Customer Reviews

Manifold Destiny: The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine!

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The cooking times in _Manifold Destiny_ are given in mileage. This cookbook lists many tasty dishes and gives detailed, practical advice on how to prepare them on your car engine.

It works like this: find a hot spot on your engine, then wrap your food in tin foil, wedge the package into the hot spot, and drive....

Pull up the hood when you stop, then unwrap the package and chow down. I tried salmon filets with a suburban; they cooked very nicely after about fifty miles.

This book is a genuine contribution to cookbook literature.

I was given Manifold Destiny in the early 1990s for a college graduation gift because my friends knew that I was going to travel a lot (and did) by car. It was a hilarious read and I enjoyed it. However, unlike the majority of reviewers here, I actually TRIED a bunch of recipes. Folks, I'm here to tell you that your results aren't as good as the read. I even secured the efforts of a couple of truckers (who had years of experience cooking food on their engines) and found out that newer cars are better insulated, making cooking anywhere on their engines mighty difficult. Not to mention that everything is STEAMED. Got that? You know what my steak with mushrooms looked like 4 hours after being attached near the hot part of the engine block? Disgusting and undercooked. Chicken wasn't much better. Steamed vegetables weren't ever completely done no matter where they were placed. I tested this in 8 different states (including Hawaii) and 4 different vehicles. My college buddy did try fish in a Chevy truck on the way to Montana. That seemed to work well, but the flavor was not that great. Manifold Destiny was a great idea whose time has passed. I'll stick to wayside stops and my campstove, thank you.

I have an old edition of this book (eighties) and I have been amused by it from start to finish. The premise sounds wacky but the authors, despite their obvious humor, are serious. Anyone who likes to cook will love this book- in fact, the more serious the better, since the book takes such a preposterously irreverent approach to recipes and dining.

It's also uniquely American- I can't imagine this book being born in any other culture. Buy it, if you can find it, it's a gem.

The first thing you are likely to wonder is why used copies of this book often go for [fifty dollars] or more in online auctions. Here's why. Once having read it, you'd really truly miss the ability to share it with disbelieving friends. I admit, I am biased, since I happen to have the same type of vehicle/kitchen used in the writing and testing of these recipes. If you own a different type of vehicle, your mileage may vary. Sorry, couldn't resist. It's hilarious reading even if you don't have the guts to try it yourself. The somewhat prosiac nature of the recipes, as derided by one reviewer, actually serves to heighten the surrealism. If you're attracted to the title, the book won't disappoint.

We saw this book at a tourist shop, bought it, used it, loved it. It came in handy & worked great on our little 4-banger. As 2 students traveling up the West Coast camping, we were on a tight budget & really appreciated the cooking tips. Now over a decade later, I can't find it anywhere. : (

First read of this book was part of a lark to add something unique to a virtual drive down the Pan-American Highway from Alaska down to Argentina; high school assignment on modernized version of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days. And now that there are these foil cooking pouches available, this is even easier than before. The humor is great, but this is very practical way to make a vacation a frugal one.

This book is pure fun. Thanks to crisp writing and great wit, what could have been just a gimmick turns out to be a great read. What's more amazing is that you actually learn a few things while chuckling through the stories about, for example, using the wheel well of a Toyota Camry to keep bread warm between rest stops. If you have any interest at all in either cooking or cars (only one is necessary!), you will not be disappointed. If you know anybody who fits these descriptions, give them this book as a fun gift.

Hysterical book about cooking on your car engine while driving, e.g. wrap food X in aluminim and cook 20 minutes at 55 mph on top of your alternator. Thank goodness this out-of-print classic has come back into publication!

Manifold Destiny, how to cook on your car engine, is entertaining to read but practical in application. Imagine, if you will, dining on cajun shrimp in garlic rather than McFast Food while motoring to your destination. Recipes for Thruway Chicken Thighs, Hyundai Halibut, Merritt Parkway Veal Scalllopine or Safe-At-Any-Speed Eggplant suggest some of the haute cuisine which can be tucked under the hood of your car for an over the road treat. Presented with both culinary wisdom and a sense of humor, Manifold Destiny is fun to read but serves as a real cookbook as well. Rather than recommending specific cooking times, recipes note the number of miles you should drive before expecting you meal to be done. What a way to plan rest stops! A sure winner.

To look at the prices being charged for used copies of this book is a somewhat frightening experience, because it makes quite obvious that Manifold Destiny is something of an unrecognized culinary classic when people will pay $50 and up for a paperback. But I tell ya something, for the truly hardcore kitchen geek, the same sort of person who might try cooking with lava or a bunsen burner, this would make an incredibly thoughtful present. One can only hope there's a third edition in the pipeline for sometime in the next couple of years.

This book is about cooking in your car, and also eating in your car. That's important, because it gives some nice information on a lot of unusual regional specialties around the United States and Canada (including Michigan's now-famous pasties and Binghamton, NY's spiedies, as well as the legendary smoked meat from Schwartz's Deli in Montreal). It's a nice little hors d'oeuvre for the food tourist.

But there's also lots of good information about cooking on car engines, which is what you came to this review to find out about in the first place, right? Maynard and Scheller talk about all kinds of concerns -- finding the best place on your engine block to secure a packet of food, what kind of aluminum foil to use (and how much -- triple layers), and even a whole bunch of recipes based on American regional cuisine, from traditional Italian like uova in purgatorio to nouvelle-inspired dishes like Thruway Thighs (a stuffed chicken dish). While the info on reviewing cars for their suitability as cookstoves is rather dated, there's still a lot of good information on a rather silly subject.

So find this book for someone very special who loves doing interesting things in the kitchen. They will appreciate it very much.