outdoors / camping cooking

Submitted: Saturday, Mar 14, 2015 at 14:30
ThreadID: 117062 Views:3948 Replies:6 FollowUps:7
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G'day all - a couple of questions regarding cooking gear and their capabilities and drawbacks.

The first regards the "Cobb", having recently bought the frypan and griddle. If you are doing eggs and bacon for brekkie on the frypan, is the lid supposed to be on or off ? This also applies to the griddle, (which i have not used yet). Do i fill the moat with water or not ? When I cooked the eggs & bacon for my trusty troops on the "Cobb", it took a little bit longer than i expected but did turn out OK.

And what about throwing the smokey chips on the Cobble Stones, has any body tried doing this for eggs & bacon or using the griddle for a bbq? the second part of this saga is about the Ziegler & Brown barbies.

I was originally looking at the small Weber Q at a large bbq retailer and have seen the Z & B before and thought that they did look quite good. Does anybody out there possess them and what are your thoughts on the Z & B single burner compared to the baby Weber Q ?.

The Z & B has a couple of handy features which the Weber does not, such as a high lid for roasting, thermometer, and the hot plate can be locked into position for transporting and it also a carry bag which has pockets for putting other griddle / hot plates / trivet in the one bag.

Over the years of travelling for work, i have had a couple of portable small cheapy bbqs' and they have been quite good, but now as i'm hoping to get a voluntary redundancy and spend a bit more time at home and away (sounds like a soapy on tv) with the warden, i think it is time for something that will last us.

And I love the "Cobb", I have had some magnificent meals with my trusty troops over the years, it's a brilliant piece of gear, especially with the chips for smoking stuff

Sorry, this went on a bit longer than i thought but.....
thanks for any advice or suggestions - bb1
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Reply By: aboutfivebucks (Pilbara) - Saturday, Mar 14, 2015 at 19:56

Saturday, Mar 14, 2015 at 19:56
You missed adding this image to your pot.
I've included it for you

AnswerID: 549974

Follow Up By: aboutfivebucks (Pilbara) - Saturday, Mar 14, 2015 at 19:58

Saturday, Mar 14, 2015 at 19:58
haha, I meant post not pot.
You missed adding this image to your post.
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FollowupID: 835381

Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 08:54

Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 08:54
Hi Bruce,

I love my Cobb as well, but only use it for Roasts and baking bread, etc.
I find the length of time taken to fire it up for cooking breakfast to be not worthwhile.

Instead, I have a two burner Coleman with a hotplate that cooks Bacon and Eggs in no time flat and with much less hassle.

I am interested in your use of the Cobble Stones as fuel. My own experience with them is that too much heat was generated, and I have settled on six or seven heatbeads, which while taking about 20 minutes or so to fully burn evenly, allow better heat control, by adding or removing one heatbead at a time.

As far as other cookers are concerned, both a BabyQ, or a Zeigler & Brown equivalent take up a fair bit of room to cart around and they are quite heavy.

I have a Coleman Road Trip Grill which works well, but is a PITA to carry and store, so that now sits home in the shed.
One of my mates who travels with us, owns a BabyQ but leaves that home as well do to the above reason.
My SIL owns a Z&B and swears by it, but they tend to use that at home for cooking outdoors, rather than travel with it.

I find the combination of the Cobb Cooker, the two burner stove with hotplate and my trusty Hillbilly Camp Oven cover every type of cooking I am likely to perform while camping.
The Cobb is good when there is just two to four of us, but with 6 folk often traveling and camping together, the Camp Oven is often deployed. Sometimes I even have a roast of one meat cooking in the CO, while another is cooking in the Cobb. Both have veggie rings too. The Camp Oven has the advantage of being able to operate on a gas ring, so in times of fire bans in place, I am still able to cook using gas. (Not as much fun as heatbeads or campfire coals though)

Everyone of us will experiment and come up with our own combination of cooking appliances and change until they arrive at the best solution for themselves, at the time.

Even though the majority of our traveling now employs the use of our offroad campervan, all cooking is still done outside on one or more of our cooking devices, because this suits us the best. Our traveling friends have similar two burner stoves
We have some great meals while camping. No freeze dried, regurgitated food offerings, cooked over a single burner ring, for us:-)

Phew, you thought your Post was long!
Bill


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AnswerID: 549986

Follow Up By: bruce bb1 - Monday, Mar 16, 2015 at 11:15

Monday, Mar 16, 2015 at 11:15
Thanks Bill - i agree that the Cobb is not really suited for the brekkie rush and great for 2, 3 or 4 people and will probably not bother with it for that again and use one of my other cheapies for the eggs & bacon. The Cobblestones suit me, especially the ease of getting them fired up compared to the heat beads and the fire lighters, it's something less to carry, even though they really don't take up to much space. i have also trimmed the cobblestones down a couple of times when i don't need as much heat for a longer period. At the moment i am using the Cobb and BBQ for the few times when my work mates and i get a chance to actually relax a bit either before or after work. Smoked chicken drumsticks and wings in the Cobb - brilliant
thanks again - bb
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FollowupID: 835471

Reply By: Crusier 91 - Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 15:50

Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 15:50
Bruce, this may not be of any help to you or maybe it could be.

We always travel with my best mate, so we have 2 of everything when it come to cooking in the bush. These items live in our trucks and campers.

We both own a baby Q, fry pan and single butane gas burner each, its is all we need. Cooking for up to 6 for breakfast is very easy, even more people if you wanted too. 2 frypans going to cook all the bacon, then keep it warm in a aluminium tray in the baby Q whilst the eggs are cooking in the pans. The grill in the Jayco does the toast. Everyone eats a hot breakfast together at the same time.................fail proof.

We love our baby Q.

The only time we use baby Q's is for meat in one, veggies in the other.
AnswerID: 550014

Follow Up By: Crusier 91 - Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 15:52

Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 15:52
edit..........The only time we use 2 baby Q's is for meat in one, veggies in the other.

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FollowupID: 835411

Follow Up By: bruce bb1 - Monday, Mar 16, 2015 at 11:24

Monday, Mar 16, 2015 at 11:24
Thanks Cruiser - you have just reminded me that i do have a single burner in the kit, somewhere. And a brand new, still in its box cast iron frypan, also in the kit somewhere. There is usually only 3 of us working together so the single burner and the (not yet purchased) baby Q sounds like a good system. Even though the baby Q or Ziegler & Brown do take up a it of room. Hmm - decisions, decisions
thanks - bb
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FollowupID: 835472

Reply By: Crusier 91 - Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 15:53

Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 15:53
P.S. No post can be to long when it comes to food and cooking :)
AnswerID: 550015

Reply By: Member - Tony F8 - Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 16:28

Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 16:28
Personally prefer the build quality of the weber over the ziggy, plus weber has a 25 year warranty, which they fully support, I have a q320 (4 years old) and the grill plates were rusting badly after following webers cleaning directions, rang weber with the serial number, explained the situation and was told they have changed the cleaning method, sent me a complete set of enamaled grill plates, free of charge, delivered to the door 3 days later by courier, imho you can't beat product back up like that.
AnswerID: 550019

Follow Up By: bruce bb1 - Monday, Mar 16, 2015 at 12:01

Monday, Mar 16, 2015 at 12:01
G'day Tony - I've got the family Q at home and it is very good. The thing that was swaying me towards the ziggy single burner, (like the baby Q) was that there is a carry bag which you can place other components such as half or full sized hot plates, trivets etc. But the build quality and support that you mentioned is certainly worth seriously considering. Even more confused now
thanks - bb
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FollowupID: 835475

Reply By: FatGaz - Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 20:04

Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 20:04
You mention the weber does not have a high lid for roasting, or thermomitor.

Have another look at the weber online store. baby q has two models. One has a high lid for roasting and thermometer.

I have one of these and I use it for roast pork fora family of 5.

not all stores can sell these models.
AnswerID: 550028

Follow Up By: Member - Tony F8 - Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 23:28

Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 at 23:28
Fatgaz is correct, but only weber specialist dealers sell the high lid model with thermometer, even the baby q high lid model has enough height to cook a good sized roast.
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FollowupID: 835448

Follow Up By: bruce bb1 - Monday, Mar 16, 2015 at 12:12

Monday, Mar 16, 2015 at 12:12
Thanks fellas - the shop i was in was not Weber Premium dealer and they don't have the high lid and thermometer version of the baby Q and i had forgotten about that. even though the family Q at home does have the high lid and thermometer and was bought from a Premium dealer. i've also done a bit of roast pig in the Q and it was very successful. As i said in one of my other replies, the ziggy carry bag and place to carry other bits and pieces was leaning me in that direction, plus the ability to lock the grill in position was also a point that i liked but maybe the build and after sales backup is more valuable
thanks - bb
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FollowupID: 835476

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