Primal Grill with Steven Raichlen

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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, its 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 Brussels sprouts. You saw it here first on Primal Grill.

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 flambeed 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.

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.