Cadac - Yes Or No?

[Babyell]

Hi this has probably been asked before and if it has I apologise!

my hubby wants a cadac carri chef as he likes all the different surfaces to cook on. My question is, is it worth getting one due to having the cooker in the kitchen area? is it just carrying extra weight for nothing? and the canisters in our van are propane (I think), I was told this runs off butane? so would we also need ton carry an extra canister?

Thanks in advance

 

[Candapack]

Quite a few folk saying the Cadacs are a pain to clean.
I had no idea you were meant to clean them, that's going to take all the fun out of the cooking now.

 

[chaser]

Quite a few folk saying the Cadacs are a pain to clean.
I had no idea you were meant to clean them, that's going to take all the fun out of the cooking now.

Wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't got holes in the grill like a George Forman all the fat runs in to a trough underneath that you have to clean out, instead of it burning off

 

[Mr B]

I'm for and against. Had the big one on legs for when there was a group of us. The small one for when just SWMBO and me/ dogs were away. Cleaning side, big one = ....
Little one =
The big one has give up the ghost now. Went to light it the other week, no chance. Looked at cleaning the burner and it had melted like a bar of cadburys on a hot day.
It went in the bin, and I bought a Webber gas compact

 

[weekenders]

A big yes from us, usually more than just us two, so always use cadac with paella pan

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[weekenders]

A big yes from us, usually more than just us two, so always use cadac with paella pan

 

[rich g]

A no from me,I use an electric griddle,cooks complete breakfast and good steaks + easy to clean.

 

[nobby &noo]

only just got ours used it for the first time on scouts family camp and it worked well cleaned it when we got home but can see it may become an issue when away for any length of time,will soon find out as we are going to stay on a friends farm in cornwall for a few days before heading up to combe martin

 

[Chris]

A no from me,I use an electric griddle,cooks complete breakfast and good steaks + easy to clean.

I must say my electric griddle cooks good steaks and pancakes

 

[Steve]

Yes. I use a cadac 2 cook supreme with legs or on a table, hot plate and gridle, two burners packs up into flat bag very pleased with it.
Steve

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[mjltigger]

Well I've always wanted one and having the bigger van now I'm thinking I might be able to squeeze it in. Then I read this thread and on balance I'm going to choose something different.. great to see a mix of opinions so thank you everyone.

 

[rangi]

We have a "chef", to describe it as a BBQ is a tad off centre, it's an outside cooking surface really, a gas cooker/grill, not a true BBQ where you get the true smokey flavour of charcoal.
You can get the same effect using one of those aerosol charged suitcase single burner and a small Pyella (sp?) pan.
You'd be a lot better off getting one of those Table top Kettle BBQs fired by charcoal to experience the smokey taste of a, I won't say "real" BBQ, but it will be a lot closer to true taste than a Cadac.

However, each to their own.

 

[Mack100]

Used our Safari Chef recently in France, I don't know how some people are using it but we had really smokey tasting steak and sausages, not burnt at all.
Probably a miracle as I've more than likely had a few by the time the meat goes on!

 

[Scattycat]

In our opinion the Cadac is brilliant . . . . . . . . But a bit of a lump to carry around and set up.
So after carrying it around and using it when away in the van for the past 4 or 5 years we now use one similar to the one in the pic.
Smaller, lighter, more compact and sets up in a fraction of the time of the Cadac.
We use an old wok lid to give the oven effect of the Cadac and use a spare Cadac griddle pan and to be honest it cooks just as well for a fraction of the cost

 

[St Piran]

Yes from us Safari Chef bought 5 years ago.

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[Chris]

In our opinion the Cadac is brilliant . . . . . . . . But a bit of a lump to carry around and set up.
So after carrying it around and using it when away in the van for the past 4 or 5 years we now use one similar to the one in the pic.
Smaller, lighter, more compact and sets up in a fraction of the time of the Cadac.
We use an old wok lid to give the oven effect of the Cadac and use a spare Cadac griddle pan and to be honest it cooks just as well for a fraction of the costView attachment 69474

I love these little cookers.

Friday night my wife cooked a fantastic paella on one.

 

[Babyell]

@irnbru where did you get your stilts from?

 

[Robert Clark]

For the record, we sell Cadacs and don't sell Magma grills lol

In all my years in sales I learned that you sell more if the products that you believe in compared with those you don't
Maybe it's time you started selling the Magma grills? (Ideally before my visit in August)

 

[eddie]

In all my years in sales I learned that you sell more if the products that you believe in compared with those you don't
Maybe it's time you started selling the Magma grills? (Ideally before my visit in August)

LOL I do tell people exactly what I think of Cadacs, but the power of "my mate said" is more convincing. Also to be honest, that is the sort of stuff that we sell in the campsite shop, which I never go near.

I am probably Van Bitz an Cornish Farm touring park's worst BBQ salesman. Long may it continue Force4 the chandlers is the best UK supplier of Magma BBQ's

 

[irnbru]

@irnbru where did you get your stilts from?

I got the brand new stilts, brand new roasting bowl and the rest which was used but in excellent condition from Ebay for £60

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[Deleted member 29692]

@irnbru where did you get your stilts from?

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EDIT: It says only 2 left so don't hang about if you want some

 

[SUGGY]

NO ..
from us took one to Morocco with us never used it .

get a morocan burner €3 and a 907 bottle ☺
I carried a cadac around for 18 months and never used it sold it for £35 .

Waste of space and money

 

[Salamander]

We have used the small Cadac for years (with added stilts to save my back). Packs up small. Seems to work very well for me. Use with external gas point. Use a gas bbq at home after years of messing with charcoal. Get bbq smoke effect when the fat drips on the hot plate and generates the smoke keeping the lid on. Two main advantages for me are: can keep the cooking smells outside the van as well as the heat and: only takes minutes to set up. Also use a small induction hob when on mains hookup (using the external mains outlet) to fry and boil. That really is just a wipe to keep it clean and was cheap from Lakeland and you can choose your wattage setting.
Both the Cadac and the Induction hob take up far less space than my portable Jacuzzi

 

[Jackyboy61]

Bought a safary chef 4 years ago and still going strong,to clean all the cooking surfaces I bought a plastic shallow horse feeder and fill it with water and a bit of fairy liquid and put all grimy bits to soak overnight and wash next morning and when clean everything fits into plastic feeder for storage job done (so get it bought)

 

[Granjan]

No ... We have 2 Cobbs, 1 st one we bought uses the single brickettes bought loads on line, we have all the different plates etc, it takes 20 mins to warm up and to be honest like a BBQ can be a bit slow to get going, will be using this one at home as our old rotten BBQ has just gone to the tip. Cooks lovely herbed fillet of beef, or a whole chicken its just that we get a bit drunk while we wait! We have cooked bread and cakes too.

This year bought the Gas Cobb base and lid, we can use all the plates from the first Cobb, bought enough screw on cartridges to last a few years. Instant and adjustable heat. Put water or beer in the moat a doddle to clean and will go in dishwasher when we get home if it needs it. Cooked on it most nights in France. Will take the Gas one abroad every time in future. Really versatile steak (medium!) Paella, Curry, Pizza, breakfasts, Mussels, seafood etc. when we have finished cooking I just wash the plate/pan that we have used and then we pick the whole thing up and put it either in the MH on or under the table or in or garage. It is really clean outside and stays cool, it is designed to use on boats so very safe, we use it on our small camping table, it has a carry bag to put everything in. We do very little cooking inside when we are abroad, in the Uk it is usually cold and we tend to cook inside more or eat out. If you just want a simple piece of cooked meat a Cobb is OTT but if you want to do a bit more the Cobb is great and I would recommend it.

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[Allanm]

Been carrying our Safari Chef around for a year. Got to use it today and the sausages are doing nicely, can't see why anybody can say they aren't any good. Just enough room for a few prawn kebabs, and maybe another couple of beers....on the side
They don't all come with a Bosch Workmate though.....

 

[Wixie]

We've had a Carri Chef for a few years now. Totally useless! It's always blowing out in the slightest breeze. Recently on re-lighting using the push button the whole ignition unit burst into flames. I had to turn the gas off at the bottle as the only way to extinguish the flames. I would not fancy using one of these connected to an external gas point on my m/h!

But........on our recent trip to France last week (July 2015) we purchased a proper charcoal BBQ in Lidl. This BBQ is identical to the Lotus Grill and also made in Germany. It uses a small amount of charcoal in a central basket and is ready to cook on in about 5 minutes just like the Lotus Grill. It comes with it's own zip up carry bag.
The Lotus Grill costs £125 approx - The Lidl Grill cost 59.99 euros - £42!! I also notice that it's 49.99 euros at Lidl in the Netherlands.

 

[Mack100]

NO ..
from us took one to Morocco with us never used it .

get a morocan burner €3 and a 907 bottle ☺
I carried a cadac around for 18 months and never used it sold it for £35 .

Waste of space and money

How do you decide something is useless if you've never actually used it?
Just asking.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

@irnbru where did you get your stilts from?

Broken Link Removed

EDIT: It says only 2 left so don't hang about if you want some

My set arrived today. They're brilliant, just the job!

 

[carolyn]

We have the little safari chef, bought the LP version plus an adapter so that we can use the little screw in canisters or if we are hanging around for a few days we have a cylinder option. Wish you could buy a cover for it , may just have to buy a bigger one and cut it down. We use it quite a bit and don't find it hard to clean. Agree that the control knob isn't brilliant and need a wind break sometimes. We like it overall though. We have a PVC so space is limited.

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[big bertha]

For those who want stilts ( I do )

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Stilts arrived today and it turns out that they are the unstrung slats that are used on camping tables, we actually have one of the tables. They do the job, think I'll unstring my table and make some money, we hardly use it.