Here's a new cooker from Miami worth taking a look at. Only $250, too.

Curious as to what your comments are...

http://lacajachina.com/

(La Caja China translates as the Chinese box.)

Saw Tyler Florence on the Food Channel,doing a Texas picnic.

He was a south FL chef for awhile,and the ovens are pretty common there.

It is essentially a house oven,except you don't need to have gas or electric hookups.

Don't need to dig a hole to roast/steam .

I'd just as soon smoke mine,but I can see how it is useful in some communities.

We've briefly talked about this before. Did a search on 'lacajachina' and found 5 brief threads.

All in all it's not a smoker, it's a grill as it uses direct heat. So guess if you're wanting to grill something it would be good enough.

As for a "whole hog" cooker. If you butterfly it and cook it direct, maybe you can get it down in under 4 hours, but I'd rather smoke 'em if I got 'em.

Maybe someone who owns one will jump in.

Yes, we have discussed this before. The problem I see with this unit is getting the meat tender. IMO, you're not going to get the shoulder/butt or ham anywhere hear tender in that short of time. Am I missing something?

If this is what I think it is ---- it is what we call a CoonAss Microwave --South Arkansas and Lousianna - it is like a dutch oven -- you put your coals on top and it will get it tender but all the flavor comes from what you inject in the meat. Smoking is bes

I have had several friends look at this very design and one of them is a welder by trade. He said he could weld a smoker box underneath the tray that holds the coals (on the meat side) that would hold wood chunks. With a couple small holes and the direct heat from the coals, I believe this may provide the best of both worlds. Like a smoking oven.

Just a thought, but I think we are going to try to build one of these.