Cobb Premier Gas+ Barbecue Grill Review: ‘A brilliant piece of barbecue engineering’

The Cobb Premier Gas+, is a real step up from the slightly complicated Cobb barbecue, particularly in usability terms

I have experience of a Cobb barbecue many years ago in a previous life and remember two things about it: Firstly, it’s ‘CobbleStone’ fuel, made from coconut husks, wasn’t the greatest thing to have aboard a boat, and secondly, packing its component parts away into its carrying case was extremely challenging to say the least, so it wasn’t the best boat grill. Happily, things have changed and today there’s the Cobb Premier Gas+, a brilliant piece of barbecue engineering.

Now with the ability to go cooking on gas, our solid fuel reservations are firmly consigned to the past. Packing the unit away still requires a degree of thought, but here’s a hint – shoot a quick reference video the first time you unpack it and the problem disappears.

The other thing we remember about our first Cobb is that the build quality was top notch – that old unit is still going strong, having now been hijacked by the offspring for camping. Nothing has changed on the quality front and each component part of our Cobb Premier Gas + fitted together nicely and snugly and felt like it was going to go on for ever.

One intriguing item, which shows how much thought Cobb have put into their product, is the handle on the lid. It comprises multiple parts, including twin insulation plates and a broad brim between the handle and the lid to obviate any chance of burning your fingers.

Cobb Premier Gas+ BBQ in use

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Like the Magmas, the Cobb is designed to cook with its lid on, meaning its heat source remains concealed and safely contained at all times. While the lid does get hot (hence the insulated handle) the outside of the body stays cool, making it a good boat grill option.

The one thing the Cobb doesn’t have is a rail mount option, so all cooking has to be done on a table top or the pontoon. But if that’s ok by you, then for around £200 you can have yourself a premium quality BBQ that’s going to stand the test of time.

As Chef Nigel noted, cooking with the Cobb is a little different to your average barbecue: “With the Cobb, you kind of feel that it’s not getting hot enough because when you look at the meat it doesn’t appear to be browning as much as the other barbies,” he said.

“But with its lid on it’s like an oven, cooking from the top down as well as from the bottom up. So when you turn the food over you can see it’s cooking evenly. It’s not as hard a heat as you get with the others, but it is still cooking the food through very, very well. And although the burger wasn’t as brown as I was expecting, if anything it was probably overcooked a bit – so you don’t need to overcompensate for it.

“And likewise with the chicken which initially looked to me like it wasn’t going to be cooked properly, but it was fine. So I’d say the Cobb does seem to cook through very well because it’s cooking from top and bottom rather than just searing the bottom surface.”