Manifold Destiny: The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine! » (Original)

Chris Maynard - founder of the YOYO School of Art, lives in Warren, R.I., across the street from a clam processing factory.  He is also the co-author of The Bad for You Cookbook, along with Bill Scheller.

Bill Scheller is an intrepid travel writer and journalist.  His byline has appeared in numerous publications, including National Geographic Traveler, Islands, National Geographic World, The Washington Post Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, Yankee magazine, and This Old House.  He is the author of 33 books, including The Bad for You Cookbook, which he wrote with Chris Maynard, and is co-editor of the online travel magazine naturaltraveler.com..  He and his wife, Kay. live in northern Vermont.

Giving new meaning to the term "fast food"

Rest-stop grade F meat patty? Nah. Nuggets of reconstituted poultry bits? Pass. Deep-fried fish discus? No, really, thanks all the same.

It's time to bid farewell to the roadside meal as you know it. Nearly twenty years ago, Chris Maynard and Bill Scheller opened the world's eyes to the beautym of car-engine gastronomy in the original Manifold Destiny. And now that another generation of both drivers and eaters has emerged, the cult classic is due for an overhaul. In this shiny, spanking-new edition, learn how to make s'mores in your Scion, poach fish in your Pontiac, even bust out a gourmet snack from under the hood of your Escalade.

With step-by-step diagrams, crowd-pleasing recipes, and thorough instructions, now you can turn your car into a kitchen without ever crossing any golden arches. Hilarious, bizarre, and ultimately (seriously!) useful, Manifold Destiny is and always will be an unparalleled original. So, slap a ham steak under the hood of your car, hit the gas, and drive until you reach delicious — which is in approximately fifty miles, depending on traffic.

Publishers Weekly

Feeling a mite peckish on those long road trips? Pack along this humorous cookbook and whip up Cajun-style shrimp in your car or recreational vehicle. All you need are shrimp, pork fat, 'whatever `Cajun' seasonings you've seen advertised,' a set of wheels and someplace to go. Cook on a medium-hot part of the engine for about 55 miles. If that's too much work, pick up several stuffed peppers (preferably from a backwater North Jersey Italian deli), wrap them in foil and pop under the hood. Maynard, a photographer, and Scheller, a travel writer, are as adept at roasting trendy cookery as they are at warming pastrami sandwiches while they drive an auto rally.

They teach drivers to view their vehicles in a new way, locating cooking surfaces via the 'burn your finger' method of temperature verification. They may even change the way people select new cars: the Chevrolet Celebrity GL offers six servings, while the Camry has only three but sports a bun warmer, a feature seldom mentioned in Toyota ads. The authors sober up to serve a clear warning: carelessness under the hood can be dangerous to car and driver.

CHAPTER 1
In Which We Get Started, and Ask the Question "Why Bother?"

CHAPTER 2
Beginner's Luck — and Skills

CHAPTER 3
Car-Engine Recipes: American Regional Cuisines

CHAPTER 4
International Car-Engine Cuisine

Parting Thoughts

Appendix: Recipe List by Region