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All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 Smoke Screen

    • May 9, 2008
    • PBS

    Smoke is the soul of true barbecue. As you climb the ladder of barbecue enlightenment, you’ll want to be able to smoke a variety of foods in a variety of grills and smokers. This show explores four diverse foods: ribs, turkey, salmon, and even a dessert—prepared in a traditional offset barrel smoker, a water smoker, a charcoal grill, and a stovetop smoker. Sorry…no gas grills allowed.

  • S01E02 Kebabs Of The World Unite

    • May 16, 2008
    • PBS

    Meat on a stick represented the first technological leap forward in the evolution of barbecue. The popularity of kebabs and sates around the world attests to the universal appeal of skewered foods. So why do so many kebabs come on bamboo skewers with burnt ends or on metal skewers with raw onions, overcooked meat, and tomatoes that fall into the embers? If you’ve ever had trouble nailing the perfect shish kebab, or you want to expand your repertoire, this show is for you.

  • S01E03 Make No Mis-Steak

    • May 23, 2008
    • PBS

    People may dream of smoking whole hogs and briskets, but admit it: what you really want to know for everyday use on a practical basis is how to grill the perfect steak. This show reveals all the secrets, from selecting the right steak to setting up the grill to the perfect seasoning and sauces. You’ll learn how to achieve perfect doneness every time using the “four-finger” poke test.

  • S01E04 Bird Meets Grill

    • May 30, 2008
    • PBS

    When I was growing up,” barbecue” meant chicken marinated in sweet barbecue sauce, burnt charcoal-black on the outside, still raw inside, and reeking of lighter fluid. Sound familiar? This show will teach you the right way to grill America’s favorite bird: on a charcoal grill, in a smoker, and on a gas grill.

  • S01E05 Fish Without Fear

    • June 6, 2008
    • PBS

    A lot of people are intimidated by the idea of grilling fish. With good reason! When you grill fish, does it A) stick to the grill grate; B) break into pieces; C) come out raw in the center; D) come out hopelessly overcooked; or E) all of the above? This show will give you three great ways to grill fish without fear—or tears.

  • S01E06 Vegetarians at The Grill

    • June 13, 2008
    • PBS

    When I was growing up, the options for a vegetarian at a typical barbecue were limited to hamburger buns or potato salad. In many parts of the world…in India and Japan, for example…meatless grilling produces some of the most interesting food to come off the fire. So whether you’re grilling for vegetarians, or you just want to cut back on the meat sometimes, this sizzling show has you covered.

  • S01E07 Shoulders And Butts

    • June 20, 2008
    • PBS

    In Memphis, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, “barbecue” means just one thing: pork shoulder smoke-roasted until it’s so tender you can pull it apart with your fingers. But pit masters all over the world love this crusty, meaty, well-marbled cut, and today, I’m going to show you how to grill the perfect pork shoulder—American, Caribbean, and even Balinese style. No ifs, ands, or pork butts, about it.

Season 2

  • S02E01 On The Bone

    • May 16, 2009
    • PBS

    When it comes to flavor, you can’t beat meat that’s still attached to the bone. This simple truth is appreciated by anyone who has ever barbecued a rack of ribs, grilled a long-bone veal chop, or roasted a whole leg of lamb. Grilling and, more importantly, serving meat on the bone, transports us to a time back before the invention of knives and forks when barbecue buffs ate with their hands, chewing the fire-roasted meat right off the bone. Discover your inner caveman. Recipes In this Episode: 1) Marinated Veal Chops With Catalan Viniagrette 2) Catalan Viniagrette 3) Smoke-Roasted Leg Of Lamb Provencale 4) Herbs De Provence 5) Kalbi Kui, Butterflied Korean Short Ribs 6) Korean Cucumber Salad

  • S02E02 By The Sea

    • June 6, 2009
    • PBS

    Seafood may come from the water, but nothing brings out its briny succulence like the high, dry, smoky heat of the grill. This truth is readily apparent on the beaches of Brazil, at the waterfront grill stalls in Asia, and the seaside communities of the Yucatan. Here are three great grilled seafood dishes that solve the age-old problems of fish sticking to the grill grate or breaking apart when you go to turn it: Brazilian coconut grilled shrimp, Asian garlic grilled halibut, and snapper grilled in banana leaves, Yucatan-style. And grilled asparagus rafts make an appropriately nautical accompaniment.

  • S02E03 From The Garden

    • June 20, 2009
    • PBS

    Barbecue means meat to millions of grill masters, of course, but it’s also about vegetables. Just ask one of India’s 300 million vegetarians, who love tandoori (Indian barbecue pit cooking) every bit as much as a carnivore does. When it comes to bringing out the caramelized sweetness of a vegetable, nothing beats the searing heat of a grill. In this Episode, Steven will show you a barbecue where vegetarians will not feel like second-class citizens. On the menu? Grilled eggplant “caprese” salad; Indian pepper, tomato, and paneer cheese kebabs (served with Indian grilled puff pastry); and a “carb-haters” sandwich—grilled portabello mushrooms cheeseburgers.

  • S02E04 In The Fire

    • July 4, 2009
    • PBS

    The first “grills” possessed neither grates nor burners. The grilling was done right in the embers. The march towards barbecue enlightenment hasn’t completely eliminated this primal method of grilling. In this show, you’ll learn how to roast eggplants in the embers to make Middle Eastern baba ghanouj and see how a caveman might have cooked sweet potatoes. Our main dish routinely makes eyes pop and jaws drop in Bogota, Colombia: beef tenderloin wrapped in salt and cloth and roasted in the embers. And for dessert, an ingenious twist on that campfire classic, the S’more.

  • S02E05 On The Rotisserie

    • July 11, 2009
    • PBS

    Many of the world’s great grill cultures cook their best barbecue on the rotisserie. Consider Brazil’s rodizio, Greek souvlaki and gyro, and Morocco’s majestic mechoui. To judge from your many e-mails, spit-roasting is a live fire cooking method our viewers would like to know more about. In this show, you’ll learn how to grill a sausage - and cheese-stuffed rib roast, how to grill a Greek-style whole hog over a wood fire, and how to make Moroccan-style lamb ribs—cooked to a turn on a gas-fired rotisserie.

Season 3

  • S03E01 Primal Grill

    • May 15, 2010
    • PBS

    Think back. Way back. To that momentous occasion more than a million years ago, when our prehistoric ancestors learned how to master fire and cook. This show focuses on some of the world's most primal grilling. Mussels grilled on a bed of flaming pine needles, as they do on the west coast of France. Salmon roasted on redwood sticks in front of an open fire in the style of the Yurok Indians of Northern California. T-bone steaks grilled directly on the embers, and fire-grilled Garlic Bread. Awaken your inner caveman. It's primal grilling on Primal Grill. Recipes In this Episode: 1) Mussels on Pine Needles 2) Salmon on a Stick 3) Fire-Grilled Garlic Bread 4) Caveman T-Bones with Garlic and Peppers

  • S03E02 Asia's Crossroads

    • June 26, 2010
    • PBS

    Some of the worlds biggest flavors come hot off some of the worlds smallest grills. Proof positive? Sizzling beef sates-cut from well-marbled rib eye steaks and masterfully spiced with cumin, coriander, and turmeric from tiny Singapore. From Guam, where the sun first rises on American barbecue, comes a main-course chicken salad like your mother never made: smoked chicken with freshly grated coconut and vivifying doses of lime juice and chiles. Cambodia boasts some of the world's best grilled corn (basted with coconut milk), while Malaysia gives us a unique way for preparing swordfish: slathered with lemongrass paste, then wrapped and grilled in banana leaves-a popular Asian technique that not only keeps the fish moist, but that keeps it from sticking to the grill grate. Recipes In this Episode: 1) Singapore Beef Sates 2) Singapore Cucumber Relish 3) Singapore Peanut Sauce 4) Guamian Chicken Salad 5) Malaysian Swordfish in Banana Leaves 6) Cambodian Corn

  • S03E03 Spanish Smoke

    • July 10, 2010
    • PBS

    Long before Spanish culinary mad scientist Ferran Adri stunned the world with his foams, infusions, and molecular cuisine, grill masters from the Iberian peninsula were setting the world of barbecue, well, on fire. Like Basque grill master, Victor Arguinzoniz, whose grilled shrimp calls for olive oil and txakoli wine misted from spray bottles. Or Matias Gorrochatequi, whose salt-grilled steaks are a masterpiece of fiery simplicity. (Serve them with calcots, flame-grilled green onions dipped in romesco sauce.) Catalan cream, crusted with spiced raw sugar and dramatically caramelized with a fire-heated iron disk, brings the meal to an unforgettable close. Recipes In this Episode: 1) Victor's Shrimp 2) Salt-Grilled Rib Steak 3) Calcots with Romesco Sauce 4) Romesco Sauce 5) Catalan Cream

  • S03E04 Out Of Africa

    • July 17, 2010
    • PBS

    Africa. Where mankind, grilling, and civilization began. Today, we take you to this mysterious, multi-cultural continent, where complex flavors and grilling techniques show just how far we've evolved since a human ancestor called Homo erectus became the first animal to cook his dinner. For starters, a South African specialty-incendiary piri-piri chicken wings. Then a Cape Malay twist on shish kebab-sosaties-pork and lamb skewers perfumed with red wine, dried fruit, and curry. From Nairobi, our grand finale: Kenyan spit-roasted lamb with sweet sour mint glaze-a reminder of the once-long reach of the British Empire. Recipes In this Episode: 1) Piri Piri Wings 2) Sosaties 3) Sweet Sour Mint Sauce 4) Kenyan Spit-Roasted Lamb

  • S03E05 Primal Grills For A Crowd

    • August 7, 2010
    • PBS

    Cook indoors and you often cook solo. Light a grill and you cook for a crowd. This show focuses on grilling for parties. Mexican grilled fish tacos, for example, where a single dish becomes an entire meal. Or burgers, ranging in size from bite-size kobe-style beef sliders to plate-burying, garlic- and chile-laced Bosnian pljeskavica. Smoked turkey makes another great dish to grill for a crowd: The Primal Grill twist comes from a brown sugar and orange marinade and tangy orange slather sauce. Recipes In this Episode: 1) Pico De Gallo 2) Salsa Verde 3) Chiltomate (Grilled Tomato Habanero Salsa) 4) Guacamole 5) Mexican Fish Tacos 6) Kobe Beef Sliders 7) World's Biggest Burger 8) Orange-Mayo Sandwich Sauce 9) Orange-brined Turkey Breast