PRIMAL GRILL WITH STEVEN RAICHLEN III


#301 Primal Grill
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.
Mussels on Pine Needles
Salmon on a Stick
Caveman T-Bones with Garlic and Peppers
Fire-Grilled Garlic Bread

#302 Barbecue's Birthplace
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.
Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Buccaneer Baby Back Ribs with Pineapple Barbecue Sauce
Shrimp Grilled on Sugarcane

#303 Gaucho Grill
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 indispensible 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.
Chicken in a Salt Crust
Gaucho Beef Ribs
Brazilian Rotisserie Pineapple

#304 Italian Fire
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 show’s 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.
Wood Oven Pizzas (Margherita and Bacon Potato)
Sweet and Sour Duck
Grilled Pork Chops with Cipollini Onion Sauce
Grilled Cipollini Onions on Skewers

#305 Burn in the USA
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.
Lobster Martha's Vineyard-Style
Texas Clod
Puerto Rican Pork Shoulder

#306 Bombay Blast
More than 5000 years ago, a potter in Central Asia made a tall, urn-shaped, incredibly efficient clay barbecue pit—the origin of the Indian tandoor. Today, tandoori, Indian barbecue, is enjoyed from New Delhi to New Caledonia to New York. This show features tandoori salmon (washed with garlic water and marinated in spices, yogurt, and chickpea flour). Next up, two traditional Indian charcoal-grilled breads made from the same dough: naan and flaky, puff pastry-like lachha paratha, followed by fragrant Persian-inspired saffron chicken tikka kebabs. Best of all, each recipe can be cooked on a conventional grill, too.
Tandoori Salmon
Indian Naan and Puff Pastry
Chicken Tikka Kebabs

#307 Asia's Crossroads
Some of the world’s biggest flavors come hot off some of the world’s 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.
Singapore Beef Sates
Guamian Chicken Salad
Malaysian Swordfish in Banana Leaves
Cambodian Corn

#308 Heat Without Meat
Whether you’re a vegetarian, feeding someone who doesn’t eat meat, or simply crave meatless grilling from time to time, this show is for you. Smoked egg pate from Israel. (Think of it as turbocharged egg salad.) Grilled tofu with pineapple, cucumber, and a chili-peanut dipping sauce from Malaysia. Grilled bananas with a spoon-licking caliber coconut-caramel sauce from Thailand (as good for breakfast or a snack as a dessert). And Israeli Eggplant Salad—proof that you don’t need meat to show off your grilling skills.
Israeli Smoked Egg Pate
Malaysian Grilled Tofu
Thai Coconut Bananas
Israeli Eggplant Salad

#309 Spanish Smoke
Long before Spanish culinary mad scientist Ferran Adrià 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 calçots, 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.
Victor’s Shrimp
Salt-Grilled Rib Steak
Catalan Cream

#310 Out of Africa
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 peri-peri 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.
Peri Peri Wings
Sosaties
Kenyan Spit-Roasted Lamb

#311 The Best Kept Secrets of European Grilling
When it comes to European grilling, Italy and Greece grab the headlines. Here’s a look of some of Europe’s lesser-known grilling traditions. From Belgium, it’s briny oysters grilled with an uncommon (and uncommonly delectable) combo of ginger, soy sauce, and fruit jam. Serbia gives us boned chicken thighs, stuffed and grilled with bacon, ham, and cheese. And from Germany comes the best barbecue you’ve never heard of—spiessbraten—butterflied pork shoulder stuffed with onions and garlic and spit-roasted over beech wood. Finally, straight from a wood-burning beehive oven, experience a mixed vegetable grill with Brussel sprouts. You saw it here first on Primal Grill.
Belgian Oysters
Serbian Grilled Chicken Bundles
German Spiessbraten
Vegetable Mixed Grill

#312 Fired Up, Down Under
Ozzies (Australians) and Kiwis (New Zealanders) may live half a world away, but they’re every bit as grilling-obsessed as we North Americans are. Case in point: an Australian favorite, the proverbial “shrimp on the barbie,” grilled here with basil and prosciutto and flambéed with Pernod. Or apostles on horseback—New Zealand sea scallops marinated in wine and grilled with smoky bacon. Grilling doesn’t get much more primal than lamb on a shovel (chops grilled over a wood fire on a shovel blade), a specialty of the Australian Outback. G’day and good grilling.
Scallops & Shrimp
Lamb on a Shovel
Salt-Grilled Pineapples

#313 Primal Grills for a Crowd
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.
Mexican Fish Tacos
Burgers Big & Small
Brined Turkey Breast