Manifold Cooking

[Napa Skip]

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.

[mrraford]

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?

[QGolden]

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.... :-)

[1930artdeco]

Does the plastic in the heaters melt at those temps?

Mike

[Brentwood Bob]

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

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

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Put a frozen T.V. dinner on the black metal floor of my truck on a 110 degree day and it was ready in 1 hour! Bill W.

[Brentwood Bob]

or on the pavement next to the zip it. bob

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by Brentwood Bob

or on the pavement next to the zip it. bob

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

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Friend in Alaska a long time ago, jury rigged a metal plate to a army tank kzhaust & was cookin' pancakes when some General or something showed up+*$%^&@#----All he said was, "GOT SYRUP?" Bill W.

[Special Coupe Frank]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

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....

" Oh the humanity !!! "

[Rowdy]

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

[P.S.]

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

[gary678*]

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!!

[77Birdman]

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.

[M2M]

Model T cooks better than an A because the internal magneto of the T has a sort of microwave oven effect.

[Aok]

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.

[Phil Brown]

Originally Posted by Aok

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.

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

[springerpete]

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.

[noyo55]

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.

[M2M]

Originally Posted by BILL WILLIAMSON

Friend in Alaska a long time ago, jury rigged a metal plate to a army tank kzhaust & was cookin' pancakes when some General or something showed up+*$%^&@#----All he said was, "GOT SYRUP?" Bill W.

We all miss you Bill.