New MAK Owners Post Your First Cooks Here!

Bob C Cue

Bob C Cue

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By now I suspect that almost all of the 25 folks that took advantage of the BBQ Brethren MAK group buy will have received their new grills.

So let's use this thread to post your first few cooks and thoughts on using your brand new MAKs. I have already posted mine in another thread but how about everyone doing the same so we can show our appreciation for MAK and Robb and anyone else who helped put this together?

Gentlemen, start your enzymes!
 
rwalters said:
Taking offers... goes to highest bidder. So far PJTexas is leading at $9k. Includes lots of good juju :)
Click to expand...
I got outbid? I'll go $9100...:heh:
Can't wait to have a 3*.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
I received mine on Monday but haven't had the chance to set it up yet. I will certainly take some pics and post my first cook. I was impressed with the packaging.

Also for those of you posting please let us know if you are starting off with the provided Bear Mountain Hickory pellets or something else.
Reading a few other posts, some are now saying the MAK has potential to give a heavier smoke flavor compared to a Yoder. I myself am looking for a nice clean mild smoke flavor. But it looks like most owners have no complaints about the smoke profile provided by the MAK.

I am going to try the provided hickory pellets first but will definitely try the gourmet blend.
 
I plan to use Lumberjack Comp blend at first. I have several bags of it left, and I want to do a few dual cooks. I think we have all wondered about this smoker vs others, so I plan to do a few head to heads for our own knowledge of how this compares to my current pellet smoker.

I am curious about the Bear Mountain pellets, but also liked the point in the other thread about using milder pellets. It's something to keep in mind if there are things you'd rather have on the lighter side.
 
I am currently cooking 2 St. Louis style ribs on the MAK. This will be my first rib cook on my new grill. I have it set at 225 and noticed a few minutes ago it is running at 230 degrees.

What should I do? Should I ask for a replacement model, should I ask for my money back and buy a Traeger, or should I set it at the curb and hope someone takes it off of my hands?
 
Sorry to hear of the temp problems Bob, you should get rid of that hunk of junk!!!

(I’ll be there Saturday to remove it from yer property(no charge))
 
4ever3 said:
Sorry to hear of the temp problems Bob, you should get rid of that hunk of junk!!!

(I’ll be there Saturday to remove it from yer property(no charge))
Click to expand...

I just checked it again and now its running at 225. I could perhaps live with it if I knew it would always be 5 degrees over but these wild temperature swings are really unacceptable.
 
I picked up a bag of B&B comp blend and Pitboss comp blend, I’ll let you know how those are.
 
Does anyone have GrillGrates that they use with their MAK? If so what size did you get, I know MAK advises not to get one that covers the whole surface, only partial.

Also, if you have had experience with the one MAK sells as well as the GrillGrates version please let me know your thoughts. I’ve used the GrillGrates one on a kettle and Weber gasser and like them very much. I’m more inclined to this product as it has the “valleys” for sizzle and you can turn them upside down into a flat top.
 
Not my first cook on the MAK 1 but this thread needs some pics.

St. Louis style ribs, sweet potatoes and French bread all done on the MAK.

Started the ribs around noon and set the MAK at 225 degrees. Put the sweet potatoes on around 3 pm, bumped the MAK to 275 around 4 pm, pulled the taters around 5:30 as they were quite soft, added the already baked bread for the last few minutes of the cook, and pull the ribs around 6 pm.

Everything was great. Not the greatest quality of ribs from my local supermarket but they were nice and juicy. The smoke flavor was light but good. I may try starting in the smoke mode for a few hours on the next rib cook to see how those compare.

All in all I am super excited to have such a high-quality, versatile and fun-to-use cooker.

Now I will shut up and show some pics:

Right after I put them on. The lighting makes the back rack look like it is cooking faster but that was not really the case:

JbkbzAyl.jpg


The finished product:
JpfY03Sl.jpg


And the plating:

MYiI9nIl.jpg
 
Beautiful plate Bob!

(dang that hurt to say)
 
Note to self and anyone else who might learn from this experience. If you decide to do Pillsbury flaky biscuits on your MAK on a cookie sheet make sure you put them on the top rack and not the bottom. Mine came out very very dark on the bottom but fortunately was able to salvage the tops.

On the plus side I was surprised that the cookie sheet was able to fit lengthwise into the MAK where the same pan will not do that in my kitchen oven
 
Got the 2star today, was able to put it together and ran to the store to grab a few things. Ended up making armadillo eggs, smoked polish sausage and smoked brats.

The armadillo eggs were eh. I make jalapeño poppers which I, along with everyone else loves but these just didn’t get close. Not sure why or if I was expecting something so much more.

The sausages/brats were really good. Casing had a good snap, not dried out at all. I tasted a little smoke but I think my senses were a bit screwed up since I was breathing it in for way too long. Wondering how it will taste tomorrow.

I got some chicken legs to smoke tomorrow night or Sunday. Gotta look through some recipes to see what people recommend.

Planning on a pork shoulder, ribs, bacon, steaks within the next couple of weeks along with a sausage crust pizza (regular pizza for my wife) and hopefully a brisket when i feel a bit more comfortable with everything.
 
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