Primal Grill with Steven Raichlen - Season 3 (2010)

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.

In 1516, a Spanish explorer encountered a band of Taino Indians roasting game and seafood on a wooden frame over a smoky fire. They called the cooking device a barbacoa-the origin of modern barbecue. This show takes us to the birthplace of barbecue-the Caribbean-where you'll learn to make Jamaican jerk chicken, buccaneer baby back ribs with pineapple barbecue sauce, and a Raichlen classic: shrimp grilled on sugarcane.

Gaucho describes the cowboys of northern Argentina and southern Brazil. These rustic cattle herders developed a simple yet powerful style of grilling over an open wood fire, a tradition still celebrated around Planet Barbecue today.Here are three indispensable gaucho favorites:Chicken roasted in a salt crust, from Uruguay's celebrity grill master, Francis Mallmann; the monster beef ribs that made the reputation of Brazil's famous grill house, Fogo de Chao; and a dessert from Brazil's cattle country, a pineapple you roast on the rotisserie.

Since Roman times, the Italian focus-hearth-has made monumental contributions to the world of live fire cooking. A new addition to the Primal Grill equipment collection, an authentic Italian-style wood-burning oven, inspired this shows menu: two versions of Italy's iconic food, pizza, cooked on the floor of the oven but easily adapted to a conventional grill; wood oven-roasted sweet and sour duck; and monster bone-in pork chops glazed with a reduction of red wine, honey, and balsamic vinegar. Benissimo.

The whole world grills, and a few countries smoke. But only one place on Planet Barbecue has highly evolved traditions of both-the U.S.A. (Of course, in the South, Midwest, and Texas, smoked meats are better known as barbecue.) In previous seasons of Primal Grill, we've shown you how to barbecue the familiar-chicken, ribs, and brisket. So here's a look at some less well-known regional live fire cooking: lobster the way we do it on Martha's Vineyard (my summer home); Texas beef clod-a massive cut from the shoulder that handily feeds a carnivorous horde; and Puerto Rican pork shoulder, seasoned with oregano and garlic, basted with annatto oil, and spit-roasted until the skin is shatteringly crisp and the meat fork-tender.