{"id":4350,"date":"2014-08-18T07:38:26","date_gmt":"2014-08-17T21:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/?p=4350"},"modified":"2020-06-20T01:20:49","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:20:49","slug":"how-to-turn-your-car-into-an-oven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/home\/how-to-turn-your-car-into-an-oven\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Turn Your Car Into An Oven"},"content":{"rendered":"

Car engines produce a lot of waste heat. It\u2019s one of the basic laws of thermodynamics that energy will change from one form to another, and as not all the chemical potential energy in the petrol or diesel that you put into your tank gets turned into kinetic (motion) energy. Some becomes sound energy and some becomes heat energy. In the normal course of things, a lot of this heat energy gets wasted.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t have to be this way.\u00a0 You can do something useful with that heat.\u00a0 The most common thing that people do with this head is using it to heat the inside of the car. But you can also use that heat produced by your engine to cook a meal. They say that this is as old as the internal combustion engine, and it\u2019s probably older than that, as I guess the drivers of steam trains probably boiled a kettle or baked spuds on the fire that boiled the water to power the train. Heck, the hordes of Genghis Khan used to shove a steak under the saddle while galloping across the steppes, meaning that it was nice and tender and ready to eat come the end of the day (but they ate raw meat).<\/p>\n

I will have to say at the outset that I haven\u2019t actually tried this \u2013 yet. There have certainly been moments, though, when it\u2019s been tempting, especially on those hectic days when there\u2019s a billion things to do and pick up, lots of driving to do and a potluck dinner to get to.<\/p>\n

You have to pick the right sort of thing to cook.\u00a0 It has to be something that isn\u2019t too big and that can be cooked adequately while wrapped up in tinfoil.\u00a0 Good old sausages work well.\u00a0 So do whole fish and corn on the cob.\u00a0 You could possibly give chicken drums a go, but you\u2019d have to have a long drive to make sure that they\u2019re cooked adequately.<\/p>\n

You have to wrap what you\u2019re cooking up thoroughly in tinfoil to stop any fumes getting into your food and tainting it. While some smoky flavours are delicious and desirable, petrol and diesel smoke isn\u2019t quite so tasty.\u00a0 The other thing is that you don\u2019t want the juices from your food getting into your engine and stuffing it up. So use several layers of tinfoil.<\/p>\n

\"engine<\/a><\/p>\n

You will need to secure your tightly wrapped package to the engine block so you don\u2019t lose your dinner when you hit a bump. Use metal wire. Don\u2019t let your packet interfere with any moving parts.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a sample fish recipe to get you started.<\/p>\n