New MAK 2 Star First Cook

[sschorr]

Got my new MAK 2 Star last Monday.  I can definitely confirm the need for 2 people for assembling this!  And be ready for some very tight bolt locations and also tight hole alignment tolerances.  Took us 4 hours, plus another hour the next day for the Wifi module install and setup.  But what a machine!


To get things going, I decided to make some Pig Shots and ABTs.  The recipe for the Shots comes from Jeff Phillips (smoking-meat.com).  The ABTs came from our local Albertson's market, pre-made with cream cheese, Italian sausage and bacon wrapped.  Cooked them at 275 for 1 hour, then down to 250 for 1/2 hour more.  bacon was not quite finished enough IMHO, but man of man, they tasted just fine.

PS - I do not know how to insert a pic with a comment for it before adding another pic, so these are in order of start to finish.  The plate is when I started to eat them before realizing I had not taken a pic of the finished cook.  Doh!

[the wookiee...]

Awesome 1st cook!!!! Shiny and sexy that cooker...

[HighOnSmoke]

Very nice first cook! Congrats on the MAK!

[rwalters]

Congrats and welcome to the MAK family! Fantastic first cook. I see you pretty much bought every accessory MAK offers... lol. How do you like the front shelf?  It’s the only accessory I haven’t sprung for?

[sschorr]

Congrats and welcome to the MAK family! Fantastic first cook. How do I see you pretty much bought every accessory MAK offers... lol. How do you like the front shelf?  It’s the only accessory I haven’t sprung for?

Not quite all..    I didn’t buy the griddle (yet) as I have one I bought for my Weber gasser that will fit quite well on the front grate.  I did buy 1 grill grate and looking forward to giving it a workout.


I like the front shelf although I wish it was a little wider/deeper.  Worked well for me in positioning the Shots and ABTs on frogmats to easily slide them onto the grates.  One drawback though - the roll of paper towels on the rod beneath the shelf blocked the cabinet door from opening.  Half a roll of towels would probably let the door clear, but not a full one.  It’s easy to lift out the rod, so depends on how often getting access to the cart interior during a cook would make it a problem.

[rwalters]

Congrats and welcome to the MAK family! Fantastic first cook. How do I see you pretty much bought every accessory MAK offers... lol. How do you like the front shelf?  It’s the only accessory I haven’t sprung for?

Not quite all..    I didn’t buy the griddle (yet) as I have one I bought for my Weber gasser that will fit quite well on the front grate.  I did buy 1 grill grate and looking forward to giving it a workout.


I like the front shelf although I wish it was a little wider/deeper.  Worked well for me in positioning the Shots and ABTs on frogmats to easily slide them onto the grates.  One drawback though - the roll of paper towels on the rod beneath the shelf blocked the cabinet door from opening.  Half a roll of towels would probably let the door clear, but not a full one.  It’s easy to lift out the rod, so depends on how often getting access to the cart interior during a cook would make it a problem.

Interesting, paper towel interference w/ the front shelf would’ve never crossed my mind. I’ll probably never buy a front shelf... just don’t need it. I do have the front cabinet door (love it), and I do find it very handy to keep a roll of paper towels down there. Maybe do that instead of under the shelf if it starts to get annoying?

[sschorr]

Congrats and welcome to the MAK family! Fantastic first cook. How do I see you pretty much bought every accessory MAK offers... lol. How do you like the front shelf?  It’s the only accessory I haven’t sprung for?

Not quite all..    I didn’t buy the griddle (yet) as I have one I bought for my Weber gasser that will fit quite well on the front grate.  I did buy 1 grill grate and looking forward to giving it a workout.


I like the front shelf although I wish it was a little wider/deeper.  Worked well for me in positioning the Shots and ABTs on frogmats to easily slide them onto the grates.  One drawback though - the roll of paper towels on the rod beneath the shelf blocked the cabinet door from opening.  Half a roll of towels would probably let the door clear, but not a full one.  It’s easy to lift out the rod, so depends on how often getting access to the cart interior during a cook would make it a problem.

Interesting, paper towel interference w/ the front shelf would’ve never crossed my mind. I’ll probably never buy a front shelf... just don’t need it. I do have the front cabinet door (love it), and I do find it very handy to keep a roll of paper towels down there. Maybe do that instead of under the shelf if it starts to get annoying?

Yup,  that’s what I’m doing right now.

[teesquare]

I use the towel bar for an actual towel....But not a roll of paper towels. It works well for this. And - I love the shelf because it has helped to prevent the grease drips down the front of the MAK. You can rest a pan  on the shelf - with the lip of it just over the edge of the cooking grate with the lid open on the grill and remove whatever juicy, dripping wonderful food - without the grease getting instantly baked on the front of your MAK.....

[MAK Daddy]

Great first cook and congrats on the MAK!
I use the front shelf bar for a roll of tin foil, works great and the lip of the shelf is a natural place for the foil to tear.

[sschorr]

MAK Daddy -  thanks for that idea.  I’ll give it a try, but not using it isn’t that big a deal.  As Teesquare noted, the shelf does what I hoped, provide a platform for moving stuff on and off the grill.  Of course, I do have some rubber mats and a foil pan to put in front of the grill as SWMBO would go blastitic if I dripped on our patio.....

[rwalters]

I use the towel bar for an actual towel....But not a roll of paper towels. It works well for this. And - I love the shelf because it has helped to prevent the grease drips down the front of the MAK. You can rest a pan  on the shelf - with the lip of it just over the edge of the cooking grate with the lid open on the grill and remove whatever juicy, dripping wonderful food - without the grease getting instantly baked on the front of your MAK.....

You mention that it’s keeps grease from dripping down the front of the cooking chamber. Although I am super careful and have never had an issue with that... I am curious... isn’t there a gap between the front shelf and cooking chamber... a big enough gap for grease to get through?  I am asking because I do not know for sure... just appears from a distance that a small gap exists.

[CDN Smoker]

Congratulations   

[teesquare]

I use the towel bar for an actual towel....But not a roll of paper towels. It works well for this. And - I love the shelf because it has helped to prevent the grease drips down the front of the MAK. You can rest a pan  on the shelf - with the lip of it just over the edge of the cooking grate with the lid open on the grill and remove whatever juicy, dripping wonderful food - without the grease getting instantly baked on the front of your MAK.....

You mention that it’s keeps grease from dripping down the front of the cooking chamber. Although I am super careful and have never had an issue with that... I am curious... isn’t there a gap between the front shelf and cooking chamber... a big enough gap for grease to get through?  I am asking because I do not know for sure... just appears from a distance that a small gap exists.

There is...And - I am struggling to create a visual for others to describe the how/what in preventing those stubborn grease dribbles on the front of your MAK.
Try to imagine setting a shallow rimmed baking pan on the shelf....Then you lift the lid on your MAK...now, you slide the baking pan over the edge of the shelf, and across the small gap ( the gap is narrow ..you cannot drop a pencil thru it...) AND...just across the edge of the MAK interior, so that when you remove hot, moisture laden food from the grill - the gap, and thus - the front of your grill is protected from any dripping....

It is a simple way to lessen...and all but completely eliminate... the burden of scrubbing off drips that will be almost instantly baked onto the hot stainless front of your MAK.

[rwalters]

I use the towel bar for an actual towel....But not a roll of paper towels. It works well for this. And - I love the shelf because it has helped to prevent the grease drips down the front of the MAK. You can rest a pan  on the shelf - with the lip of it just over the edge of the cooking grate with the lid open on the grill and remove whatever juicy, dripping wonderful food - without the grease getting instantly baked on the front of your MAK.....

You mention that it’s keeps grease from dripping down the front of the cooking chamber. Although I am super careful and have never had an issue with that... I am curious... isn’t there a gap between the front shelf and cooking chamber... a big enough gap for grease to get through?  I am asking because I do not know for sure... just appears from a distance that a small gap exists.

There is...And - I am struggling to create a visual for others to describe the how/what in preventing those stubborn grease dribbles on the front of your MAK.
Try to imagine setting a shallow rimmed baking pan on the shelf....Then you lift the lid on your MAK...now, you slide the baking pan over the edge of the shelf, and across the small gap ( the gap is narrow ..you cannot drop a pencil thru it...) AND...just across the edge of the MAK interior, so that when you remove hot, moisture laden food from the grill - the gap, and thus - the front of your grill is protected from any dripping....

It is a simple way to lessen...and all but completely eliminate... the burden of scrubbing off drips that will be almost instantly baked onto the hot stainless front of your MAK.

That makes perfect sense. In my experience though, although I am super careful I have had numerous instances where things did drip down the front of my MAK.  Without exception, every single time I have been able to wipe the drips off with a damp towel. In other words, I usually have a damp towel handy if there is gonna be a chance of me dripping something. If you wipe as soon as you drip, it will come right off. At least that has been my experience

[teesquare]

I use the towel bar for an actual towel....But not a roll of paper towels. It works well for this. And - I love the shelf because it has helped to prevent the grease drips down the front of the MAK. You can rest a pan  on the shelf - with the lip of it just over the edge of the cooking grate with the lid open on the grill and remove whatever juicy, dripping wonderful food - without the grease getting instantly baked on the front of your MAK.....

You mention that it’s keeps grease from dripping down the front of the cooking chamber. Although I am super careful and have never had an issue with that... I am curious... isn’t there a gap between the front shelf and cooking chamber... a big enough gap for grease to get through?  I am asking because I do not know for sure... just appears from a distance that a small gap exists.

There is...And - I am struggling to create a visual for others to describe the how/what in preventing those stubborn grease dribbles on the front of your MAK.
Try to imagine setting a shallow rimmed baking pan on the shelf....Then you lift the lid on your MAK...now, you slide the baking pan over the edge of the shelf, and across the small gap ( the gap is narrow ..you cannot drop a pencil thru it...) AND...just across the edge of the MAK interior, so that when you remove hot, moisture laden food from the grill - the gap, and thus - the front of your grill is protected from any dripping....

It is a simple way to lessen...and all but completely eliminate... the burden of scrubbing off drips that will be almost instantly baked onto the hot stainless front of your MAK.

That makes perfect sense. In my experience though, although I am super careful I have had numerous instances where things did drip down the front of my MAK.  Without exception, every single time I have been able to wipe the drips off with a damp towel. In other words, I usually have a damp towel handy if there is gonna be a chance of me dripping something. If you wipe as soon as you drip, it will come right off. At least that has been my experience

I can see that as a good habit - to have the towel damp - at the ready. But, If you have the shelf, and full hands....You will probably not have that lightning quick reflexive action to "wet wipe" the grease as it occurs. You will not see it because of the shelfs position interfering with your line of sight when looking down at the MAK, as you load/unload food.
Not a negative on having the shelf. I love it. But, a shift in the method of how to best take advantage of it.