Cooking on the kayak

Author: josh

Category: Equipment, rigging & preparation

Created on Monday, 07 June 2010 16:36

Written by Josh

Cooking on the kayak - no... that's not a misprint., but I can't blame you for thinking it. Of all the crazy ideas Josh has ever had, this one takes the cake... right? Actually, the thought of using a Cobb cooker to cook meals while on the kayak isn't anywhere near as outlandish as it sounds. In fact, it would even be quite possible to catch a fish, fillet it right there and then and throw it on the BBQ, which is sitting right in the rear storage well. How's that for taking 'fresh fish' to a whole new level? Don't believe me? I'll prove it to you this weekend - look for the report for photos and video.

The coming long weekend will be a real treat for Holger, Steve and Tim (and anyone else who comes along) when we go kayak camping up the Sandon river this coming Saturday. That treat will be a picture perfect roast meal, which I'll cook up on the rear of the kayak whilst we're paddling to our final tent-pitching destination some 10km upstream. And if we're fortunate enough to catch them, I might just fry up some on-board flatty snacks for the guys as we make our way back the following day.

If you're assuming that such an attempt will surely result in a large stainless steel BBQ device melting a hole through the yak, think again - even while cooking, the base of the system is cool enough to pick up. The lid does get pretty hot though, so I'll have to be careful nothing makes contact with that. No doubt you're also assuming that one would have to be careful about tipping the kayak, which might result in the lid (if not the entire cooker) falling into the river and thats a safe enough assumption to make. But using the kayak with an outrigger solves that problem by providing ultimate stability. Fortunately the cooker is fairly bottom-heavy, sits solidly on rubber feet and should hold in position nicely.

I've been considering picking up a Cobb cooker for some time, for a variety reasons, but yes - laugh it up - it was this idea that pushed me over the wallet-opening edge. As Ive talked about numerous times, the most ideal cooking solutions for kayak camping are ultra-light solutions - especially for longer expeditions. But for simple over-nighters, or for even 2 or 3 nights, providing the user has a fairly light and compact load (as I do) then the Cobb cooker is actually a pretty good option. And for sure, its far more capable of creating far more ambitious And ultimately rewarding dishes. If I think I can get away with it, I may even take the Cobb to Fraser Island (and to the Keppel islands a few weeks later). I know it would definitely make the chefs job easier.

Of the two Cobb models available, I chose the premier stainless steel variant, which is the recommended model for marine use. Speaking of which, there is also a marine kit available from Cobb that includes a rail-mounting kit - so if this idea obsessed me enough I could even mount it to the kayak! That's pretty damned extreme of course... crazy even - but it does at least demonstrate that the makers of the Cobb always intended for this model to be capable of being used safely on boats.