The deep connection between wine and barbecue dates back millennia. In the Santa Ynez, grape vines are used as fuel and wine for marinades, sauces. Jidori-breed chicken breasts stuffed with ham and dry-aged cheese. Grilled flank steak with Pinot Noir mushroom sauce grilled. Chef John Cox from the Bear and Star restaurant smokes a whole bourbon-soaked wagyu strip loin.

Grapevine-Grilled Chicken Breasts; Aged Strip Loin Smoked; Wine-Marinated Flank Steak.

The perfect grilled steak, using a range of savvy grilling techniques. Leading off is a thick dry-brined New York strip with luscious anchovy crema. Tender lamb steaks come with herb-scented Moroccan Charmoula. In today’s field trip chef Curtis Stone grills an 80 day-aged rib steak over a wood fire at Gwen Butcher Shop and Restaurant in L.A.

Wagyu Beef Rib Steak; Ribeyes; Lamb Steaks w/Charmoula; a visit with Curtis Stone.

Fish Hits the Fire. Steven walks you through the grilling process—from whole fish to fire-roasting shellfish. Singapore-spiced halibut grilled in banana leaves. Whole fish with Indonesian flavors by Rafael Lunetta, in Santa Monica. Alaskan salmon riffs on Russian coulibiac, with a stuffing of grilled onions, mushrooms, rice and smoke. Finally, grilling fresh oysters with Asian aromatics.

Singapore-Spiced Halibut, Indonesian Branzino, Grilled Salmon, Oysters with aromatics.

Extending from California and the Pacific Northwest to Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Explosively flavored grilled meats with exotic herbs and spices, chilies and umami-rich fish and soy sauce are paired with healthy vegetables—barbecue as health food. Vietnamese and Thai influences make the ultimate street food. Steven visits Jenee Kim for grilled beef short ribs.

Koreatown Short Ribs, Thai Chili Ribs, Shrimp & Pineapple Salad, Lemongrass Chicken.

We reinvent the cocktail party, with the power of live fire to take finger food over the top with rum and citrus-glazed jumbo shrimp grilled on sugarcane, “finger-burner” lamb chops from Spain and Smoked Nectarine Bellinis to keep conversation flowing. Sommelier Kristine Bocchino shares suggestions for three great wines to serve at the party.

Rum-Spiced Shrimp, Finger Burner Lamb Chops, Tomato Bread, Smoked Nectarine Bellinis.

Melting pot extreme, when traditional American barbecue meets authentic ethnic grilling and it’s happening across the United States and around the world. Cross-culture mashups, from California paella to a deli-inspired pork loin stuffed with pastrami and sauerkraut. Michelin-starred chef Josiah Citrin dazzles with aged, smoked-roasted duck at his restaurant, Charcoal Venice.

Honey and Coriander Smoke-Roasted Duck, So-Cal Paella, Pork Loin Reuben.

One Good Turn. Rotisserie grilling or spit-roasting combines the smoky sear of grilling with the heat of roasting. Add 3 more benefits: basting, no flare-ups, and the fragrance of wood smoke. Game hens acquire golden, crackling-crisp skin. Spare ribs are given the huli-huli (turn-turn) treatment. Wings get a sweet-salty, lacquer-like glaze. Finally, a whole spinning, sugar-crusted pineapple.

Peruvian game hen w/salsa verde, huli huli spare ribs, Brazilian pineapple.

Grilling 24/7. The world’s pit masters, fire up grills, smokers, or wood-burning ovens for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night snacks. For breakfast, farm eggs grilled with Parmesan, and prosciutto. For lunch, pizzas from the Industrial Eats in Buellton, CA. Pastrami Beef Ribs make a spectacular supper, and midnight snack of smoky, salty South African Grilled Cheese sandwiches.

Industrial eats pizzas, grilled eggs, pastrami ribs, South African grilled cheese.

Extreme Grilling. Long before grills, charcoal, rotisseries, and planchas, there was fire! We visit L.A.’s Chi SPACCA, for a monster pork tomahawk grilled over wood by chef Ryan DeNicola. Extreme grilling with salmon steaks, smoky, on a shovel in a blazing campfire. Caveman-style pork chops directly on blazing embers with a sizzling poblano pan-fry and decadent brownies on a cedar plank.

Pork tomahawk, salmon on a shovel, caveman pork chops, brownie s’mores.

Wrangler Tailgate. Since picnickers in 1869 ate food from buckboards of horse-drawn wagons, Americans have loved tailgating. Now the party goes global, with pulled lamb from a wood-burning smoker at Odys & Penelope in L.A. Honey Soy Chicken Wings on skewers and Brisket Tacos, make magisterial main dishes. True global tailgating, with a Peruvian potato salad with chili-spiked cheese sauce.

Pulled Lamb In Lettuce, Chicken Wings, Brisket Tacos, Peruvian Potato Salad.

So-Cal Grill. Clean bold California flavors and plenty of hot fire and wood smoke. The classic California fish taco, reimagined with wood fire-grilling. Caribbean-inspired char-grilled lobsters with orange mojo. Executive chef Anthony Endy updates the verdant South American chimichurri. Wood-grilled Castroville artichokes with charred lemon aioli bring the show to a fiery close.

Grilled Tuna Tacos, Lobsters w/Orange Mojo, Tri-Tip Chimichurri, Grilled Artichokes.

Raichlen’s Rules. If it tastes good baked, fried, sautéed, or boiled, it tastes even better grilled. Barbecue has no limits, but it does have conventions. Look back on Steven’s secrets to successful grilling. Start with layering flavors to give your food depth. Smoke is the umami of barbecue, use it to bring new dimensions to your dishes. Finally, the grill can be used for dessert.

Hasselback Potatoes, Beef Tomahawk, Smoked Ice Cream, Dragon's Breath Cocktail.

Delivering both heat and taste, wood smoke contains more than a thousand flavor-producing compounds. From wood-grilled bruschetta with fire-blistered tomatoes to swordfish with raisin chimichurri and magisterial sear and slide beef tomahawks, today’s show brings you the primal campfire pleasure of grilling over a wood fire.

Tomato & ricotta bruschetta, swordfish steaks, beef tomahawks with béarnaise butter.

Brisket is simultaneously the easiest and hardest meat to barbecue. Today’s show is all about brisket, complete with failproof methods for smoking it right every time. From not so traditional Texas barbecue and a distinctive bacon-smoked brisket flat to an electrifying Vietnamese brisket salad. You’ll even learn how to make breakfast-worthy Tex-Mex brisket tacos.

Texas barbecue, bacon-smoked flat, Vietnamese brisket salad, Tex-Mex tacos.

Steinhatchee, Florida, with seafood-rich grilling of the Gulf Coast. Blackened redfish that we’ll prepare “on the half shell”, to the Florida shrimp boil, deconstructed and flame-charred on the grill. And, yes, there will be oysters and clams—invigorated by the sweet scent of wood smoke. Explore one of the most colorful coastal regions in North America.

Florida Oysters & clams, Jim’s redfish on the half shell, grill-top shrimp boil.

Today, we’re grilling green with vegetables we love like asparagus, corn, and mushrooms. Celebrate meatless grilling in all its verdant glory. From a new egg salad with grilled fresh hearts of palm, to a squash, black bean, and queso fresco pizza you grill directly over the fire. And grilled cheese with portobello mushrooms served in a swirl of blazing cognac.

New Egg Salad, Squash & black bean pizza, Cognac flambéed grilled cheese.

How about upping your grill game with steaks you may not be familiar with, such as secreto or spinalis dorsi? Secreto is a hyper-flavorful steak cut from a hog’s belly with a grilled vegetable sauce, romesco. Spinalis dorsi the most delectable part of a rib roast reborn as a steak, and grilled with bourbon. And grill a brisket steak fragrant with sizzling shallot sage butter.

Secreto and Romesco sauce, Drunken Spinalis, Brisket steaks w/shallot sage butter.

Looking back to when our ancestors grilled in the fireplace, on stones around the campfire and directly on the embers, Primal Grilling will make you a barbecue rock star. Try ember-grilled bread roasted vegetable salad, chicken hanging in midair over a smoky fire, and amaretti-stuffed pears grilled on primordial slabs of salt, grilling techniques as old as humankind itself.

Caveman flatbread, w/vegetable salad, wood hearth chickens, grilled pears with amaretti.

In today’s show, Texas barbecue meets Mexican spice as we explore how American barbecue techniques can enhance three classic Mexican dishes: snapper in pipian in a grilled vegetable and pumpkin seed sauce, pork shoulder pibil smoke-roasted in banana leaves, and a Project Fire first, a dessert quesadilla lavished with bananas and dulce de leche.

Whole Grilled Snapper in Pipian Sauce, Cochinita Pibil, Dessert Quesadillas.

Most barbecue enthusiasts can name the big three of barbecue: Kansas City ribs, Carolina pulled pork, and Texas smoked brisket. But what about some of the lesser-known styles? Cornell chicken was created by a Cornell University poultry scientist and today served in upstate New York. Up in Anchorage, Alaska, we have sweet yet smokey barbecued salmon.

Cornell Chicken, Barbecued Salmon with Brown Sugar Butter Glaze, Baltimore Pit Beef.

Everyone knows that a good barbecue makes the perfect prelude to the game. In this show, we explore how my home state of Florida reimagines three tailgate classics. Get ready for pork shooters stuffed with shrimp, cheese and sausage, wings blasted with fire water, and smoky hamburgers like you’ve never experienced. The secret? Lace them with chopped barbecued brisket.

Pork “Shooters,” Miami Wings, Brisket Burgers.

The pork shoulder, aka Boston butt, gives us Carolina pulled pork. The majestic beef shoulder (yes, there is such a cut) becomes a Texas barbecued beef clod. As for lamb shoulder, Moroccans cook it in a fire-heated underground clay oven to make their legendary mechoui. This show explores the richest, meatiest, most flavorful cut you find in the meat department: the shoulder.

3-2-1 Pork Shoulder, Moroccan Lamb Shoulder, Spit-Roasted Beef Shoulder Clod.

Chino-Latino originated with Chinese laborers who immigrated to Cuba, Trinidad, and elsewhere in the Caribbean to work the plantations. They developed a unique mashup of Asian and West Indian cooking—the subject of today’s show. Get ready for tangerine teriyaki chicken, butter rum grilled plantains, smoky baby back ribs with guava barbecue sauce, and Korean brisket tacos.

Tangerine Teriyaki Chicken, Ribs with Guava Sauce, Brisket Tacos with Chili Jam.

In Miami, our food culture is firmly anchored in Latin America and the West Indies. Our Miami Spice menu begins with a Project Fire first: the grilled mojito cocktail. Next comes Florida lobster grilled with rum butter baste and mango salsa, then plate-burying island spice beef plate ribs. Our grand finale? Turkey adobo with garlicky mojo de ajo.

Grilled Lime Mojitos, Grilled Florida Lobster, Bajan Beef Plate Ribs, Turkey Adobo.

Steak. It offers an irrefutable argument for simplicity, but it can also be the perfect foil for all the rubs, marinades, butters, and sauces you can throw at it. It’s easy to grill, but takes a lifetime to perfect. Let’s take a look back on how steak has evolved through three iconic TV series: Primal Grill, Project Smoke, and Project Fire.

A look back on how preparing steak evolved through Steven's popular cooking series.

Barbecue Health Food: A little-known fact-Steven Raichlen’s first James Beard Award-winning book wasn’t about barbecue, but a book on healthy eating.‘This show harnesses the flavor- boosting, fat-melting power of live fire to produce grilled fare that not only tastes good but is good for you.‘ From the paellas of Spain to the grilled beef salads of Southeast Asia.

Grilled Vegetable Paella, Vietnamese Beef & Noodle Salad,‘Mystery Box Challenge-Tofu

Steak. Few other words in the English language have such power to make our hearts beat faster and our mouths water than sizzling slabs of beef seared over live fire. In this show we embark on some meaty globe hopping, exploring over-the-top steaks from France, Cambodia, and the American Southwest. Hot fire. Sizzling meat. It’s a carnivore’s dream come true.

Hanger Steak with Caramelized Onions, Cambodian Steak, Reverse-Seared Porterhouse

Best Ribs Ever: Let Texans brag about brisket and Carolinians praise pulled pork shoulder. For the rest of us, the ultimate symbol of barbecue is ribs. In the American Midwest, ribs mean baby backs or other pork ribs, while in Korea, the bone of choice is the beef short rib. In the eastern Mediterranean, lamb ribs reign supreme. In this show we give you three of the best ribs ever.

Baby Back Ribs, Korean Grilled Beef Short Ribs, Mystery Box Challenge -- Lamb Ribs.

Killer Barbecue - Hold the Meat‘You don’t need a degree in barbecue to know that vegetables have hit the grill big time. Veggies for hardcore carnivores who crave killer accompaniments to their meats, for health-conscious grillers, and for everyone who delights in the smokiness and supernatural sweetness live fire imparts to plant and dairy foods.

Nashville hot cauliflower, smoked squash, new raclette.

Charm City ‘Que: Baltimore,‘the town where I grew up, boasts plenty of awesome foods for grilling. Pit beef was born here. In the seafood department you find a sweet white-fleshed fish the rest of the world calls striped bass and Baltimoreans know as rockfish.‘ And no Charm City meal would be complete without chocolate top cookies.

Grilled Rockfish, Pit Beef Triple Decker, Charm City S'mores.

Barbecue on a Budget: A lot of American barbecue began with inexpensive meat cuts, like spareribs, beef shoulder, and pork belly. With the economic insecurities brought on by COVID-19, we’re all feeling the pinch, and budget grilling has taken on new urgency. Besides, why should Kobe beef and tomahawk steaks get all the love? This is barbecue on a budget.

Pamplona of Pork, Tea Smoked Chicken, Mystery Box-Chicken Livers.

Sustainable Seafood: Pollution. Overfishing. Abusive labor practices. There’s a lot of negative news coming out about the seafood industry lately, and much of it breaks your heart. Today’s show celebrates seafood we can eat because it’s fished in a way that’s humane and environmentally sound. Activists call it sustainable seafood. I call it three great reasons for firing up your grill.

Grilled Oysters, Grilled Shrimp Tacos , Sicilian Swordfish.

Social Distance Tailgating: From its humble origins on the back of a buckboard wagon to today’s high-octane outdoor foodie extravaganzas, tailgating continues to enthrall—make that obsess—American sports fans. This episode is our our annual celebration of tailgating with a global twist. The socializing may be distant this year—all the more reason to up your game at the grill.

Buffaque Broccoli, Cajun Hobo Packs, Mystery Box-Mushroom.

Little Italy: When I was growing up, a trip to Baltimore’s Little Italy always meant culinary adventure. Today we celebrate Italian grilling and the food of Little Italys around North America, honoring the Italian reverence for simplicity and fresh seasonal ingredients, and the American passion for big flavors and ingenious grilling techniques.

Shrimp Spiedini with Salmoriglio, Pizza Puttanesca, Salt Slab Chicken.

Cured and Smoked: In humankind’s long march to food security, two ancient preserving techniques have stood out over the millennia: curing and smoking. The first involves preserving foods with salt, soy sauce, or sodium nitrite, and the second technique involves blasting foods with flavorful clouds of wood smoke. Today, we’re pushing the envelope on traditional curing and smoking.

A “New” Egg Salad, Maple-cured Bacon, Smoked Corned Beef.

The Improbable Grill: In this show we explore three unexpected techniques for grilling. The first stands the vertical rotisserie used in Mexico and the Middle East. The second involves a piece of equipment you don’t usually find at a barbecue—a roofer’s torch. The third involves a mystery ingredient that virtually no one on the planet has ever grilled.

Tacos Al Pastor, Volcano Pineapple, Mystery Box - Sunflower.

Maryland Crab Feast: This show focuses on my favorite food growing up: callinectes sapidus, better known as the Maryland blue crab. Maryland seafood markets and restaurants come alive with soft shell crabs, eaten shell and all, traditionally deep-fried, here seared over live fire. Which brings us to the summum of the Maryland crab experience: a crab feast known as Maryland steamed crabs.

Maryland Crab Feast: Grilled Soft Shell Sandwich, Grilled Crab Cakes, Steamed Crabs.

Raichlen's Rules: Desserts: Grilled Pound Cake with Berry Salsa and Smoked Whipped Cream, Salt Slab-Grilled Pears with Amaretti And Smoked Whipped Cream, Dessert Quesadillas, Smoked Ice Cream with Rum Raisin Sauce.

Grilled Pound Cake, Salt Slab-Grilled Pears, Dessert Quesadillas, Smoked Ice Cream.

When it comes to barbecue, St. Louis isn't yet as famous as Kansas City or Memphis, but the Gateway City is experiencing a live fire renaissance. They're famous for plate-burying pork steaks and eponymous spareribs (trimmed, rubbed, and slow-smoked over applewood). And get ready for a Project Fire first: St. Louis toasted ravioli with homemade marinara sauce.

Pork Steaks, St. Louis Ribs, Grilled Ravioli.

Ever since humankind first put food to fire, the world’s grill cultures have wrapped and rolled flavorful ingredients. Steven explores two South American grilled classics—a stuffed chicken breast from Uruguay called pamplona, and a colorful stuffed beef roll Argentineans know as matambre. Plus, a Project Fire Mystery Box recipe that may involve a crustacean.

Pamplona of Chicken, Matambre (Flank Steak), Mystery Box.

Whether you’re hosting guests or seeking a reason to get out of bed, this show amps up your breakfast game by firing up the grill. First, a spectacular breakfast pizza. Next, a supremely satisfying grilled vegetable frittata. Finally, the most outrageous cinnamon rolls we’ve ever tasted from executive chef Russel Cunningham of St. Louis’ Union Station.

Breakfast Pizza, Vegetable Frittata, Bacon Cinnamon Rolls.

Scroll through the images on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, and you’ll find grilled and smoked dishes of astonishing ingenuity. In the spirit of this new style of barbecue, we’ve invited three of my favorite influencers to grill with me - Derek Wolf from Over the Fire Cooking, Scott Thomas from Grillin’ Fools, and Susie Bulloch from Hey Grill Hey.

Smoked Lobster Tacos, Wood-Grilled Chorizo, Bacon Apple Crisp.

Wagyu, “Japanese cow” literally, was once an obscure cattle breed from Japan. Today, it’s on restaurant menus and in butcher shops around the world. Get ready for a sumptuous Japanese A5 Rib-Eye with sesame salt and grilled rice cakes, followed by wagyu steak tomahawks with fire-roasted marrow. Then feast your eyes on wagyu smash burgers with parmesan crisps.

Japanese A5 Rib-Eye, Wagyu Steak Tomahawks, Wagyu Smash Burgers.

For many, barbecue means meat. But you may be surprised to learn that one of the earliest recorded barbecues featured fish wrapped in grape leaves. Today Steven begins with saffron-scented Catalan shrimp kebabs, followed by trout Mexican style with a sizzling garlic cilantro sauce. Then there’s a Mystery Box that will astonish you as much as it surprised Steven.

Catalan Grilled Shrimp Kebabs, Mexican Grilled Trout, Mystery Box.

Skewering and spit-roasting meat rank among the world’s oldest and most universal grilling methods. Forty thousand years ago, Neanderthals roasted hunks of meat over a campfire. Today, Steven spit roasts a pork loin stuffed with onions followed by an Indian rotisserie leg of lamb perfumed with saffron. He then skewers the unknown ingredient inside the Mystery Box.

Spit-Roasted Leg of Lamb, Pork Shoulder Paprikash, Mystery Box.

What’s America’s most popular meat? It’s Poultry. Americans consume more than 112 pounds per person each year. Today Steven prepares an astonishing array of grilled poultry from brandy brined rotisserie chicken to duck legs flame roasted Peking-style. And with a special guest a Project Fire first: turkey “ribs”—found in St. Louis, and virtually nowhere else.

Peking Duck Legs, Brandy-Brined Chicken, St. Louis Turkey Ribs.

Steven has always enjoyed showing extreme grilling techniques that, though unconventional, deliver unabashedly delectable results, such as his Caveman T-bones or salmon on a shovel. Taking your grilling to the next level, that tradition continues with Lomo al Trapo with Fiery Colombian Salsa, Grilled Brussels Sprout Stalks with Curry Butter, and a Project Fire Mystery box.

Lomo Al Trapo, Grilled Brussels Sprouts, Mystery Box Challenge.

Physicians have long extolled the virtues of the Mediterranean diet. Today the healthy foods and vibrant flavors of the Mediterranean hit the grill when Steven grills Sicilian grilled artichokes and branzino stuffed with fennel stalks. Then there’s Greek grilled baby lamb chops with ember roasted potatoes prepared by friend and host of My Greek Table, Diane Kochilas.

Lamb Chops, Grilled Artichokes, Fennel-Grilled Branzino.

It’s a simple formula: bread + protein + condiment, but it adds up to a triple decker of pleasure. In today’s show, the sandwich hits the grill. From a glorious BLT made with home cured and smoked bacon, to pan bagnat—a magisterial grilled tuna sandwich inspired by the French Cote d’Azur. And then it's a sandwich for dessert in a Project Fire mystery box.

The Ultimate BLT, The Raichlen Pan Bagnat, Mystery Box.

No one knows what spectators ate at the first Olympic games, held in ancient Greece in 776 BCE, but today’s sports fans and grill fanatics like to celebrate their obsession with a barbecue.‘Tailgating favorites come hot off the grill in this episode as we tackle Project Fire Rib Wings, Buffalo Brisket Burnt Ends, and a Balkan Mixed Grill with some special guests.

Project Fire Rib Wings, Buffalo Brisket Burnt Ends, Balkan Mixed Grill.

Seventy percent of the earth is covered with water and yet, the combination of live fire and seafood can be a grillers worst nightmare. For this season’s Raichlen’s Rules, we’ve decided to ease your anxiety. A lot of people are intimidated by the prospect of grilling seafood, but by strategically picking the method, fire can make the bounty of the sea wondrous.

Swordfish, Smoked Mussels, Shrimp Spiedini, Planked Trout.