Cobb Barbeque (again)

[abraxus]

I mounted mine by bolting a Magma side mount bracket to the outisde of the transom:

http://www.kinsalequays.com/acatalog/Magma_Barbeques_and_Accessories.html

and then pushing on and gluing a shakespeare ratchet antenna mount onto this so that the flat plate is facing upwards (the ratchet makes this adjustable). Finally, I bolted a round pizza pan of the appropriate size onto the antenna mount plate. The Cobb then sits on the pizza pan at the back of the boat over the swim platform.

Next to this I have a rod mount bait table to keep utensils, plates etc on while cooking:

http://www.boatfix.com/catalog/428.pdf

 

[duncan]

Hmm - I just stick mine on the table in the cockpit..................although in a particularily nasty day in Swanage a few weeks ago I put it on the cockpit floor as I had the toneau cover on and whilst it's cold underneath the lid does get hot!

re potatoes - vacuum packed from catering outlet like Macro or tinned. The former include ready flavoured and are brilliant - pack or garlic and herb in the moat with a little water ..............

reusing heat beads........you have got to be kidding? Sticking 7-8 in the thing will cost less that 50p. Using tongs to remove them and put them into water better than adding water to the hot metal tray (obviously).

couple of things they do really well - take some tortilla breads, add grated cheese and grated onion, fold once and you will get a pair onto the griddle at once. Couple of minutes a side and you have a great snack that can even be doen before the things up to heat (or whilst the potatoes are getting started)

Sausages - all those fancy ones now available from the supermarkets - can be cooked to perfection and some of them are fantastic.

I love the thing.

 

[rickp]

You convinced me! Mine arrived today and we carried out a trial run this evening just doing some sausages for tea. It did a fine job, with no messing - very pleased with it. Was really impressed with the amount of charcoal left afterwards too - could have gone on cooking for ages. Lots more experimentation to come - Emma has already ear-marked the breakfast (in the frying pan) as a must try.

How do you deal with cleaning it down on the boat? Dump the remaining charcoal into a bucket of water, then fill the moat with cold water and let it cool before dumping the water+ash overboard? Once its cool, washing it up is straightforward it seems.

Rick

 

[duncan]

tong the coals as you say but just leave the bowl to cool - does it pretty quick. not a good idea to add cold water to hot plate metal - includes using the moat - add the liquid early before the thing gets hot hot!

duncan

 

[Anonymous]

I'm very near to deciding to buy a Cobb rather than the (far more expensive) gas Magma kettle 2. Price is an issue but quality of food and 'fun' is what it's all about, frankly.

Having read through all the comments on ybw forums, and the uk cobb website, and the us website, it seems to me that Cobbs don't give that nice char-grilled effect on steaks, fish, sausages, etc. and that it is more of an oven for smoking or slow roasting. Is that a fair observation?

Is it possible to BBQ a couple of sizzling steaks on a Cobb or will we be dissapointed?

If the Cobb isn't for us, can anyone recommend a good source for Magma (or other marine gas BBQs) other than West Marine in the US?

Many thanks.

 

[BlueSkyNick]

Only used ours a couple of times, but certainly got the char-grilled effect you are looking for. The grill is basically a large plate with a number of holes in it, so you are getting a combination of effects.

I think of it more as a BBQ than an oven, although not yet tried it as both.

 

[duncan]

it's either or both - oh and a hot smoker!

bought it back from the boat in Dec and cooked a 4.5lb gammon on it for new years eve - used Chrissy present of a cast iron smoke pot and flavour pellets SWMBO bought from Nauticalia and, with sugar maple in this case, and 3 hours cooking had the best piece of gammon ever - and that comment was from a catering professional!

to get colour on steaks add a little charcol to the brickets then basically pre heat the grill. oil the steaks rather than the griddle and cook them uncovered.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Duncan, and Shy_Talk. The point about the colour of griddled food is that this shows that a certain temperature has been reached which results in certain chemical changes in the food. It is this that gives the food its special flavour. Not to be confused with smokey tastes from BBQs (accidentally or deliberately). High temperatures from any cooking heat source will give the food a different flavour but the temperature has to be high enough to sear the surface.

You mention, Duncan, adding charcoal to get the temperature up - I imagine you mean add a bit of natural charcoal on top of briquettes, is that correct?

The Cobb set that we are interested in buying also includes a wok. That needs to be very hot to be of any serious use for stir-frying and I'm surprised that so few briquettes can possibly work satisfactorily.

Still, having read all these comments and not found a single person with a bad word to say about the Cobb other then difficulties in cleaning, I guess we have got to get one....seems far safer and more suitable for on-board cooking with teak decks and soft covers everywhere than an open charcoal or gas BBQ.

Thanks for your input. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[duncan]

yes re charcol - if you burn all charcol it can get to hot for the lid if you are silly enough to put the lid on without the griddle in place...... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

The griddle is slightly domed, the wok significantly cupped - net difference is that the wok will be damm close to the fire and sufficient heat will not be a worry for the first hour or two of cooking (that's about 40 stir fried dishes!).

The cobb excels at managing the airflow to the coals so you get a nice even heat for a long period - especially if you use 'heat beads'.

Absolutely agree re temp / colour etc and really good quality steak (or lamb) will gain little from smoke but a lot from correct cooking. the griddle plate is however quite thin and will therefore relies upon the heat source rather than retained preheating to give you colour (you will know what I mean) - you may therefore benefit from using the cobb as an outside heatsource but substituting a heavy ridged pan for the cobbs own griddle plate when cooking your steaks - the cobb will deliver enough energy to get this up to 'searing' heat, and it will retain it long enough to give the flavour you are looking for.

then put the cobb to one side, add a smoke pot and pellets, griddle pan, prebrined and rubbed butt of pork, lid and leave for 4 hours - possibly adding a few more brikkets after 2 hours - and there you are all ready for tea!

as the thing keeps going better than a duracell bunny you should consider a stove top coffee maker too if coffee's your thing.


link to the smoke set - here

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for that, duncan. I don't know if we can get those 'heat beads' in Spain or elsewhere in the Med - maybe someone can say? We are obviously on the same wavelength about temperature and meat - one of our big problems in cooking inside is getting enough heat from the hob; we now use a 2kW thermostatic hotplate that seems to get just hot enough (I have a large diesel generator and we need to run that once or twice a day anyway for other services). Thanks everyone for a great response - we will join the ranks of you Cobb owners - will that make us Cobbers? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[ex-Gladys]

Only cooked a couple of times on our Cobb, BUT it was MAGNIFICENT. We did a cheap lamb joint that had the best flavour bar none of any that I have ever tasted. It seared the outside brilliantly; better than meat on a trad BBQ. We even talked about doing our Christmas dinner beef rib on it, but decided against because of the size vs cooking time. Cobb reckon 3 hours is about the limit, and we wanted a bit over that...