I am a retired School Teacher and Metal Fabricator. I now do Wildlife Metal Sculpture and cooking. Several years ago I designed and built a brick smoker. I love to smoke different types of meat and some vegetables. I also made a portable whole hog cooker which I have used extensively. I also love cooking stew in a 18 gallon cast iron kettle. I do this for family reunions and parties. Great fun and it tastes sooo good! My family is from the old German tradition. Real close to the Mennonite and Amish. We make alot of different rye breads and old German type foods. Whole Hog Cooking! I developed a Cooker that will hold a hog up to 400 pounds! The pork always stays moist and after 20 to 24 hours the meat falls off the bone. We do many family reunions, parties, and cookoffs! Several years ago after I made my first cooker, I was asked to cook a half of a beef. Well, I had not used the cooker enough to be able to gauge my cooking time close enough to have the meat ready by a certain time. By the time we were supposed to eat, the meat was very, very rare. The only thing that saved me from complete embarrassment was that there were 2 NFL players there that liked their meat very rare! They dove into it and what was left when they got through was good enough for everyone else!