About this season
Roger Mooking has a fascination with fire. The chef enjoys finding inventive ways to cook with fire, which is exactly what he does in this series that takes him on a journey across the U.S. He visits pit-masters, chefs and home cooks who use fire to create complex, flavorful dishes. The people Mooking visits don't simply turn on a stove and start cooking; their methods include cooking over an open fire in a rustic chuck wagon and smoking meats in a former airplane that a mechanic has transformed into a smoker.
Episodes (13)
1. Fiery Outdoor Kitchens
Aired 30 May 2018 • 20 min
Roger Mooking tames the flames in outdoor kitchens fueled by wood-burning fires. He helps fire up beef ribs and grilled chickens for a ranch cookout in Solvang, CA, and cooks a hearty soup in an antique cauldron in San Diego.
2. Weekend BBQs
Aired 6 June 2018 • 20 min
Roger Mooking visits two Southern California barbecue joints open on weekends only. He meets a couple who runs a pop-up barbecue restaurant in their own backyard, and he helps a caterer cook up a trio of meats in a parking lot.
3. Cali Cookout
Aired 13 June 2018 • 20 min
Roger Mooking meets San Francisco-based chef Thomas McNaughton for a live-fire feast of epic proportions. They roast a whole pig over hot coals and cook potatoes, onions, squash and black-skinned chickens to go with it.
4. Rad Rigs
Aired 20 June 2018 • 20 min
Roger Mooking hunts down impressive barbecue rigs in Houston, TX, and Napa Valley, CA. He helps load six goats onto a custom trailer that can cook up to 600 pounds of meat, and he cooks a side of beef and sides on one asado grill.
5. Barbecue & Barbacoa
Aired 27 June 2018 • 20 min
Roger Mooking meets a family that specializes in both Texas barbecue and Mexican barbacoa. He learns the secrets to "hot guts" for the legendary Texas favorite, Frito Pie, and fires up their Argentinean grill for lamb barbacoa.
6. BBQ in Big Cities
Aired 4 July 2018 • 19 min
Roger Mooking visits Bludso's Bar and Que in Los Angeles and gets a 70-year-old family recipe for mac and cheese. In San Antonio, he checks out the mashup of Texas-style barbecue with Tex-Mex flavors at a house-turned-restaurant.
7. Roadside 'Cue
Aired 11 July 2018 • 20 min
While road-tripping through Texas, Roger Mooking pulls the car over for some delicious barbecue. In San Antonio, he makes a pit stop at The Box Street Social food truck to hang chickens and racks of ribs over a live fire.
8. A Tale of Two BBQS
Aired 18 July 2018 • 20 min
Roger Mooking visits an old-school barbecue institution serving chopped pork in South Carolina and a popular restaurant serving Hill County barbecue classics in Texas.
9. Twist on Texas 'Cue
Aired 25 July 2018 • 19 min
Roger Mooking visits two spots in the Lone Star State that turn traditional Texas barbecue into crafty culinary creations. In Fort Worth, he makes a brisket burger, and in Tomball, he samples artisanal chocolate and barbecue.
10. Hog Wild and Shucking Delicious
Aired 1 August 2018 • 19 min
Roger Mooking helps fire up three rigs for South Carolina-style surf-and-turf spread that includes a whole 150-pound hog, 30 racks of pork ribs and clusters of locally harvested oysters.
11. Texas 'Cue-Step in Georgia
Aired 8 August 2018 • 20 min
Roger Mooking is in the Peach State visiting self-taught pitmasters who smoke Texas-style barbecue. He loads a rotisserie smoker with briskets and bologna in Atlanta and cooks up a pot of Brunswick stew in Augusta, GA.
12. Light My Latin Fire
Aired 15 August 2018 • 20 min
Roger Mooking fires up Latin-inspired feasts in Florida and Georgia. He meets a maker of Argentinian grills, and they roast whole lambs together. Then he makes empanadas with braised pork cheeks in dough made from green plantains.
13. Surf & Turf in the Sunshine State
Aired 22 August 2018 • 19 min
Roger Mooking fans the flames of a fiery surf-and-turf extravaganza in Florida. He works on smoked fish for seafood chowder in Jensen Beach and then visits a farm with a wood-fired outdoor kitchen in Loxahatchee.