Saw a guy using one at a local charity BBQ, and thought I'd like to have
one. Had to make it, because I'm left-handed at cooking, and all the
"store-bought" ones I've seen are for left-disabled folks.

Once I had the thing, I found that it's useful for all sorts of cooking
other than grilling steaks. I use it all the time in the kitchen when
I'm frying anything. It's just the best way to turn things over I've
ever found.

You know how, if you're not really careful, when you use any sort of
tongs or a spatula to turn over breaded pieces, you're likely to mess up
the breading on the top (still raw) side? Doesn't happen if you hook the
piece and flip it with the hook.

You can hook a piece and lift it up to see how the bottom side is doing,
without having something like a pancake turner getting in the way.

Pieces close together? no problem. The hook doesn't need clearance to
slide under an edge without damaging the piece next to it. Works very
nicely for both shallow- and deep-frying.

Dredging meat or fish? Use the hook and keep your fingers from growing
into clubs and wasting a whole lot of the breading. You can pick a piece
out of a bowl of batter, dredge it in (say) breadcrumbs, and then move
it to the pan of hot fat, all with the hook. Since the hook gets a new
coating of oil every time you do that, nothing sticks to it.

Turning eggplant pieces while roasting them? Works great.

Tempura? A whole lot easier (for me, anyhow) than chopsticks in hot fat.

Bothered by annoying kibitzers while cooking? Oh yeah; just a twist of
the wrist ...

How come nobody ever told me about this nifty device before?

Isaac