Help with roasts Cobb Cooker

Hi Zedd
I have found that the recommended number of heat beads is never enough! I usually put on at least 10 or 11 to cook a roast. It Is also necessary to turn the roast and the veges at least once. I am convinced that the cooking on the plate is a lot faster than by convection. But the most important thing I find is to ensure that ALL the heat beads are ALL grey before you start cooking. It still takes longer than the suggested time but if you use enough heat beads you can reduce that to a reasonable period. BTW, I still love the final product!!!
Hope this helps

tg

In my opinion they are a waste of time and money.
I am amazed that people buy heat beads still.... another waste of money
I have seen quicker and nicer meals cooked on a trangia stove.

Cobb Cooker...?

No comment :)

Mike Harding

Hi Zedd,
We have had our Cobb for a couple of years now, and along the way have purchased numerous cooking books ? - At the end of the day it all comes down to practice. We use more heat beads than recommended, and our roasts always turn out O.K - with practice of course.

Nice to get positive responses when you ask for help, isnt it?

tg

Love the cobb, the trick for crackling is remove from roast rub in salt and lemon and cook separate, 12 beads, spuds cut in quarters & coated in oil.
Usually those who bag the cobb cant cook lol.

Easiest way to cook a roast..Magic of the Cobb..Let's get it straight from the start,I am not a cook,however,with my s/teel Cobb,I can sure act like one..How can it be more simple than this..For a start I don't prefer frozen roasting meat..I keep my "Roast" meat in the fridge part,but on occasions when using frozen,I give it 5 mins on high in microwave..Out on the track,of course,I just have the meat in the fridge part,so,not frozen..To roast: Lite up three white fire starters in base of fire pit.While they are working towards turning grey (grey means"Time to start cooking old son") I am madly peeling the spuds,pumpkin,onions,cutting carrots in half both ways,adding wine,beer or water into moat,cutting slots in roast to add lots of beautiful garlic.Now fire beads are all grey,I put the roast on (most roasts,I find 9 beads just fine) and add athe veges..Put top on..One hour later,top off (of the cooker) and rotate the roast,top up the moat a little,breathe in the aroma,top back on,come back some time after two and a half hours (but could be three of four..can't over cook) to eat..My usual schedule is Lite fire starters 3pm..Add roast and veges 3:30pm..Flip the roast at 4:30pm..Drinks at 7:00 and eat when ever after that..I never (and I mean never cook inside prison.read house..Always on the tray of our 4x4 as I am pretending I am by a beautiful lagoon,somewhere out bush and honing my few skills) The roasts turn out "curl-a-mou" means magic..Veges to die for..(Wine's not bad either)..Love my Cobb cooker!MPG:10!

I was initially very disapointed with my Cobb but now have it all sorted out and we make beautiful meals.

this is how I do it for a roast of about 1.5 to 2 kgs.

Start - Roast and potatoes and sweet potatoe on

30 minute mark - Pumpkin on

45 Minute Mark - Turn it all over including pumpkin

1 hour 30 minute mark - turn it all again

2 hours 15 minutes remove.

Preparation is important

Leave the pumpkin skin on, make sure all veges are approximately the some size. Cut the veges so there are three flat sides as small as possible so as to reduce the contact area witht he tray and stop them slipping off. Make sure the meat is at room temperature before putting on, this means it needs at least two - three hours out of the fridge prior to putting on. Use only quality heat beads and make sure they are all white/grey prior to starting cooking. Keep the whole thing out of the wind. I use 5 full beads plus about 3 half beads left over from the last use, saved by putting them in a billy with lid to exclide the air.

Good luck and when you master it you won't regret it.

We got our Cobb a couple of weeks ago after spotting them on special ($199) at a camping store we were browsing through.

Knew about using good quality beads (Heat Beads brand) and have done a couple of roasts so far on the back patio (not bush christened yet) first was a leg of lamb with mint and garlic seasoning and red wine in the moat and potatoes, pumpkin and sweet potato. It was brilliant, put the meat and vegies on once the beads had gone grey and then turned the lot about 45-50 mins later and was serving about 1hr after that and that was it, it was even a hell of a lot easier to clean up than the camp oven.

Second time was last night with a lump of boneless pork and sweet and plain potato and pretty much the same result, the only thing with the pork is the crackling doesn't end up as crispy as the camp oven with the coals on the lid, although you shouldn't eat the crackling anyway as it is bad for your health.......;-)))

Each time we have only used 8-9 beads and they still have some left in them when the meat is ready. We have the new premier model with the stainless mesh bottom and dont have a bra for it yet but it also wasn't windy so we will be looking for a bra for it shortly.

My biggest like is the fact that you really dont need to do much with it, basically you start it, turn the contents once and then check towards the end to see when all is done, which suits my style of cooking perfectly as it allows time to socialise and consume to odd ale around the campsite.

The other good thing is you dont need a huge amount of fuel to cook with, I have cooked with the camp ovens using heat beads but you need about 30 odd beads to achieve the same result and given the increasing fire restrictions especially on the islands (Fraser, Moreton etc) it makes life very easy.

Cheers Glen.

Zedd,

I had the "Bra" made for the Cobb which solved a lot of problems. I still have the issue you've described tho. I found the solution was to wrap a solid towel around the top, making sure not to cover the vent holes at the top. Keep an eye on it re heat of course but it shouldn't present any problems. Much better result once I did this. It appears to be an insulation issue so I'm going to go back to Klaus at InFront Canvas and see if he can whip me up an insulated, heat resistant cover for the lid. I'll report in due course.

Cheers Mick

What they all said.

We light the fuel by putting the basket full of beads on the coleman stove then moving the fire basket into the Cobb when they are well alight:

!MPG:3!

Yum!

Pete

Thanks to all those who have gvien me some advice. I will keep persevering as I am not about to be beaten by a cooker. Will give the extra heat beads a try. We are using the Heatbeads as recommended in the Cobb Book.

Although I am having trouble with the timing of the roast meals I have had great success in cooking reasonable casseroles afterwards. Once I've taken the roast off I have used the remaining hot heat beads to cook the casserole. Takes about 2 1/2 hours and didn't need to add any extra beads. We refrigerated the casserole and ate it the next night for tea - the meat was lovely and tender. There seems to be enough heat to do this. So far, for the roast and casserole I haven't needed to add extra beads. The casserole bubbles away quite well - so plenty of heat and no need to worry about bacteria.

In earlier postings someone mentioned they cook several things - scones, roasts, puddings etc. when the Cobb is in use. Has anyone else experimented in cooking different foods during a sitting? Can I ask in what order you cook things and do you add extra beads? For example, do you cook scones first and then add beads for the roast etc.

Zedd one addition you could make is to put your roast in a Hillbilly camp oven on top of the Cobb then when it fails to cook put it on a bed of coals like they are designed to do & store the Cobb in the shed with all the other "not as usefull as I thought" gadgets ;-) The Cobb seems to have almost as many horror story's as a set of Cooper tyres :-)
Cheers Craig.............