Have always used a Gas BBQ now thinking about a Cadac.but do still get a BBQ flavour to the food or is it just a gas frying pan. I know it is versatile but is it worth the money?
They are both a griddle and a frying pan, depending which side you use.
No, it won't char the food quite as much as a gas or charcoal one as they are not as feirce and there is no smoke effect either when the odd spot of fat drips onto hot coals causing a bit of smoke.
I think you get a good flavour, its not a like for like job, each has its own plus & minusses, however I like the Cadac, expensive tho it is, it is a good bit of kit. You pays your money...etc.
Cadac for me is not a replacement to BBQing just a very good alternative . For long trips were there's no campfires allowed I'd still take our folding charcoal BBQ .
If you get a model with the BBQ top, you do get a reasonable BBQ flavour after a few uses - the trick is NOT to wash to flame deflector! The fat and meat juices drip through the BBQ grill onto the deflector and burn, giving the BBQ flavour. If you don't wash the deflector, the flavour gets better with every use. However, if you're a clean-freak that has to make the thing look like new after every use, it'll never taste like BBQ
We like the wide range of cooking possibilities offered by the Cadac ... the BBQ plate does not provide the charcoal flavour ... but then, recent research shows that high, direct heat, such as BBQ units, which often burn the meat, are highly carcenogenic ... so health wise, the Cadac is much better for you too.
We love our Cadac, bought it when we lived in Germany.
Our last outing i did cooked breakfast in about 10mins sausages, bacon and fried eggs all on the skillet no smells in the camper either.
It does cook things very quickly especially when using the Paella pan for breakfasts etc and those bits are very easy to clean.
"BBQ flavour" comes more from fats and juices dripping onto hot stuff below rather than actual charcoal itself and you can still get a certain amount of that with the Cadac as juices collect below in the drip tray and onto the deflector plate as mentioned above
I think its a fab versatile piece of kit personally and if you can get it price matched offers overall value for money (it isn;t cheap but that is different). Cost isn't prohibitive to those who can afford it as proven by the amount of people that have them on here (not being flippant about cost)
The Paella pan is a great piece of kit and you can cook loads in it. We also bought a cheap and cheerful roast tin from Sainburys and did Salmon fillets in that one night - turned out fine but again cooks quite quick (a thicker tin might be better)
We love our Cadac too. The recent Carri Chefs come with a dark coloured BBQ grill, which I'm not such a fan of. We bought one of the old (traditional) chrome type from Towler & Staines which we like much better.
great bit of kit, being a bit of a foody I love everything about it,apart from the so called wok which I never use as I found it impossible to stop food sticking to it even that can be overcome with the use of a silicone sheet. I recently kept around 20 people fed using the BBQ set up and as has been said taste gets better as the night went on, I always use the lid when cooking on the bbq this also helps to keep the "flavours"in and helps to get the food cooked through, I have even cooked joints of meat on it and whole chickens again using the lid. being fulltime motorhomers I also cooked the joints of meat for our christmas dinner on it last year leaving the oven free for the roast spuds and yorkshires etc. The Paella pan is excellent for those great big fry ups after a good nights drinking. as you can tell by now I love it..............Mark
------------- here today , where tomorrow?
yet another full timer,