Thinking of getting one one of the little Cobb BBQ’s as a portable unit – anyone got experience with one?

roasts chicken a treat – the “moat” keeps the meat moist and can be flavoured with lemon juice or whatever.
uses very little charcoal (about 6 pices at a time)
the mesh part stays cool so it can be moved if needed, even whilst still cooking
it’s still kind of pricey for what it is.

We’ve had one of these for about 6 years, it works really, really well.

Yes its a bit expensive but the food is cooked so much better (not the usual BBQ burned to a crisp on the outside/Raw on the inside)food doesnt dry out and you can do full roasts while camping: Roast Beef, Lamb shanks etc. Does all the normal BBQ type food well too.

Best BBQ you can buy to be honest.

Doing a full roast chicken dinner and roast potatoes for my teammates at 2am while at the 24-12 a few years back was a highlight 🙂

Does it not just burn everything when the fat drips on the coals?

Fat doesn’t drip into the coals, it runs off to the side and into a moat. No flare ups or smoke. Brilliant piece of kit, true it is expensive but really good quality and will last a very long time.

Sold! Cheers guys

before you buy one have you looked at cadacs? we ummed and ahhed over which to buy for camping and decided that a cadac has more room and is more versatile. think we made the right choice. different plates for griddles, BBQ rack, paella dish, wok dish etc, you just choose which plate you want for what youre cooking. cheaper than a cobb too.

think we thought at the time a cobb will cook a (small) roast chicken and potatoes better, but everything else would be better on the cadac.

Fat doesn’t drip into the coals, it runs off to the side and into a moat.

Yeah, what’s missing from nthe OP#s picture is a plate which sits between the coads and the food. The plate has holes and channels which drain the fat away to the moat and away from the coals. And there’s a frying pan available for breakfast

Cobb also has a selection of additional plates etc. We have had one for about 4 years, cooked at home and taken it on holiday/for picnics whatever. Highly efficient, cleans in the dishwasher, can’t fault it.

We normally set ours up alongside Muddy@rseGuys, a leg of lamb with a whole jar of mint sauce smeared over it seems to be very popular!

Very quick to fire up with the coconut fuel stuff, so we can start a joint of meat when the others are firing up the charcoal and it will be ready after the first round of burgers 🙂

And it does stay properly cool, we’ve used ours on park benches, grass and the deck of a canal boat and often move it out of the way immediately after cooking.

I thought the kid of a Cobb was insulated in some way to retain heat and keep it efficient for long cooking. Does it cook as well as a variable height barbeque? Really like our Son of Hibachi/Grilletto but it is getting a bit tired and the bag is bust so a Cobb could crop up as a replacement…

Well, a Cobb did arrive, and this afternoon it is having it’s first run out with a little lump of beef, a cheap lump of beef to play with. Was looking for cooking times, and low and behold, Singletrack turns up in the Google results. Just over a pound and a half of brisket, anyone want to suggest a number of beads/time to aim for? Looking at maybe 8 briquettes for about an hour? About right with liquid in the moat and some potatoes in there too?

I usually get about 3hrs out of 8 bricks for a whole chicken.

I would aim for a min of 4 hours and check the coals every 2hrs and top up if needed.

Remember to put a dry rub on for a few hrs first if possible and of course some woodchips.

Never tried vege in the moat – usually just a bottle of beer.

Thanks ericemel, but what size chicken ate you thinking of? This is only a small lump of beef, 750g, 1.5lb. Do you think it will really take that long?

The idea is to cook low and slow – but fair point thats a small piece, you could could prob get away with 2ish hrs

check this out. http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=109712

Must be spring, cobb chat, next it will be bell tents.

Wrap tatties and fat of choice in tin foil to make a sausage shape then stick round the side next to the coals (6-8) 1 hour+
Did lamb burgers, potatoes(1hour+), green beans+mini corn+butter(15min) and carrot sticks and butter(25min) in mine last weekend for 4.
Tasty!
Did a whole chicken (Small) before covered in BBQ sauce for 2hours

Whole chickens and half shoulders of lamb are very good in a Cobb.

I don’t like doing steaks on it as the griddle plate doesn’t really get hot enough.

I don’t like doing steaks on it as the griddle plate doesn’t really get hot enough.

Can’t agree more! Its def not a grill!

If you have a chimney starter, they are perfect for steaks.

After an hour and a half the beef was done to a beautiful medium and the spuds in oil, in foil, in the moat were spot on. The order was for well done though so theirs had a little resting time in a warm pan after slicing.
Thanks ericemel and shuhockey.
I assume shuhockey that you just make up tinfoil packets of everything and chuck them in the top at the appropriate times for the later, quicker veg?

Yeah. made them up all at the same time then chucked them round the edge at the required time.
Pizza also works well if you have the frying pan.

If you still have heat in the basket after cooking, put a camping kettle or pan of water over the heat, usually hot enough for a brew once you’ve eaten, or water hot enough for a quick swill round the moat or roasting rack.
So it’s good for next day, or so the car or van don’t stink before you get home to clean it properly.

Recommend the coconut shell fuel blocks too. As said above, you can be cooking on those in about 3 mins from lighting them. No hanging about for charcoal.

Finally sold on the Cobb fuel blocks for when we are away, speedy, clean and quick sounds good. Big roll of tin foil as well. Thanks chaps!

If you’re doing a chicken in the Cobb, chuck a handful of tea leaves on the coals. Tea smoked chicken sounds wrong, but it’s really nice.

+1 for the coconut things

Wrecker, that looks a winner!, I’ll need to try that.

Brisket joint done as an experiment was tasty and as moist as you could expect, sausages and roast potatoes (campervan experimenting) was pretty good, but the leg of lamb today, with handfuls of rosemary from the bush in the garden… Just perfect. Oh, all done on briquettes, not for cobblestones yet.

How much food can you cook on a cobb? Is t big enough for a family of 5?

We did a good sized roast and enough potatoes for 4 of us, the girls are only 2 and 4, but we only half filled it so I think you could load it up. Just don’t expect to use it like a normal barbeque, that’s all. It’s a charcoal oven to me, until I unleash the frying pan grill anyway 🙂
Edit, oh, they do a bigger oval one if you thought it was marginal.

Reckon you’d struggle to do more than 3 hungry people so for five I’d get the larger (and more expensive) oval one. (for BBQ fare as it doesn’t take many burgers to hog all the space, for chicken/joints etc you get a lot more meat)

I treated myself to an extra kit last year with a frypan, griddle, something else and it even came with a slightly silly cake tin, never thought it would fit in the existing bag as it already has a roasting rack in there, but my up turning the lid the whole lot still goes in there with space for two or three coconut fuel things and it lives in the camper permanently.

Can do 4 easily from a normal Cobb, we even did 8 one day in the summer. Just cook in batches while you’re eating on lot of stuff you cook another bit like a normal BBQ.