wings, etc.) and the latter – conveniently – gives the cooking times in miles instead of minutes/hours.

Also, most articles recommend triple wrapping whatever is to be cooked in tin foil, which should take care of any concern about engine odors permeating the food.

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Brent,
Very nice article about Anne's adventures. The articles make reference to cookbooks available for these cookers. Would it be appropriate to contact Anne to find such books? If so, what is her email address?

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Wow, I had not thought of this in years. Back in the day, in the Army, we used to cook this way most of the time. Grab a few cans of C-Rations, Poke a hole in the can, and place it on the Exhaust Manifold on a Deuce and a Half, by the time we stopped mid day, lunch was served. Before you took off again, you placed your next meal on the Manifold. Iff'n you drove a Jeep, you placed a piece of Mechanics Wire (Sorta like Bailing Wire, but Black and stronger) around the manifold and around your cans, otherwise they would get bumped off. Pretty depressing to ride half the day and finally stop for chow only to find it gone. (Ask me how I know :-) ) I was a mechanic, but we had a Fuel and Electric section assigned to us. They had the 15KW trailer mounted generators running all day in the field. Used to heat rations on those manifolds as well. To this day when I think of cans of C-Rats I can instantly taste the canned stew and canned bread. The Stew weren't too bad, but the bread needed stew to be edible.... :-)

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Does the plastic in the heaters melt at those temps?

Mike

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Burritos in the exhaust vent of a hot tar tanker takes about 15 min to heat thru at 550deg F.. Takes about 45 min to roast a chicken. Bob

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or on the pavement next to the zip it. bob

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Yo, Brother Bob,
Awhile back @ 110 degrees, sprayed Pam on the slab & cooked eggs, neighbor's dog liked them!:D
Glad you're back tootin' Didja' get KRAZY with NO horn??:eek: Bill W.

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:eek: " Oh the humanity !!! "


:p

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I do not know if I will ever try manifold cooking, but I may try to get these in working order. Rod

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Here's a video the guy on YouTube did- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZFk...aq3nabk0h00410

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Tried it a few times as I think this is a "Fun Idea" and would be a great club activity. My results and recommendations: 1) Backed the "A" out of the garage and let idle for 1 minute; checked manifold temperature with a very accurate temperature gun and temp was 375. After a 30 minute drive at 40-45 MPH and RPM's circa 2000 the manifold temp was 560 while coolant temp was a steady 160. 2) Wrapped in 2 layers of aluminum foil uncooked sausage, onions, peppers, olive oil, and a small amount of tomato paste and drove for 45 minutes. This was wrapped longitudinally to lay lengthwise along the manifold ( do not make it deep/tall). 3) Make seams of foil on top sides to avoid dripping on engine. 4) The above preparation was driven 45 minutes, everything was cooked well but area contacting manifold was burned. 5) Repeated above for 30 minutes; everything cooked well with less burning along contact with manifold. 6) With 1/2" square wire mesh I made a long 1" high cage to fit along the length of the manifold thus avoiding direct contact but allowing a good cooking temperature; worked great! 7) Before doing this as a group activity I would recommend that people try this on their own to refine their recipes and minimize shortcomings. 8) HAVE FUN!!

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I saw a very nice early model T at a show last summer. The guy had a great setup with lots of period correct stuff. One thing he had was a cook book for such a thing.
I have seen a couple of pics and heard stories about my grandparents travelling to FLA in a model T back in the day. The journey would take weeks, as the interstate system did not exist. I can only imagine they cooked some food this way. I wish they were still around so I could ask.

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Not model a related but back in the 70's I worked as a construction laborer and we use to heat up our lunch on the compressor engine. I was a 6 cylinder engine but too long ago to remember what engine.

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Thats still being done today :) wrap your burrito in foil lay it up on the manifold of any of the running equipment and in a few hours lunch too hot to eat

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Not a manifold, but while operating a steam locomotive we would put our foil wrapped sandwiches on the back head shelf along with the steam oil can and have things already to go after we got back from our 10:30 am run. Had to remember to keep turning the food.

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Back in 65 ,when in college, my daily driver 30 coupe had a bad case of piston slap/collapsed piston i used to pour in STP to quit it down. I saw that there was a space behind the top of the exhaust mainifold where it would fit. I stuck the can back there to warm up to make it easier to pour. It then occured to me that I could put a can of chili back there and cook it. Of course it was necessary to poke a hole in it first---found this the hard way. on my trips home, about 200 miles, i always had a hot meal.

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We all miss you Bill.