Message text written by "Jim Muller"
>Hmmm. The concept of manifold cooking has been around, at least as
an urban myth, for a long time. The thing that always bothered me
about it is the matter of temperature control. Cooking at, say, 450F
is very different than cooking at 325F. Given that the heat transfer
to your food is quite uncontrolled and the temperature of the
manifold per se is unknown (to most of us except perhaps Randall and
Joe), how would one even guess at when the food will be done??
Blackened chicken, anyone?
<
Jim, least we forget, the concept of temperature control in cooking is a
relatively new concept. Before modern, temperature controlled ovens
cooking was an art. One gauged the overn temperature on the sense of
thermal radiation when one opened the door and controled the temperature
but throwing on another log or not (or on the more modern equipment,
modulated the air vents). Cooking time was tricky indeed.
When cooking on the manifold, we are taken back to the golden days of
haphazard cooking. Once again does experience, judgement and constant
attention come front and center. Is the day cool? Drive a little slower
to reduce the cooling effect of the air forced into the engine bay. Is the
day warm? Take the short route.
For the novice, select foods that are quite tolerant of over cooking.
Chicken noodle soup is an excelent example. Overcooking soup will only
boil off some of the excess water. Work your way up from there. Popcorn
is a bad thing to try first out. The difference between leaving too many
unpopped kernals and burning the corn is a fine line indeed.
Dave (I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food)
|