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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 5 Jan 2012
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COBB Barbecue Cooking System
Hi folks

I have just been researching cooking options for my upcoming Africa trip and have come across the COBB cooking system, looks pretty good, has anyone here used one on the road? Was it hard finding charcoal fuel? Easy to clean? Has anyone used the gas version of the COBB? How fuel efficient was it?

Cheers

Danny
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  #2  
Old 5 Jan 2012
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I am a keen cook and love ours (which is a charcoal one) but it has it's downsides.

Positives: It is hugely versatile - you can roast a chicken or a joint of meat and cook veggies in the reservoir. You can also make pizza and bake bread or cakes as well as cooking the usual pan based meals. It is very economical - just a few chunks of charcoal will keep you cooking for at least an hour and a half. Charcoal is cheap and very easy to find. After a few minutes it creates no smoke so you can use it to cook inside if you want, it also has little feet so you can put it on any surface.

Negatives: It is bulky. It generates a lot of greasy surfaces and as such is a pain to clean especially if you don't have unlimited hot water. As it has a domed cover you can only use quite a shallow pan on it as it doesn't really work with the lid off. As such it isn't the best option for anything that needs much attention eg pan frying.

I would say go for it if you love cooking and want to be able to cook all sorts on the road. But I wouldn't have it as a sole, or even a main, cooking option. We also had a 2 ring Coleman petrol stove, a potjkie and a braai (told you I liked cooking!).
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  #3  
Old 5 Jan 2012
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I'd love one but they look to bulky for bike travel
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  #4  
Old 6 Jan 2012
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Hard to clean ; bulky to pack
I have to agree that in theory the Cobb looks excellent but in reality it is very awkward to pack and extremely frustrating to clean. Perfect for an away weekend in a campsite but not bushcamping daily.

We used gas and a charcoal burner which did the job perfectly.

The gas cooker lasted 750 days before eventually getting battered a little beyond its useful state...

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  #5  
Old 6 Jan 2012
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We have been using it for about a year on our trip. Agree with the points above. We found that using non-paraffin based firestarters and/or Cobblestones (both available on the cobb website) helped with the amount of sooty deposits that needed heavy cleaning. Also, in our experience, the efficiency is impaired significantly if there is even a slight wind. The non-stick surface on the grill plate started wearing off despite careful cleaning quite early on.

Still glad we brought it - definitely a occasional use item.
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  #6  
Old 9 Jan 2012
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Thanks for the feedback guys

I love my cooking too and really want my meal times to be a bit more then just 'functional'.

I am still sitting on the fence with regards to the COBB. Have found this portable commercial cast iron twin gas stove that looks the nuts, powerful gas burner, simple build but built like a tank.

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  #7  
Old 9 Jan 2012
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I've been using my Cobb for about 5 years now but I've only managed to travel with it on the bike as far as Ripley as it fills my E52 Maxia topbox but as a 4x4 cooker it would be superb.

I've cooked a full Xmas dinner in it as well as baking apple pies etc. I don't know of another cooker that you would be able to cook such a wide range of foods in that is as portable.

At Ripley I've cooked large 1 pot meals, beef stew and chicken curry etc for upwards of 10 people without too many problems. I use the frying pan as a hotplate and sit a large pot on top. It takes a while to boil but simmers for hours on a small amount of charcoal.

The thing is though, they're expensive and if I was travelling in Africa I would just make a fire or fashion a charcoal cooker and cook on that and use a petrol stove for everything else.
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