First Cook on Mak 2 Star

[Matachi]

Got my new MAK Friday and am super impressed so far. I really didnt think I cared about the looks, or stainless, but I was wrong, this thing is really nice looking, and I love its shininess (while it lasts lol), and the feel of it. I broke it in with some really good bacon yesterday morning, but did ribs for the first real cook last night.

I started a bit late, and didn't really know what to expect time wise, so I started at 245, then bumped to 275 after 2 hours. At 4 hours, I sauced one rack with the Rum BBQ sauce they sent me, one rack with a mustard BBQ sauce I like, and left one naked. Bumped it up to 325 for about 30 more min, and they came out perfectly done. Super tender and moist, but not mushy or falling off the bone. All three racks were amazing, probably the best I have ever eaten. I was also really impressed that there was noticable smoke coming out even at 325, which I did not expect from a pellet smoker based on what I had read. They had a mild sweet smoky flavor, but way more clean than the ribs I usually do over coals.

[CaptainMike]

How about a full shot of the cooker?

[Matachi]

just added it

[CaptainMike]

Beautiful piece of equipment!

[Mr. Bones]

Great pics of Wondermous lookin' food!!!!
Thanks fer sharin'!

[T-bone]

That's awesome! Thanks for the quick review. Let us know how you like it after a few cooks. MCS is knocking and a MAK 2 is looking pretty good.

[kmhfive]

That plate of bones says it all! Congratulations.

[HawkerXP]

Nice lookin ribs AND cooker! Congrats!

[FireMan]

Nothing like cleaned wibs! Nice looking rig. I wonder as you said, what it will look like after many smokes.

[CaptainMike]

Hopefully very smoke -stained with hints of original inner beauty. Much like this old Fireman!

[fzxdoc]

Cleanup of a smoker the next day is always not a fun thing to do. I've read that pellet grills were a pain to clean. How was it with that Mak 2?

Kathryn

[Matachi]

Still figuring it out. Grates came clean easy. I covered the flamezone with foil, so just threw that away. I didn't do anything else, but then I had a flare up the next cook and there was a lot of ash, so I think I need to clean out the fire pot ashes more. Lots of pieces, and I am not sure how important it is to keep each clean...

[fzxdoc]

Thanks, Matachi for that info.

K.

[Henrik]

Them ribs sure look fantastic! Must be fun on that new smoker.

[rwalters]

Awesome cook!!! After having cooked on many cookers over many years, I will be the 1st to say that my 2 Star puts out some of the best tasting food that I have ever cooked. The ribs that come from my MAK are unbelievably good.

As far as your comment about enjoying the shininess of the stainless while it lasts... it doesn't have to be that way. I have had my 2 Star since March, and have done a ton of cooking on it. It looks just as shiny as the day I bought it. It's all about keeping up with the maintenance, which really isn't that hard.

I spray down all of the stainless with Simple Green after every single cook (when cooker has cooled), and wipe down with a damp soft cloth. Takes maybe 3 mins.

Once or twice a month, I will spray the stubborn stains on the back 1/2 of the lid where it exhausts, with oven cleaner. The baked on smoke stains just wipe right off. Takes maybe 10 minutes to do that cleaning and then wipe it all down with Simple Green.

Its really easy if you just keep up with it.

**If you get a few drops of oven cleaner on the powder coat finish... no biggie, just wipe off quickly with Simple Green. Haven't had any problems yet as long as I quickly wipe off.

[CowboyScott]

Great looking ribs. Still haven't done any ribs with my new Rec Tec (been 4 weeks). This will be remedied very soon.

fzxdoc- Haven't been bothered at all by cleaning the Rec Tec. Just replace the aluminum foil on the drip pan and vacuum out the ash in the fire box (I have an old hand vac with a hose- same one I use to vacuum for my gasser of dried, burnt "stuff"). Takes about 5 minutes and I do this when the drip pan foil looks like it needs it- frequency is dependent on what I cook.

[fzxdoc]

Wow that's great. Thanks for the info.

[Pirate Scott]

Looks Perfect.

[Matachi]

I wanted to see how well the flamezone worked, so I did a flank steak last night, and I was quite underwhelmed. I took off the flamezone covers and set it to grill, waited ~20 min for it to get to 450, then put the meat on. I cooked with the lid down, and the grill kept temp, even going up to 465, but there was no searing at all, even though it felt very hot over the uncovered flames. By the time it was done, it didnt even have any grate marks, it looked (See pic) and tasted like it was cooked in an oven.

I didnt expect it to match coals, or even gas, but on this cook I really can't imagine that covering the flamezone would have made it any different. I was hoping it would do a passable job as a direct cooker, but not last night, maybe the one star would be the better play?

MAK owners - is this to be expected, that there is no point in using the FZ? Or maybe something is off on mine? Any tips?

[JCGrill]

Can't speak to MAK, but I don't sear with my pellet grill. Just not hot enough.

[JCBBQ]

Definitely a sharp looking cooker. Congrats!!