The Cobb BBQ has a stainless steel moat around the fire basket. Food is cooked on a separate cooking area, which has a run off so that the fat drips into the moat rather than landing on the Cobb cobblestone or the charcoal. The moat can prevent the flare ups that make barbecuing more difficult, and it also means that cleaning the barbecue is easier. Grill grid – this is a perforated metal disc which attaches above the fire basket and asks as a hot plate. The perforations allow juice to flow down into the moat without hitting the coals. They also allow flavoursome vapours to percolate up through the grub resting on the disc.

Heat the oil in the Frying Dish. Add the onions and garlic and fry for about 10 minutes with the lid on until the onions are soft and translucent. Transfer dough ball to a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel. Allow dough to rise for 1 hour to 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in size. Timing is more or less dependent on the humidity and temperature outside. This recipe is made with pantry staples, except for the blueberries, so it means you can serve this apple & blueberry crumble anytime, anywhere. We’ve used classic apple for this pie, but other firm fruits will work too. Place the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle. Whisk the eggs, buttermilk and salt together with a fork. The firelighters will cause the charcoal to catch fire – leave these to burn until they’ve turned about a quarter grey/ash colour.Whisk the eggs and milk together and place the bread into the mixture so it can lie flat. After a minute, turn it around. You want the bread to really absorb the egg mixture well. Place the Griddle and the Dome Cover on your COBB Cooker and let it heat up for at least 5 minutes. Keep rolling until you have a nice shape, then tie off the ends and pop it in the fridge or icebox to set. The lid is vital. At first, we treated the Cobbas a basic barbecue and left it lid-less. It took far too long for our food to cook. A 4kg roast should take roughly 3.5 to 4 hours to cook, so you will either need a second CobbleStone ready to go after 2 hours, or you need to get some charcoal ready before that point.

Add the fish and cover with the Dome Cover – smoke for about 20-25 minutes. While the fish is smoking, drain and crush the potatoes with a fork and mix in the sauce. Whether you want a portable grill for using when camping, or you want to place it on the patio table, you can do so without fear of damage.Add the cream and garlic and simmer until reduced – it will take some time +/- 20-30 minutes. Season to taste. Mix the cumin, coriander, paprika and chilli into the mince and add to the onions in the pan, stir, making sure to break up any lumps. As you can see from the cutaway picture, the Cobbis made up of an outer ‘shell’, which stays cool when cooking. Inside, a stainless steel bowl holds a metal basket, which you fill with your fuel. Firelighters sit in the bowl under the basket. Gently fry your rice for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, before adding your wine. Add it and cover, allowing the wine to be absorbed by the risotto – about 2 to 3 minutes.

Light a CobbleStone and wait a few minutes until it has turned grey. Or, if you don’t have a CobbleStone on hand, ready your briquettes in the COBB Cooker. There’s a range of accessories for different types of cooking, including a saute panfor frying and a nice paella, a griddleand a pizza stone. You can bake, smoke, make stews or just use it as a barbecue (though we’ve found the Lotus Grilldoes a better job of that). We have found that this is perfect for us, especially since at the time, we lived in an apartment. However, now that we have our own house, we still use it and it cooks the most perfect coffee steaks and lovely lamb chops. I included some customer images to accompany this review.

Five COBBs to choose from

Dome: made with stainless steel and it has a heat-resistant handle. The holes in the Dome ensure even ventilation throughout the cooking process creating an oven effect.

TIP: Don’t wait until the two hour mark to start preparing your coals. (If you don’t have a second CobbleStone) the meat will cool down way too much while you wait.

The compact size and intelligent design of the Cobb barbecue means that it requires very little in the way of fuel. If you use BBQ charcoal, you should only need around 10 pieces of coal to provide 3 hours of cooking time. You can also use alternative fuel sources; these barbecues were originally designed for use with corn cobs, after all, and while you may not have an abundance of these at home, you can choose to use charcoal or any of a number of other different fuel sources. The original barbecue was made from clay, while the first production model was an all metal model and although there are a number of models now available, they all stay true to the original award winning design and they have the same basic elements that make this innovative and compact design such a useful outdoor cooking experience. An alternative to charcoal are Cobb cobblestones. The Cobb is designed as an environmentally friendly outdoor oven and, as such, it was originally manufactured to use environmentally friendly cooking fuel. Cobb cobblestones are exactly that. Fire Basket – this is connected to the centre of the base and holds the charcoal briquettes. Firelighters are used underneath the fire basket to get things going. Cover with the Dome Cover and let the potatoes cook until tender, +/- 35-40 minutes. While that cooks, mix the crème fraîche, dill, capers, horseradish and lemon juice in a bowl. In another bowl mix the salt, sugar and pepper together and set aside.