recommend me a portable BBQ

Cobb ordered

Excellent! I highly recommend doing a simple smoked chicken first time around – you will see your money has been well spent! For reference I have 3 smokers and the Cobb does chicken better and easier than either of the full size ones!

I know women Elshslimo if that doesn’t make her happy nothing will.

Cheers ericemel it’s first trip is Friday for a camping trip. Do you need the seperate smoker or will it work another way?

Damn you all, now looking at Cobbs – and I’ve already got a fully build brick BBQ at home. But a smoker… I think I really do need a smoker in my life.

Haha! This is for trips to the beach and days away for me, that and the occasional garden use as my old BBQ is looking a bit tatty these days.

Cheers ericemel it’s first trip is Friday for a camping trip. Do you need the seperate smoker or will it work another way?

Follow this 🙂 you probably didn’t order a rack, improvise with some foil.

http://www.planetbarbecue.co.uk/chickencobb.htm

mogrim – does your home brick bbq have a cover?

Just released that was a crap guide.

This is what I do.
– apply some dry rub to a chicken (simple peri peri works a treat) leave for a few hrs in the fridge
– when 8 briquettes are ready, add some wood chips in a foil bag
– add some beer to the moat
– pop the tray and rack on (home made foil rack)
– add the chicken
– add a few more coals after 1.5hrs
– chicken done in a total 3 hours.

Anyone know if this is any good?

It’s a TekTake 3-in-1[/url]

Follow this you probably didn’t order a rack, improvise with some foil.

I didn’t until about an hour or so ago as found one for £10.

Cheers I’ll check those guides out.

Anyone know if this is any good?

Tempted to say go for it, but no vents on the bottom are a deal breaker even for £35. Opening the massive doors on the side would make temperature control very difficult IMO; adjusting the vents on my smokey mountain even by a few mm makes a difference in the temps.

Tempted to say go for it, but no vents on the bottom are a deal breaker even for £35. Opening the massive doors on the side would make temperature control very difficult IMO; adjusting the vents on my smokey mountain even by a few mm makes a difference in the temps.

Not sure I’ve ever been that precise when cooking 🙂 How important is precise temperature control when smoking food? I’ve only ever used a brick BBQ with a fixed height grill – got that technique fairly sorted, this is a bit different though!

Still, might have a look for a better model, it’s just that at that price…

Honestly, I find temp control quite difficult even with the WSM. It’s something I’m still learning. When you think you’ve set it right, temps can shoot up and down. My results so far have been mixed, but when I’ve got it right the results are meaty bliss. I wouldn’t blame you for buying one at the price, just sharing my experience really.

On another note, I have smoked in my bog standard weber kettle compact using the “snake” technique and the result was fantastic. You’ll want a cable thermometer though.

Been reading reviews on Amazon, and it seems the quality is a bit iffy – might have to look at getting something a bit more upmarket.

I’d be tempted to buy a decent weber kettle and just use the snake method; it’s very simple. That way if you don’t end up smoking food too often, you’d still have an excellent grill. You can get a lot of food in a larger one.
Tip; if you don’t have one already, a weber chimney starter is probably the best bit of BBQ kit I’ve ever bought.

a weber chimney starter is probably the best bit of BBQ kit I’ve ever bought.

I second that!

Anyone who fancies a Cobb I’d get one from Lakeland, their description isn’t clear that it’s the Premier so was pleasantly surprised. Means I now have a spare grill though.

I might be being daft, but you do know that thing balanced on the top isn’t a rack but the charcoal basket (it goes inside). They didn’t have normal and premier when I got mine – what’s the difference?

I might be being daft, but you do know that thing balanced on the top isn’t a rack but the charcoal basket (it goes inside).

Shut up! 😳

Think it’s the book and bag you get.

http://www.cobb-bbq.co.uk/Products/Details/cobb-premier-set

Drac – what are the dimensions of the unit in the bag?

Gotta be a Cobb. Wouldn’t be without ours for quick impromtue BBQing at home. Use it all the time when camping – the non-stick pan is brilliant for a morning fry-up before hitting the trails or the surf!

Drac – what are the dimensions of the unit in the bag?

No idea I can’t find my tape measure.

Maybe 1′ high 10″ wide and 8″ deep at a rough guess.

Just bought a Weber go anywhere gas BBQ a few days ago. Not really sure about it to be honest, pros and cons below….

+ Instant push button start, no messing about with charcoal.
+ Completely cooled down within 5-10 minutes of turning it off which means you don’t need to keep an eye on young kids around it and can sling it in the boot of the car without having to wait ages for it to cool down
+ pretty compact so doesn’t take up too much boot space
+ So far had 3 BBQs off a small 250 canister with gas to spare. Think you’d get 7-8 BBQs from the c500 canister which are about £5 so cheaper than charcoal.
+ A bit less antisocial in more crowded public places given you aren’t going to smoke everyone out.

– The food tastes OK, but definitely not as good as a charcoal BBQ
– Food sticks a bit to the stone enamel grill and it is not as easy to clean as I thought it would be.

Still have some doubts on whether I should have got the charcoal version, but maybe I just need to refine my technique a bit.

Get a weber smokey joe and do the smoker stock pot mod if you fancy a project.

How To Build A “Mini” Weber Smokey Mountain

Not a Cobb! Not enough heat to cook anything other than a burger, with extra salmonella on the side.

You want one of these babies, made by Japanese outdoor gear company, Soto. Not cheap, not that easy to find, but if you are a serious BBQer, these are the cat’s pyjamas:

http://www.sotooutdoors.com/products/item/OD-DG.html

Have a look for Savu smoker bags, layered foil pouches with sawdust in between with pinpricks to let smoke through. Not as good as proper smoker but good in their own way.

Cobb is performing awesome here tonight, it’s done a load of sausages 1/2 dozen fat burgers and it’s still red hot. Sadly I’m now tending to my youngest to get her to go to sleep. Wasp sting plus being tired is a massive drama for a 7 year old.

Just tested out our new son of hibachi for the first time.

Was a bit dubious about how easy it would be to get going.

Came back from a ride and a few beers and tried it out.
Piece of piss to get going and bangs out loads of heat.
Well impressed with it. Can’t wait to use it out and about now i know how good it is.

20140803_174309 by multispeedstu[/url], on Flickr

20140803_181319 by multispeedstu[/url], on Flickr

Your not quite right about the heat in a Cobb.[/url]
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Tonights tea with potatoes underneath. All from about 8 little briquettes and 1 hour 45min waiting. Lifting the lid just once after 30minutes to flip the bird.

… to flip the bird.

That chicken gave it’s life for your dinner, should have shown it a bit more respect!!

No idea what dee2hig is on about it’s cooked loads tonight with briquettes. It’s a brilliant thing that I’m going to keep in the car for the rest of the summer.

thanks Drac

I’ll add more info later. Just home need to sort a few things before I pick my Mrs up from work.

Ok.

I used it on Friday night for the first time and did Lamb Chops, Burgers and Sausage. I messed up a little and didn’t keep the lid on enough so the heat would disappear too much but once I realised what I was doing it worked grand. Chops were fantastically moist.

Used it again on the Sunday night this time it performed flawlessly as I kept the lid on loads. Today I’ve had it at the beach doing chicken tikka kebabs, corn on the cob, I roasted tomatoes in the tray by the charcoal they came out marvellous sweet and hot. Did some beef, monteray jack patties after that again they came out moist.

The Cobb really is exceptional and that’s only a patch of what it can do, I’ve a roasting rack now too so going to try that sometime. I’m also going to get the frying dish so I can do pizzas at the beach.

Can’t recommended one enough just a fantastic bit of kit, cheers for tips everyone.

weber go anywhere with lumpwood and starter chimney, packs up nicely.

Pizza express pizzas fit the fry pan perfectly. I added a couple of extra briquettes to get it really hot and left the fry pan and lid for about 10 minutes once going well. Base of pizza was lovely and crispy.

Pizza express pizzas fit the fry pan perfectly.

They will never go near mine.

Drac – great stuff glad you are liking it. You are using some woodchips too aren’t you?

Cheers Drac, nice report!

Not used woodchips yet as still I have a packet ready though so will at some point.