BBQ

Your guests mentioned a device used in miami whose name they mangled. It is call LA CAJA CHINA ("Ka-Ha CHEENA") or "Chinese Box", and is a large barbeque device that is available online: Lacajachina.com (with pictures and recipes). You would use it to roast a suckling pig.
No I've never used it, or even seen it, but had read of it in South Florida newspapers

Sent by Steve | 3:20 PM | 5-28-2007

CAR COOKING is real.

See the 1989 book, "Manifold Destiny" by Chris Maynard & Bill Scheller--with complete directions and recipes for under hood cuisine.

ISBN 0679723374

Sent by Dirk Vanderloop | 3:34 PM | 5-28-2007

The first reference to cooking on automobile engine that I remember was a series of articles in a magazine -- "Popular Mechanics", if memory serves. This was back in the last century when it was quite common to pile the family into the station wagon and drive a day or two to the Indy 500, Yosemite, or grandma's. The magazine started with one short article on something simple like cooking hamburger patties, and then it grew, month by month, til they were explaining how to prepare dishes like lamb stew.

My experience is limited to reheating pizza. While I was stationed in Germany, I and two buddies took a wild ride around Bavaria in my Fiat 124 convertible. We bought pizzas and spent the night at the officers' club in Bad Aibling. The next morning, we wrapped the leftover pizza in foil and put it on top of the engine's twin cam covers (perfectly engineered by those wily Italians for slow heating). We hit the autobahn at Roseburg, and roared toward the Austrian border with the top down. At lunch time, we pulled into a rest stop, popped the hood, and chowed down. It seemed to created a bit of a stir among the tourists -- mostly Scandinavians, since it was spring.

Sent by Charles Munger | 4:52 PM | 5-28-2007

Oh, those ribs look good. Better go fire up the grill.

Sent by ike | 5:50 PM | 5-29-2007

Too bad those ribs can't come off the page..hmmm

Sent by Hudson | 12:14 AM | 6-3-2007