Costing the Cobb ...

Erin gifted Nick a compact, portable BBQ for Fathers Day - together with a bag of Heat Beads. 

The bag was bought from a small mini-market, so the price was higher than it may have been at a larger retailer. 

I counted the remaining beads this morning and worked out the cost per bead (taking into consideration those already used).  Given the initial bag price, these beads are around 10c each.  Bunnings stock a 16kg pack for $21.44, which would drop the bead price to just 4c - so we'll buy them next time!

Yesterday I made one casserole, an impossible pie and two cakes (or one and a half when volume is considered).  I used just 10 beads for over 7 hours of cooking time - great value for $1.00.  I'm very happy with that - and will be even happier when the same energy costs only 40c!

Crofton meets Cobb!

I was on a roll today with my Cobb cooking trials. 

While I was waiting for the impossible pie to finish, I decided on a beef casserole for dinner. 

After checking the instructions, it seemed I could put my Crofton/Aldi cast-iron cooking pot directly upon the fire basket of the Cobb - and the contents were soon bubbling away nicely.  There wasn't a recipe as such.  I started out to make my usual beef stew and realised I didn't have one of the ingredients, so improvised.  As luck would have it the end result far surpassed my expectations and now I'm trying to remember what I did! 

It's impossible (pie)!

After my vanilla cake was cooked, the three heat beads I used were still largely intact.

I decided a second experiment was in order.  The small recipe book that came with our $5.00 cooker included a recipe for impossible pie, so I put that together quickly. 


I poured the mixture into one of our deeper camping dishes, which I sometimes use for cooking pies.  There was batter left over though so another round cake tin was a better option.  Hopefully it is possible for me to successfully cook impossible pie!

A few hours later:-  there were some hiccups in cooking the impossible pie. 

The recipe suggested three heat beads and I used those that remained after cooking my vanilla cake. 

In hindsight, it may have been better to add an extra bead before attempting the impossible (pie)!   Not to worry.   It seems a very forgiving recipe and coped with standing aside while photos were taken and more heat beats added.   It would probably work well to cook after a main meal, just slowly doing it's thing until it was time for dessert.

Cobb Cooker: Cake!

I've been doing some research about Cobb Cooker cooking. 

I particularly wanted to cook cakes and found some very good instructions at a camper trailer discussion forum.

The author stressed that the cooker should be level, so Nick did his best!

The trivet rack itself isn't level, and locating it within the holes of the grill plate is a bit of a fiddle.  Hence the cake tin isn't level - but we tried!

I made one quantity of a basic vanilla cake recipe that I use fairly often. 

The ratio is a cup of flour and a cup of sugar to half a cup of milk, with two eggs.  I always reduce the sugar and used some of our chookies' eggs. 

The cake tin was about half-full and took the suggested hour to cook. 

Next time I will make a double quantity of cake mixture and test the cooking time again.  I didn't use a second trivet today but may do that when cooking a full cake. 


The verdict?  An excellent first attempt.  Vaughan ate several pieces (and isn't generally keen on non-chocolate cake)!  Erin and I have taste-tested also, though are resisting further samples so Nick can try some when he wakes up again.

And then there were two!

It's a good thing we tested our new Cobb Cooker last night. 

Eagle-eyed Erin spotted this bag and contents at the dump shop today and swooped upon them.  She called out to me and I hurried over.

We checked the bag - one intact cooker!


A small recipe book was included, with recommendations for the number of heat beads needed to cook effectively.  There was also a couple of typed pages with other recipes (and heat bead suggestions). Very handy!

The cooker seems the same model as ours though perhaps an earlier edition.  It's been well-used but should scrub up very well and will be a welcome addition to our camping kit, providing extra cooking area at the right price. 

How much was this splendid bounty?  $5.00!  And we thought our brand-new cooker with all its attachments was a bargain! 

Just like a bought one!

I've been interested in Cobb Cookers for quite a while and over the past few weeks have had several second-hand offerings on our eBay watchlist. 

Sadly I missed the end of one auction - and the cooker sold for less than I was going to bid.  As a result of my disappointment, Nick researched prices and found a great deal at BCF.  During the week, we visited our local store, specifically to look at these cookers.  We happened to be there on the last day of a short 3-day camping equipment sale - so received 25% off the cost of our Cobb Cooker and various accessories.  What a fantastic bargain! 

Funny story - we returned home and didn't check our boxes of goodies till just before Nick was leaving for work, at a little before 5:00pm.  It was then that we realised we hadn't bought a Cobb Cooker but an empty Cobb Cooker box!  I immediately rang the store and we exchanged the empty box for a full one the next day, amid much light-hearted banter from the staff!

We decided to test the Cobb Cooker tonight, just using the basic frying plate to cook eight lamb chops.  I was side-tracked by other missions and remembered to turn them after about 45 minutes.  I was very relieved to see steam rising through the lid!  The chops were on the hotplate for a bit over an hour in total but could have come off earlier.  There was still plenty of heat left in the eight heat beads, so we put on some sausages as a second experiment - and were very pleased with those results also!  Hooray!

Pipe Down!

We've been meaning to visit the Organ Pipes National Park for a while now. It's only about 30km from home and we've driven past a number of times - even made it into the driveway once but closing time was only a few minutes away, so we drove out again!


School holidays started at 2:30pm on Friday and happily Nick has a few days off also, so we roused ourselves yesterday for a short adventure.  We took a roundabout route to the park, enjoying the bright yellow fields of canola along the way.  All the recent rain has stimulated mass daisy flowerings also.  (We thought we had a lot at home, until we saw paddocks full of them - the sight was just amazing, we've never seen so many daisies)!

After parking the car, we headed off down the sealed track.  There was another picnic area at the bottom, so we may actually drive down to that on another occasion - when we are prepared enough to pack a picnic! 

There were many Superb Fairy Wrens flitting about beside the path and lots of small skinks scuttling in the leaf litter also.  The path adjacent the small river, leading to the various formations, was quite flat and an easy, pleasant walk.   There were many boxes in the trees, as housing for small bats and possums.  (Seemingly eight bat species have been recorded in the park).

We enjoyed seeing the few rock formations, then hiked back up the hill via a very steep track.  I took some photos along the way - as an excuse to catch my breath! 

Typically we read the information boards at the end, rather than the beginning of our walk - call us keen!  There are good explanations of the rock formations though as well as some history of the area.  I'm sure it won't be our only visit!