A review by Chris Strub
Location: Oregon, coast range of the Cascade Mountains
Conditions:
- Temperature: 48°F (9°C), Humidity: 93% (70.4°)
- Elevation: 2195 FT (669 m)
- Wind Speed: N 0 MPH (0 kph)
- Barometer: 29.83 in (1010.16 mb)
- Dewpoint: 43°F (6°C)
- Visibility: 10.00 mi (16 km)
- Last Update: October 30, 9:05 AM PDT
Game Day Grill Lineup:
To replicate the flavors of local game and ocean catches, I grilled up some:
- Ruffed Grouse: Boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- Columbian Black Tail Deer: Pork boneless country ribs
- Ocean Catch: Shrimp!
For fuel, I used 1 COBB Charcoal Briquette and 1 COBB Cobblestone.
Note: Meat and corn were packed on ice overnight, so their extra-cold starting temperature may impact cooking times.
It’s time for lunch! A sure thing for today, unlike the pursuit of Oregon Black Tail Deer. I found an old logging landing with a commanding view of the coast range to break out the new COBB Premier Air charcoal grill for its inauguration in my hunt kit.
The grill comes with a very hefty travel bag case that is ample sized for the grill and several accessories you may choose to add.
After setting up the unit on my mobile cooking table, the fire basket was loaded with the proprietary COBB Cobblestone briquette and ignited per recommendation.
Wow! All I can say is Wow! It is immediately obvious to me the amount of engineering that went into the development of the Cobblestone. The way the Cobblestone ignites immediately and completely was very unexpected. The timer was started. In less than 11 minutes the cooking surface was over 400° F (204°c) and plenty hot for me to start the job of deer hunt hunger reduction. At 12:20, meat hit the heat, with a tag along corn on the cob. Cooking on the elevated Roasting Rack was a perfect platform to bring the food within a few degrees of its final internal temperature. I like to put a crispy char on my BBQ so I finished them on the Grill Grid Plate. It took only a minute or two to reach the final internal temp and exterior color and char. Time for the Shrimp! Everyone knows how long it takes to cook shrimp on a hot, preheated grill, 2 minutes, or so. Everything is done cooking (or so I thought) at 00:49 minutes for an actual cooking time 00:37 (minus ignition) minutes of actual active cooking time!
I had enough to feed another hunting partner, or maybe an inquiring game warden? I am not proud of this, but 1 chicken, 2 pork and shrimp wraps were consumed in the name of providing an accurate review of the product and its capabilities. 😊 Yes leftovers were saved, but it was at this point I had forgotten that the corn on the cob was removed from the grill, I had to finish the corn by itself and it worked as a dessert!
It is important to note that this BBQ was operating at over 400° F (204°c) and the wood cooking platform never became warm to the touch. After extinguishing the Cobblestone, the hot metal parts of the BBG were cool to the touch and ready to be packed and stored.
This COBB charcoal grill shows how much thought and engineering went into its development by its ease of use. You will not be disappointed in your choice of purchasing this outdoor cooker. Some of the things I am looking forward to are baking and smoking with the grill. The elevated rack with a Bread Pan should work wonderfully for cornbread, biscuits, or rolls. The same platform, with the addition of wood chips should make a neat little smoker. Is there any wish list for improvements? Not many, possibly a temperature gauge for oven style use, and a wood chip style Cobblestone for meat smoking. That’s it.
We true sportsmen and women pride ourselves on the “leave no trace” mantra when we enjoy the world’s wild outdoors. The COBB leaves no trace of leftovers, and doesn’t apologize for it! 😊