Since we have bought our cadac towards the end of last season we have only trialled it in the garden. Tonight I took it out to the car ready to take with us. I can't believe how heavy and bulky it is. A simple frying pan on the hob seems to do the same job.
I'll see how we get on this trip and decide if its worth the effort taking it.
I bought a Cadac Safari Chef HP back in 2009, in readiness for camping trips to France where charcoal BBQs are not allowed.
Since then, I discovered it is no good as a BBQ as it does not get hot enough to cook the food quick enough.
Also, the rippled side of the double-sided plate is a pain to clean.
Lastly, the gas canisters are not effective at sub-zero temperatures.
I treated myself to a Coleman Dual Fuel 2-burner stove, as I camp all year round, and the Cadac stays in the garage nowadays.
I did cook some nice meal on it though.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
We are going to a static in france soon but we are going to give the provided BBQ a try. I know what you mean about the rippled surface. It is the sheer weight of the thing that gets me. Its got a week to convince us.
If you want hotter cooking and lower temp ability on the Cadac Carri Chef try using propane gas, I have been told by Calor that it makes quite a change.
Quote: Originally posted by dk168 on 06/4/2012I bought a Cadac Safari Chef HP back in 2009, in readiness for camping trips to France where charcoal BBQs are not allowed.
Since then, I discovered it is no good as a BBQ as it does not get hot enough to cook the food quick enough.
Also, the rippled side of the double-sided plate is a pain to clean.
Lastly, the gas canisters are not effective at sub-zero temperatures.
I treated myself to a Coleman Dual Fuel 2-burner stove, as I camp all year round, and the Cadac stays in the garage nowadays.
I did cook some nice meal on it though.
DK
Not heard the no charcoal thing before .. when we went there in 2010 we not only used it but bought the charcoal in the local supermarket
Were you meaning on one particular site ?
------------- Christine
2014
April -
BunRoy Fort William 3 sleeps
April / May
Invercaimbe Arisaig 4 sleeps
Bleatarn Brampton tbc July
Can't remember which site or area, however, I believe it is not uncommon for areas further south where it is warmer and drier, and surrounded by woodland etc...
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
We take our full sized Cadac but we bought the Paella pan and this means that you can dispense with the big black fat tray thingie and just take the blue section and the legs (hope that makes sense!). We also don't take the lid as that takes a lot of space.
We also have a Coleman dual burner and pre the Cadac we used that with a cast iron griddle on top which works well but I quite like to have something (other than the BBQ) to cook outside on but we have in the past just moved the Coleman outside.
We probably take too many cooking things but we have a large amount of trailer space as we take the Weber Go Anywhere Charcoal BBQ, the Cadac and the 2 burner Coleman (and the "spare" single burner Coleman as well), if space was tighter I would probably leave the Cadac at home rather than one of the others.
We are looking at a Cadac, but have seen mixed reviews. The main reason for buying one is beacuse we are not being able to use a charcoal BBQ in France. We stopped on several sites, both in the north and south, last year and with one exception they all banned charcoal BBQ. It looks as though it has become a standard condition on their registrations, presuambly due to French Law. I suppose the EU will ban them on camp sites everwhere soon.
I have used my Carri chef for the first time last week, and I am impressed with it so far.
I have no space/weight problems in the 'van - the only drawback compared to its predecessors is that it takes a couple of mins to assemble.
I only used the ribbed grill, and contrary to other comments, I found it easy to clean - easier in fact the the George Foreman at home as you can at least immerse the grill in water.
The only problem I had was that when I came to pack up, I couldn't get the rubber gas pipe of the input spigot, and there it still remains!!
Del, we use quick fit fixings so we leave the gas pipe on the input thingie and use the quick fit fixing to break the pipe a bit further up. It's also useful for us as we use one gas bottle, one regulator and a t piece to run a number of difference appliances that we just click on and off the pipe.
I've just tried to find a link to them but I'm obviously searching the wrong thing 'cos I can't find any.
Quote: Originally posted by Retired Traveller on 07/4/2012
We are looking at a Cadac, but have seen mixed reviews. The main reason for buying one is beacuse we are not being able to use a charcoal BBQ in France. We stopped on several sites, both in the north and south, last year and with one exception they all banned charcoal BBQ. It looks as though it has become a standard condition on their registrations, presuambly due to French Law. I suppose the EU will ban them on camp sites everwhere soon.
Nothing to do with the EU. It is only the equivalent of the local councils (Prefecture?) that ban them and then only during the driest months, July and August, as they have a tendency to cause forest fires.
------------- Ollie
2016
Monplaisir - Provence
Camping Les Gorges du Loup
Thanks Piglet - and would appreciate it if you could locate the quick-fit fittings as I had decided that was the way to go. The ridges on the Cadac fitting are very sharp and obviously act like a barb.
I too have a 'T' piece located near to the main gas bottle in the front locker of the van. Mine has a valve on the 'branch' so I can turn off the accessory but leave the main flow to the van open.
BTW - who is Tigger? Is this KK's camping nom-de-plume??
Weve use our Safari chef hp all the time never had any problems with it, cooks everything we put on it and never found the ribbled griddle plate hard to clean. I would suggest however to anyone thinking of buying a cadac to purchase one with a lid as it cuts down cooking time.
------------- Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Everything has been said before, but since nobody ever listens we have to keep going back and saying it all over again and again and again
Thanks Piglet - and would appreciate it if you could locate the quick-fit fittings as I had decided that was the way to go. The ridges on the Cadac fitting are very sharp and obviously act like a barb.
I too have a 'T' piece located near to the main gas bottle in the front locker of the van. Mine has a valve on the 'branch' so I can turn off the accessory but leave the main flow to the van open.
BTW - who is Tigger? Is this KK's camping nom-de-plume??
Del
I think it's something like this - quick release might be worth having a search around.
Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 06/4/2012
Since we have bought our cadac towards the end of last season we have only trialled it in the garden. Tonight I took it out to the car ready to take with us. I can't believe how heavy and bulky it is. A simple frying pan on the hob seems to do the same job.
I'll see how we get on this trip and decide if its worth the effort taking it.
We had a Cadac carri one and also found it was too big, bulky and heavy. When our lads told us they didnt want to come on holiday with us any more so we sold it and brought the Safari chef LP.
Oh is really please with it, small, compact and all goes in a bag and weighing just 4 kg.
We brought ours off Ebay Argos outlet shop for £ 45, brand new.
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Topic: Cadac - is it worth it?
