Cooking while traveling

Cooking great meals with your car engine. The heat is on.
How cool, I remember thinking. But as I couldn't drive at the time, I forgot all about it. Until last week. For some reason, sitting in my car at a red light smelling the grilling chicken of a nearby Chipotle reminded me of that story. And now I'm pleased and proud to present you with Car Engine Cooking, brought to you by the one and only source I could find on the subject...a wonderful book called Manifold Destiny. MANIFOLD DESTINY - The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine!
The basics - remember, it's not an exact science.
Chris and Bill advise that although car engines are all different, the principles are the same. So, how do you find the best places on your car engine to place your chicken, your veggies or your succulent piece of rainbow trout? Well, it all comes down to...your finger.
Get your car up to operating speed, or better yet take it for a drive around the block for five minutes, and then bring it back to the garage and lift the hood. Now, finger at the ready, you start quickly touching various parts of the engine (nothing plastic...that will never get hot enough to cook anything). And by quickly touching, it's the kind of swift stab that means your finger feels the heat but you don't give yourself a third degree burn. (If you're feeling really wussy, try an infrared thermometer). Usually, the hottest part of the engine will be the exhaust manifold. On older cars, the top of the engine block will be a good, sizzling place.
You're not just looking for the hottest parts of the engine. Like any kind of cooking, different foods require different temperatures. A very hot part of the engine will be great for thick meat, a cooler part good for veggies or fish. Or, if you're traveling many hundreds of miles, you may want to use the cooler part to slow-cook your meat. Mmmm. As always, this is trial and error.
NEVER let the food interfere with the engine's moving parts
We want a great meal here, not a wrecked engine. And who would want to explain to the local mechanic why there's a piece of rump roast stuck in the timing belt? Always choose places that are static, and ensure they are not going to move. The boys have put together this handy list of things to avoid.
Car engine cooking no-nos...
1 - Give the accelerator linkage a WIDE berth. It connects the gas pedal to carburetor or fuel-injection system and regulates the flow of fuel to the cylinders. Jam this and either your car won't start, or worse, it won't stop!
2 - Don't block the airflow. You'll suffocate the engine.
3 - Avoid yanking wires. Or pulling wires. Or forcing a food-package to fit. Basic rule of thumb...if you have to force it, you shouldn't put it in.
4 - Place food with the engine OFF. Seems like an obvious rule, but if you don't want a nasty injury, follow this advice.
5 - Avoid foods with lots of liquid. Foil-wrapping a meal with lots of liquid could results in unwanted goop all over your engine. And that's not good for it.

Also, from ‘Instructables.com’ some step by step instructions
Step 1- Gather Some Ingredients
This was mostly improvised [but here are some examples]
+Baked Chicken and Herbs (chicken breast, flour, your choice of herbs - I used mostly basil)
+Italian Chicken (chicken breast marinated in zesty Italian salad dressing cooked with pepper and onion)
+Red and Green Peppers and mushroom Noodles (used noodles from a ramen package, added a little EVOO, and cooked in vegetable stock)
+Baked Potato Pieces (salted with a little cooking oil)
+Baked Apples (sliced in half with a pat of butter and scoop of brown sugar)
Step 2 - Prepare
Layout each item on foil sheets large enough to wrap. The chicken breasts will be cooked in rectangular like packets to expose as much surface as possible. We want a cup like shape for veggies and noodles.
Step 3 - Sealing
Everything should be wrapped in a few layers of foil. Not so much to protect the food from anything, but really to protect the car from spillage. The noodles require a little extra care. As we're adding fluid (veggie stock), we need to make out 'cup' with a sealable opening. However you feel is best is the way to go here ;)
On the note of toxic gasses (I'm asked this all the time)
If your car is emitting gasses (say exhaust or coolant steam) from under the hood, you have a problem and you should probably have that looked at. A maintained car does not do this which is why I'm not concerned with doing this.
Step 4 - Placement
Placing your food is very important... As every car and engine configuration is different, you'll need to use some common sense… Potato and Chicken will require the most heat so they should be placed on or near the exhaust manifold. Apples should be placed near something hot (I put it on the top radiator hose). The noodles can be placed on top of the valve cover (if possible) as they can take lower heat for longer times and still cook properly.
Step 5- Cook Time
I was driving 200 miles, so I had to plan accordingly. I drove 100 miles (speed was around 70-80mph) and nearly overcooked the chicken. But at that rest stop I had 1 chicken and it was delicious. When I came to a stop, the smell of the chicken and herbs surrounded the car. And at the horror of onlookers, I proceeded to eat from my engine bay. After the 100 miles, the chicken was well browned -- I think 60 miles would have done the trick. At this time, the noodles were done, and were moved to a slightly cooler area. The potato package was still raw as I had placed it in an area too cool to cook properly.
Step 6 - Other Suggestions
Shrimp is VERY easy to cook and gives of a wonderful aroma. Only 20-30 miles on surface roads is needed -- but modify for extended periods stuck in traffic.
On my next long trip, I'd live to make a rack to support a pork roast or even a rack of ribs to cook slowly.
This type of cooking requires some practice and experimentation. But what's better than pulling up to a gas station and pulling out some chicken wings from under the hood while you fuel up?.