Rib cook - MAK 1Star vs Hunsaker Drum

[KevinJ]

Compart St Louis Spares, two seasoned with Q-Salt the other two seasoned with Loot 'N Booty Everything Rub, 1 each were cooked on the PG and Drum. The MAK was programmed on smoke (180/190) for 2hrs then bumped up to 250, the Hunsaker was set at 250 for the whole cook, ribs were not wrapped and served dry.

Timeline
11:00 pull the membrane and season the ribs.
11:45 fill up the Hunsaker charcoal basket with Cowboys lump and Pecan wood chunks, filled up the MAK hopper
11:50 turn on the MAK
12:00 put the Ribs on the MAK
12:15 light the charcoal basket and place it in the Drum
1:00 put the Ribs on the Hunsaker

Ribs that went on the MAK

Ribs that went on the Hunsaker

Front to back
MAK Q-Salt, Loot 'N Booty, Hunsaker Q-Salt, Loot 'N Booty

It was a blind tasting except for myself, scoring was 1 top choice, 4 lowest choice so low score wins.

MAK
Q-Salt 4-2-4-3-4, overall score 17 (I scored it a 4)
Loot 'N Booty 1-1-1-1-2, overall score 6 (I scored it a 1)

Hunsaker
Q-Salt 3-4-2-2-3, overall score 14 (I scored it a 2)
Loot 'N Booty 2-3-3-4-1, overall score 13 (I scored it a 3)

Just my personal observations, the MAK had a lighter, cleaner smoke profile (duh) and I really made sure the Hunsaker was burning clean, used Cowboy Lump and 3 fist sized chunks of Pecan. During the cook I slightly adjusted the Hunsaker once after the ribs were on for an hour, temp was 230 and rose up to my goal temp of 250 and sat there for the rest of the cook. The MAK had a few spikes during the cook by as much as 25 degrees a couple of times during the cook, so the Hunsaker actually kept the tighter temps for the whole cook, if that's important to you.

Everyone liked all the Ribs, I asked that if they wanted to add sauce to at least take a bite of each and score the ribs before adding sauce. No one added sauce, even when getting seconds and everyone said that they were more than happy to eat any of the ribs that were severed, they are also just family and not big time BBQ enthusiasts.

My plate and yeah I'm full.

 

[16Adams]

Cool review- thanks

 

[Joshw]

I have been waiting for this one. Not surprised it was close, but was a little shocked on the Loot n booty. I haven't used it on ribs, but I like the everything rub. What pellets were you using in the Mak?

 

[rwalters]

Nicely done... they all look fantastic! I will be the first to say that imo pellet smoked ribs are very hard to beat. Not only that, but they are very consistent one cook to the next

 

[Smithers1945]

Food looks great. I did a similar taste test with my wife who hates the Pellet smell that comes from my MAK, and on my Good One Open range with lump and cherry. It was 50/50 as to who liked which better, but my wife chose the food from the MAK lol. Personally, I sometimes can’t even tell the difference!

 

[The Wookiee]

Love a good head2head rib showdown! Nicely done sir!

 

[ssv3]

Very cool and informative thread Kevin. At least for me. A MAK 1 is soon to join the arsenal. :thumb: Killer grub of course.

 

[Kanco Connection]

Thanks for sharing the details of your experiment! Looks delicious.

 

[TravelingJ]

Hard to beat a head-to-head with a blind tasting. Thanks for the effort that you put in here!

 

[Baychilla]

Very cool and informative thread Kevin. At least for me. A MAK 1 is soon to join the arsenal. :thumb: Killer grub of course.

That'd be an interesting comparison - a Mak v. the LSG V/O.:decision:

 

[el luchador]

good to see some testing. interesting results in that the 1st place was the pellet, 2nd and 3rd were drum, and then last place came from the pellet cooker.

my question is, were they judging on taste only,or tenderness as well. I cant see the bones of the q salt mak, but the other one from the mak looks like a lot more pull back which would lead me to assume it was more tender than what came off the drum.

 

[The Wookiee]

That'd be an interesting comparison - a Mak v. the LSG V/O.:decision:

Have both and haven’t done same day/time head to head but same pork supplier same process... LSG for the win but MAK closer than any other pellet I’ve experienced. LSG just whistles/convects so much smoke/air when you let it rip it does some fairykittenvodoomagic... referred to by my daughter as “white whale ribs”... Mak blows me away though and I am still checkIng to make sure something isn’t wrong with it all the time b/c it puts out so much smoke for a pellet grill...

 

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

Thanks. That's pretty cool.

 

[SmittyJonz]

:thumb:

 

[KevinJ]

I have been waiting for this one. Not surprised it was close, but was a little shocked on the Loot n booty. I haven't used it on ribs, but I like the everything rub. What pellets were you using in the Mak?

Lumberjack 50/50, 100% Hickory/100% Cherry, next Rib cook I'll either use MHC or 100% Hickory just to see if I notice a difference.

Nicely done... they all look fantastic! I will be the first to say that imo pellet smoked ribs are very hard to beat. Not only that, but they are very consistent one cook to the next

Yeah I can see the consistency for sure, other than coming out a little darker the Loot 'N Booty Ribs came out exactly like they did on my first rib cook using the MAK.

 

[Joshw]

Lumberjack 50/50, 100% Hickory/100% Cherry, next Rib cook I'll either use MHC or 100% Hickory just to see if I notice a difference.

In my experience the 100% Hickory does give a stronger smoke profile, but you might lose some of the complexity of the flavor. I like mixing flavors. That is the main reason I use a smoke tube. To me that is the coolest part of a pellet grill. You can use all kinds of different woods, without having a yard full of firewood.

 

[charcoalwilly]

Love to see somparisons like this. Thanks Kevin. Other than the lighter smoke profile, how were the pellet ribs different? Were they more moist? Which one had the better crust?

 

[KevinJ]

Love to see somparisons like this. Thanks Kevin. Other than the lighter smoke profile, how were the pellet ribs different? Were they more moist? Which one had the better crust?

There wasn't really any difference that I could tell as far as texture and how moist the Ribs were, the Hunsaker Ribs came out a little darker. The Compart Ribs have a crazy amount of marbling and always come out moist and tender. Usually on the Drum I cook Ribs at 275-300 but did this cook at 250 just to try and keep it apples to apples as best I could.

Haven't cooked Beef on the MAK yet, probably get some Beef Short Ribs to cook on it soon.

 

[KevinJ]

In my experience the 100% Hickory does give a stronger smoke profile, but you might lose some of the complexity of the flavor. I like mixing flavors. That is the main reason I use a smoke tube. To me that is the coolest part of a pellet grill. You can use all kinds of different woods, without having a yard full of firewood.

I don't have a tube and right now I don't think I'm going to use one but that may change.

 

[cowgirl]

Great post Kevin! :thumb: