A new General reports for duty!

[Lantern]

LOL!! I'm digging that flaming pic with the burgers.

[mrbbq]

MAD----since your grill is brand new, the amount of heat refraction on the very shiny steel really keeps the heat flowing. I would recommend turning down you temperature a bit until the grill is well seasoned. Once the interior steel dulls down, the refracted heat will be a little bit less. I would not move away from 80/20 burger meat. Otherwise it is too lean and will fall a part and have no flavor. FAT=FLAVOR.

You need to save and name your graphs before you unplug the meat probe. Also, the probes should not be used above 350F in your grill. They are not meant for high heat cooking.

Welcome to the MAK Grills family! Looks like you are well on the way to living a more flavor-filled life!

[rwalters]

Fantastic pics!  Looks like you have hit the ground running

Regarding the flare-ups... I cook 75/25ish burgers more often than not.  Even with my well seasoned MAK, I find 450 to be a bit to much for the FATTY meats.  Cooking the fattier meats like 75/25 with the Pellet Boss set to 375-400 with the Flame Zone covers removed, turns out amazingly good burgers with no flare-ups.  Keep in mind that the cooking surface is a good 100+ degrees hotter when the FZ covers are off, than what the PB displays.  I did some fatty ribeyes a couple of weeks ago with the Pellet Boss set to 450.  I had just a few licks of flame, but it was perfect.  On the other hand, fatty burgers are just a bit to much for that intense heat.

[MadFoodScientist]

MAD----since your grill is brand new, the amount of heat refraction on the very shiny steel really keeps the heat flowing. I would recommend turning down you temperature a bit until the grill is well seasoned. Once the interior steel dulls down, the refracted heat will be a little bit less. I would not move away from 80/20 burger meat. Otherwise it is too lean and will fall a part and have no flavor. FAT=FLAVOR.

You need to save and name your graphs before you unplug the meat probe. Also, the probes should not be used above 350F in your grill. They are not meant for high heat cooking.

Welcome to the MAK Grills family! Looks like you are well on the way to living a more flavor-filled life!

Thanks MrBBQ!  That makes sense on the seasoning and I will stick to 80/20 which has always been my go to for burgers.  I only used the probe for the initial smoking on the tri-tip.  I removed the probe when I removed the meat to turn up the grill for the final sear.  I will make sure to save my graphs prior to removing the probe in the future.   I appreciate all the helpful tips!

[MadFoodScientist]

Fantastic pics!  Looks like you have hit the ground running

Regarding the flare-ups... I cook 75/25ish burgers more often than not.  Even with my well seasoned MAK, I find 450 to be a bit to much for the FATTY meats.  Cooking the fattier meats like 75/25 with the Pellet Boss set to 375-400 with the Flame Zone covers removed, turns out amazingly good burgers with no flare-ups.  Keep in mind that the cooking surface is a good 100+ degrees hotter when the FZ covers are off, than what the PB displays.  I did some fatty ribeyes a couple of weeks ago with the Pellet Boss set to 450.  I had just a few licks of flame, but it was perfect.  On the other hand, fatty burgers are just a bit to much for that intense heat.

 
Thanks Robb!  Those are some good tips.  I am hoping to grill some steaks tonight for dinner (as long as it does not rain tonight).

[Harriska2]

I found that when I had my Traeger Jr I would curse not being able to get it above 300.  Now with the Mac 350 is almost overkill.  But I’m no pro and don’t care about grill marks.

[mrbbq]

LOL!! I'm digging that flaming pic with the burgers.

Burger King ain't got nothing compared to MAK flame kissed burgers! LOL!

[TentHunteR]

The food off your MAK is looking good already!

[HighOnSmoke]

Congrats on your new cooker! Food looks delicious! For those that are having problems with the Photobucket photos, here are the links to a Photobucket fix. It is a browser add on for Chrome and Firefox. Not sure about Safari. It works great and is virus and ad free.

Firefox add on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/photobucket-embedded-fix/?hotlinkfix=1526518049377

Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/photobucket-hotlink-fix/kegnjbncdcliihbemealioapbifiaedg

[CDN Smoker]

Very Very Nice