From: Herr Bookmonger (bookmonger@verizon.net)
Date: Thu Nov 25 2004 - 23:43:07 PST
MessageA friend sent me this. Perhaps you'll find it of interest.
Herr Bookmonger
----- Original Message -----
From: MJ
To: Bookmonger
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2004 5:24 PM
Subject: Tips For Engine Cooking
The guys in your MV list might get a kick out of this.
MJ
Tips For Engine Cooking
Instructions:
Here are some hints for turning out top-notch road food.
Use good-quality heavy-duty aluminum foil. The regular thinner kind tends to
tear when it touches screws, hoses and wires.
For best results, cook fish or chicken. Other meats tend to toughen.
Small pieces cook faster than large pieces.
To wrap food, use the Big-Mac method. Pull up two opposite sides of the foil
square, capturing the food between them. Bring the edges together and fold
over about 1/2 inch. Continue folding down for a tight seal. Fold the ends
of the foil packet as if wrapping a boxed gift; then tuck the mitered
corners under the packet.
(Food is wrapped for cleanliness - the foods and the engines - not because
of engine fumes. The exhaust system releases fumes from the tailpipe, not
under the hood.)
Don't expect the food to brown. Engine cooking essentially steams food. An
engine cannot bake, broil or fry.
Seasonings become intense because food cooks more slowly than at home, so
throttle back a little.
Be sure to outfit your toolbox with an oven mitt and tongs for retrieving
hot food from the engine, and a roll of wire for securing food packets
against the manifold.
Be sure to place food on the hot part of the engine. Some would-be cooks are
tempted to take the little accordion-folded gizmo out of the air filter
housing and put the food there. Stop!
That's not a hot place. Neither is a water hose. Look for metal parts,
especially those with grainy surfaces that came from a forge.
Beware of traffic jams, and shorten your cooking mileage accordingly. Food
burns just as surely at 5 mph as it does at 65 mph.
When removing food from the engine, watch out for screws that could tear the
foil. You don't want your mechanic asking about that stuff dripped on the
engine block.
Engine cooking is inexact. A dish cooked at a certain distance on one car
may need to stay a few miles longer on the engine of another car, even of
the same model. That's because all engines perform differently.
"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food
from fresh ingredients."
Julia Child (1912 -2004 )
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