January 25, 2011 - The Mak 2 Star General

The next cooking blog post won't have pictures Ol' Blue in it. I finally broke down after a year and bought a pellet smoker. I rented one last year for Father's Day and enjoyed the ribs I did on it. I spent the summer working on smoking on my Weber gas grill and Weber kettle grill. The kettle was promising but I had to lift the lid too much to tend the coals, water, and smoke. If your lookin' you ain't cookin'; I'd loose heat every time  the lit came up adding to the cooking time. The gas grill is better in this regard; the lid can stay on; but at the low smoking temps; it's tough to get enough smoke.

So, having a gas and charcoal grill; I figured it was only logical to get a wood cooker. I saved my nickels and dimes and was able to order a Mak 2 Star General just after Christmas. I had my eye on the newer smaller one; but Carla was listening when I was on the phone with Big Poppa's Smokers and she told me "just get the big one; you know it'll be better". "Okay dear, whatever you say; I just want to cook you dinner".

They were working on some changes for the new model year; so it didn't ship until last week. It was delivered on a big pallet Monday. I unboxed it Monday night; then tonight Jeff came over and helped me assemble it. It took 2 hours from opening the bag of screws to finishing the clean up so I can park back in the garage.

Covered up. This is actually the back side of the cover; but the front side emblem is a little loud for my taste. The cooker is symmetrical, so it was easy to just turn the cover around. 

Tucked in bed for the night with the Weber gas grill; the charcoal grill is stored behind me in the picture.

It promises to be sunny this weekend so we'll be having summer in January: ribs, slaw, potato salad. Saturday  morning I'll head to Cash and Carry to pick up some St. Louis cut ribs; I'll rub them up overnight, then smoke them on Sunday probably with some brats on the upper rack.