Abstract: An improved cooker includes a cooking chamber and a heat source. The heat source is mounted at one end of the cooking chamber. At the opposite end of the cooking chamber is a stack wall. A heat plate divides the cooking chamber into an upper cooking portion and a lower pit portion. A slidable damper plate controls the flow of hot air through the lower pit portion. The damper plate may be moved between a first position closer to the heat source than to the opposite stack wall and a second position closer to the stack wall than to the heat source.