Primus Kuchoma barbecue: a portable BBQ review

If you don’t have a large outdoor space with room for a permanent or big portable barbecue, then this new product, the Primus Kuchomo barbecue, could be what you need. It’s small, very lightweight and portable, requires only about two square feet of space and is  ideal for camping trips. Our reviewer Sara Walker finds out more.

The small and portable Primus Kuchomo barbecue

“I love barbecues, but my main gripe is that they’re a lot of trouble. You have to decide you’re going to use them hours in advance for a conventional charcoal barbecue, and they’re difficult to store and messy to clean. Unless you’re trying to feed dozens of people, this portable Primus Kuchoma barbecue could be the answer.

“The Primus Kuchoma barbecue is small and compact, and when not in use folds up into something the size of a small briefcase. It’s very light, as well. Legs fold out from underneath when you want to use it, and the lid clips into place for carrying, keeping everything clean in case you need to put it in the car afterwards. I think the only limiting factor is that it does really need to stand on a stable surface for safety reasons, so if you were planning to use it at somewhere like the beach you’d also have to take a small fold up table or something like that to stand it on.

Primus Kuchomo barbecue

The barbecue before use.

“I’m not at all technical, but attaching the gas canister was pretty idiot-proof. I got a bit confused when turning on and igniting the gas, as the resulting flames seemed very low, even when turned up to maximum. However, that was certainly deceptive – the grill plate heated up very fast.

The Primus Kuchomo barbecue all set up and ready for use

Ready for action! (I decided not to cook on the grass as the ground wasn’t really level enough to be safe – our lawn is pretty lumpy!)

“I scored two chicken breasts with a knife and marinated them in a mixture of one tablespoon of wholegrain mustard, one tablespoon of olive oil, one teaspoon of honey, salt, pepper and some fresh, chopped herbs from the garden. I let the chicken marinate for about an hour in the fridge then dropped it onto the grill, where it sizzled immediately – it clearly had got hot enough in the five minutes since I’d lit it.

Cooking chicken on the Primus Kuchomo barbecue

In action. Primus do recommend that you don’t use metal tongs as it may scratch the non-stick surface of the grill pan – sorry Primus!

“The chicken cooked very quickly and evenly in about eight minutes, and looked authentically ‘barbecued’ when done. Whilst we ate, I let the barbecue cool down completely. Primus say that the drip tray and grill can go in the dishwasher, but I did them by hand as there wasn’t much else in the dishwasher and I didn’t want to run it specially. I think you’d probably have to run it on a very hot cycle to get the trays really clean – they did clean up fine in the sink with a soft scouring pad though (Primus advise not using anything like wire wool as it may scratch the non-stick surface).

Barbecuing chicken on the Primus Kuchomo barbecue

Ready to eat after less than 10 minutes.

“The Primus Kuchoma barbecue costs £195 and is available from Cotswold Outdoor. Gas canisters are sold separately. You can use a small canister for complete portability, or there’s also an adaptor kit available so that you can use the barbecue with a larger canister for more permanent use.

“The good points of this little barbecue are obvious – it’s very portable, there’s little fuss, it’s quick and there’s a surprising amount of room on the grill – I reckon I could have cooked for up to six people quite happily.

The only negative is the price – it is quite expensive, but then Primus are the ‘gold standard’ for this type of equipment and it’s good quality. If you wanted a barbecue for the garden or you did a lot of camping or caravaning, I think this would be worth the investment over cheaper models.

The bonus for me is that I’ll use this little barbecue at times when I just wouldn’t have bothered to set up a big one, so it’ll get a lot of use this summer.”

All images (c) 2019 Write Image for you Media.

(Disclosure: This product was supplied for the purposes of a review, but all views and opinions are honest and our own). 

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