I'm wondering if anyone uses their Cobb outside in the Winter. I have been using my new Cobb outside a few times this past week and am not getting good results from it. Today I roasted a 1.6kg chicken using 9 heat beads and the legs were still raw after 2 hours and 40 minutes. And my potatoes which I had parboiled were still hard after being in the moat for that time as well.
It is breezy here today and I am wondering if the wind chill has made it cook less efficiently. But it is by no means cold and I was hoping to use the Cobb throughout the winter in the garden to cook roasts and the like.
Has anyone used their Cobb in the winter? Can anyone suggest anything else I might be doing wrong? Any opinions gratefully received!!
we have used ours in the winter, and even brought it inside when the weather wasn't so good - once we had lit it, and it was ready for cooking on that is! dont recall any noticable differences in cooking times etc
------------- Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional
When you've lit it are you leaving it for the heatbeads to go grey and oven warm up before putting food on to cook? Then once it's cooking are you leaving the dome on for the whole cooking time? Don't make the mistake of opening it up to have a look at how it's cooking as it seriously reduces oven temperature. If you think it's to do with the outdoor temperature you could try it inside and see if it makes a difference. I have put mine on top of the hob with the extractor running just in case once it's stopped smoking before I start cooking.
If you're still having problems try some cobblestones. They are expensive but pretty foolproof, you can cook on them literally 5 minutes after lighting and I've never had any problems, may be once you've got the hang of cooking on it you could then revert back to heat beads.
Thanks for your replies. I left the heatbeads for 20 minutes until they were mostly grey before I put the food on. I didn't open the lid at all for the first 1 3/4 hours. The chicken hadn't browned at all and was still raw on the legs. I have got some cobblestones and I used 1 to cook a rack of lamb which worked well. I was hoping to be able to use heat beads though as the cobblestones do work out much more expensive. I'll try it again inside and see if it makes a difference.
Hmmm, don't know then, perhaps a duff bag of heat beads if there is such a thing? I've only used heat beads a couple of times but didnt' have any problems once I'd got them lit, must have another go with them as the rest of the bag needs using.
I use cobblestones with mine as they're easy to transport, can fit 5 or 6 inside the cobb without any extra bags so know where they are when we load up and unload the car, they're easy to light and there's no mess.
We use ours all year round. We used it this weekend too, it was a little windy but we didn't have any loss of heat problems. Use good quality charcoal briquets and you won't go far wrong. Heat beads and charcoal briquets are the same product its all just charcoal. you pay more for the name of heat beads mind. The cobblestones are quick to use after lighting them but i prefer the charcoal briquets myself.
------------- DELTA..
aka Paul
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.”
We made a jacket for our cobb, it's a piece of leftover canvas, 4.5 inches wide with velcro on each end, it simply wraps around the stainless gauze and keeps a lot of the heat in.
Quote: Originally posted by Paul + Wendy on 05/10/2009
We made a jacket for our cobb, it's a piece of leftover canvas, 4.5 inches wide with velcro on each end, it simply wraps around the stainless gauze and keeps a lot of the heat in.
A simple fix that I think we're going to have to do too. Used ours this weekend, and although we protected the Cobb from the wind by having it in the tent awning, all the veg we had put in the moat was still pretty much raw after 2 hours, apart from the edges that were directly against the fire basket, which were burnt. That's with a Cobblestone and lifting the lid just once to turn the beef joint. The meat was cooked perfectly though. That suggests to me that the mesh sides allow far too much heat loss from the main bowl when then there's even a slight cool breeze. Not an uncommon problem it seems from searching the web - there was one place that even sold a Cobb 'bra" for just this reason, and it would appear that this only happens on the mesh version, not the older models with solid metal base. Other people have just put foil around the inside of the mesh with good results. You probably need to leave a small gap around the bottom to maintain airflow for the charcoal.
We've used cobblestones, heat beads and normal briquettes and definitely prefer the cobblestones although the heat beads were ok but the cheaper briquettes seemed the least successful. The only time the cobb did not cook brilliantly was when it was really windy and the veg in the moat did not cook. I think I'll have a go at making a cobb 'bra' for mine!
Quote: Originally posted by Paul + Wendy on 05/10/2009
We made a jacket for our cobb, it's a piece of leftover canvas, 4.5 inches wide with velcro on each end, it simply wraps around the stainless gauze and keeps a lot of the heat in.
Do you know i had the old Cobb black base and the base plate broke out of it.I got the new wire mesh one and i didnt use it for ages after trying it i managed with the old one. I was wondering if they co;d be lined with foil??