GoSee finds with patience, technique and understanding Cobb cooks like great love

Roast and vegetables well on the way after an hour and a half in the Cobb

Cooking with the Cobb is like a great love-match it requires patience, technique and understanding.

A sense of humor is a huge advantage too. But like the perfect partner the more time put into the relationship the greater the rewards. Unlike love the unique oven cooker, which looks like a shiny escapee robot from Star Wars, comes with instructions on how it works.

If only human relationships were so simple.

The Cobb’s healthy, hot; moist cooking strips fat from roasts and grills and drops it into the Cobb’s marine grade steel steamer moat for disposal when the Cobb is cleaned. It is a feature which has to be good for a healthier body.

The tastes and flavors it creates from its recipe book in its eco-oven process must  be tried to be appreciated.

34 The Cobb fits Silvergull and looks good too

Talking of marine GoSee uses a Cobb modified for boating. This will stimulate the digestive juices of hungry boaties in Australia and New Zealand. 

Its adaptations allow the Cobb to cook while boats are anchored. It clamps to the safety rails. In our case that is at the back. This is referred to as the stern or pushpit among the rag and stick people who sail yachts.

GoSee introduced the Cobb to Silvergull. She is your correspondent’s personal talisman, a Catalina sloop loved and cherished through good and bad times for half a lifetime.

In a one night stand Silvergull and Cobb cooked a roast together and produced something sexy. Like great friendships it was sweet and good on the inside with a crisp inviting edge to the outside; and the vegetables had real flavor. 

All it took was some time to read the Cobb instructions, patience, the right ingredients and the delicious results followed.  

What is it with so many of my sex? 

Among many men the reaction to the suggestion - read the instructions- is not a chance!
Maybe it’s some mad ego point of honor to make a fool of ourselves and others unhappy in the process?

Maybe that’s why there are so many interesting sexy neglected women around. 
How can they hope to find love when so many men know everything?

7 Heatbeads take 25 to 30min before you can cook.

With the Cobb if you don’t put in the preparation time and handle its right it just won’t fire. Now gentlemen - does this sound like your love life?

Raw roasts, half baked vegetables, flat damper and cakes take the romance out of meals, life and love big time.

We made and excellent start to our Cobb relationship with a successful onboard roast dinner. It was topped off with olives and semi-sun dried tomatoes laced damper fired by the same nine Heatbeads which did the roast.

Both treats are in the Cobb recipe book.

The damper went in when the roast was done and the hot-stuff Heatbeads we used were still warm after eight hours. 

We even cooked through rain squalls driven by a gale aided by the Cobb’s tapered “wet-suit” which pulls over the unit and allows management of the volume of air feeding the cooking process.

2 Use Heatbeads in the fire basket. They work.

The Cobb instructions suggest use Heatbeads. That’s the brand name and the Cobb is hot for them.

We approached the Cobb with  a sunny yellow bouquet, 3kg bag of the big Heatbeads from Safeway and after the initial 25min fire-up lean pork on the hot grill was done to fat-reduced perfection in 30min.

Fish, depending on the size and thickness of the fillet, cooks in about the same time. The pork was accompanied by vegetables, potatoes and carrots steamed to perfection wrapped in aluminum foil.

GoSee wrapped them sausage-shaped to fit in the steaming water of the Cobb’s round moat which circles the lift-out firebox. 

The foil keeps fat from the grill dropping on them too.

Vegetables can also be baked on the grill. Put on some whole tomatoes and onions in their jackets. Fry eggs, bake a damper or cake just read the recipe book for the many options.

Mixed herbs, garlic, chopped onions, wine, beer and bay leaves add zest to the Cobb oven process when added to the water of the steaming moat.

The moat water will need topping up during the cooking process. Just pour from a bottle, cup or jug through the holes on the edge of the grill plate.

9 Foil wrapped potatoes and carrots in the Cobb moat.

The Cobb is no fast-food speed cooker. Long and steady is the way it goes. Check after about 45min and then turn a roast. 

It is about four hours to dinner time for about 1.7kg of beef or lamb. Pork and lamb chops cook quicker, steak is slower so learn from experience. As a general rule the longer the better for full flavors.

GoSee thinks the Cobb is made for prime downtime relaxed roasting, baking or smoking fish and meats at favorite campsites and safe anchorages. It is not an instant cooking option for short stops while on route.

But it is safe to use almost anywhere. Cook with a Cobb in a kitchen, on a balcony, in a tent or caravan or on a boat. In one safe, fuel-efficient unit, the Cobb is an oven, a barbecue, a smoker and a stove. 

It weighs just 4.5kg and runs on Heatbeads (not gas) and is so safe it can be held in the hands while it’s cooking. It will cook on any flat surface, even glass.

Smoking with selected savory woods from the nearest barbecue store is another Cobb attribute. But this time don’t believe all you read. Soak the savory wood chips overnight. They must be wet right through.

Ignore instructions promising faster results. Take the plunge. Not wet enough. Not good enough. Just like love this is an all or nothing experience.

1 Three Firelighters in place in triangular formation

Once hot the Cobb does not smoke and it sends of friendly warmth which makes it useful when the world is cold. Never run it with the oven lid on without water in the moat and something cooking. 

When the cooking is done leave the oven lid off and warmth radiates through the grill plate until the Heatbeads finally turn to cold white ash. 

Nine Heatbeads can still be warm after eight hours. So take care where and how you dispose of them. Bushfires are not a good look.

GoSee used the Cobb in the cabin of the yacht Silvergull once we had gone through the 30min start-up and the Heatbeads radiated through white ash coats.

Never start-up the Cobb near flammables; or in confined spaces. This particularly applies to leisure vehicles like caravans, motorhomes and boats.

Boats are particularly potentially lethal as they usually have fuel and explosive chemicals on board. With a boat always check all fuel cocks, sniff about and if there are bilge blower fans use them every time.

With leisure vehicles check the gas is turned off at all cocks inside and outside the caravan, motorhome, 5th wheeler or campervan.

6 Allow for firelighter flare.

The Redheads firelighters which stoke the Heatbeads really have flare and more of a hot time than planned is certainly possible.

On yachts under way Cobb cooking is not an easy option for GoSee.

As a test we tried it bolted to the custom pushpit mounting, but when Silvergull took up her usual 10 degrees of heel sailing angle the Cobb moat water did too. Not good.

The sailing motion drowned the experiment.

To cook under way we moved the Cobb to a tied down position under the saloon table. This is the lowest point in the centre of the yacht where there is least motion.

GoSee also tried the Cobb on Silvergull’s gimbaled stove which is designed for life on the ocean wave and swings to keep cooking level as the yacht heels.

It was happy there but GoSee thinks it is better to use the gimbaled metho stove when cooking under way and the Cobb for the serious roasting and baking while at anchor.

On the subject of being under sail with the Cobb - we almost  lost it.

27 Grill plate in place and lid retained by the strop and rubber

In the marine Cobb version the oven lid is held safe with a stretch-on rubber ring over the oven lid handle on a stainless steel retaining wire.This is an excellent idea. It also has a tapered sock wet-suit for bad weather cooking and to help keep the lid on.

GoSee first trialed the Cobb on its custom mounting clamped to the yacht’s pushpit (stern safety rails).  We were confronted by one of those ego-maniacs who churn too fast up tight channels in big powerboats. GoSee sees a lot of them on flat calm days.

GoSee holds them in wary contempt. Their posturing damages property and the environment. In a worst situation people get hurt.

Seeing the tidal wave of a wake coming at us was unavoidable we adopted our usual attack is the best defense approach and motored straight at the swelling, short, steep wall of powerboat wake water.

Silvergull is a fine sea boat and her buoyant bow carves through such stupid nuisance value stuff. 

But GoSee reckoned without the effect of gravity on the poor Cobb back at the extreme end of the yacht.

Silvergull’s bow went sharply up and then suddenly down as she shrugged the big wake aside. The leverage at the stern was immense. The Cobb became the stone in a slingshot. The oven lid flew off to the extent of the retaining wire and the grill crashed into the cockpit along with the fire basket.

Only the Cobb’s oven lid retaining wire saved it from flying overboard.

25 Ready for marine use Lock-pin in Cobb coupling

Amazingly the long steel retaining pin which holds the Cobb to the custom fitting gooseneck mounting dropped out too, but somehow the cooker base stayed put.

There is no doubt about the strength of the Cobb’s materials nothing was marked or damaged. GoSee did not have the Cobb’s heavy weather sock wet-suit over the lid and this might have made all the difference.

But GoSee now sails with the Cobb held by sail-ties to the saloon table leg or in a locker.

Cleaning the Cobb requires thoughtful disposal on the Heatbeads ash and the residue water and flavoring from the moat. Decent burial works.

Wash the Cobb in the same way saucepans are cleaned. The marine grade stainless steel which makes up most of the Cobb can handle heavy scrubbing.

But the grill requires gentle cleaning with a soft sponge or cloth. A stiff nylon brush is good too and works in most rub-a-dub situations.

35 The Cobb packs away neatly

In camping in the GoSee Retro Toyota 4WD the Cobb rides happily in the back packed neatly in its handy bag held down by a nylon safety cargo net.

Like the 1985 Go Almost Anywhere diesel Sahara it is a valued part of the GoSee touring partnership. The Cobb is a versatile, portable oven which your correspondent has learned to love by reading the instructions.

Sorry can’t help with instructions for happy people partnerships. Wait maybe the Whitlams have a message.

It’s in their album Eternal Nightcap in the lyrics of Up Against the Wall -

“To think I was scared to open the box”.

“New love on the doorstep isn’t funny there’s nothing on how it works”.

“Go on have a look inside”.

“You won’t know what you did without it”.

GoSee trialed the A$234.90 Cobb Premier which is now available in three colours: Black, Red and White.

The Cobb Premier is an all stainless steel model and is recommended for boating and fishing enthusiasts where the Omni Marine Kit is to be used.

The A$194.90 Cobb Pro is in stainless steel. The Pro was introduced to provide a lower cost model of the Cobb. The base of the Pro is made of mild steel and is powder coated. 

Apart from the Pro’s base, it is identical to the Premier and because it is made from mild steel, it is available in a range of colours – black, white and red. The Cobb carry bag is included with the Pro.

20 Cobb ready to assemble with instructions and recipes

For boating Cobb now has the OMNI Marine Kit, which consists of:

Rail mounted arm with male coupling and locking pin.

Female coupling.

Pop rivets to the base of the Cobb.

Lid tether with rubber ‘0’ ring. Attaches to base of Cobb.

Fiddle. Clips onto the grill of the Cobb.

Sock. (wet-suit). For foul weather use. It also helps to secure the lid.

Editor's Note. We include pictures from our experiences with the Cobb on land and sea.

Cobb Australia & NZ
Unit 17/34 Christensen Street
Cheltenham
Melbourne VIC 3192
Phone: 03 9532 5611
Fax: 03 9532 5366
Mobile: 0405 321 305
Email: brian@cobb.com.au

For more information
contact: Garth Morrison
Editor Go See Australia and Go See New Zealand Directory
Email: garth@contact.com.au

3 Redheads firelighters work too. The veggies are ready wrapped in foil.	4 Firebasket and Heatbeads in place.Two-prong handle and tongs make Cobb work easy
8 At 15min Heatbeads start to show grey white.	11 30min and its Cobb cooking time.
12 Veggies have steamed an hour. On goes lean prime pork.	14 Foil wrap veg sausage-style to fit Cobb moat.
15 30min on the Cobb produces healthy low-fat savory meat.	16 8 hours later. All done & ready for cleaning. Note the fat cooked out of the meat in the Cobb moat.
17 Clean the Cobb like a pot.	18 Take care not to loose the spacers
19 The spacers fit here.	21 Pop-rivets hold marine adapter base
22 The steel arm and seat clamp to the boat pushpit. The steel pin locks it in place.	23 Lock-nut on stainless restraining strop
24 A firm pull puts the strop in place. The rubber ring slips over the cobb cover handle	26 Bullseye bubble shows the Cobbs spot-on
28 Heat beads warm up for about 30min	29 Roast and trimmings
31 Looks good so add a little water to the moat	32 Heavy rain did not stop the Cobb in its sock wet suit
32 Roast ready to carve	33 The handle (front) clips in to lift the grill plate