From the man who launched a revolution in live-fire cooking comes a third electrifying season of the show that brings the art of smoking and grilling from the competition barbecue circuit to the mainstream American backyard — STEVEN RAICHLEN'S PROJECT SMOKE.
In Season 3, PROJECT SMOKE goes global, with shows on Mexican and Pacific Rim smoke and global tailgating. Hardcore carnivores will delight in the "BBQ Holy Trinity" and "Perfect Hog" shows.
Filmed at the stunning Alisal Guest Ranch in California’s historic Santa Ynez Valley, the season features a sizzling new collection of grills and smokers, including a wood-burning plancha grill, a pellet grill, and digital smoker, as well as a kamado style grill, an infrared grill, and a smoker cabinet.
This season will also offer new smoking techniques, such as herb smoking with a blowtorch and bacon you cure and smoke like pastrami.
There is also a renewed emphasis on grilling, as well as smoking, for fans of Steven’s popular PRIMAL GRILL series and those that may not own smokers.
And of course, viewers will also enjoy sensational new recipes, like Korean pulled pork, cedar-planked king crab, Yankee porchetta, and smoke-grilled monster tomahawk steaks.
Barbecue Hall of Famer Steven Raichlen is America’s foremost authority on live-fire cooking, with more than 30 cookbooks and five TV series to his credit.
Winner of five James Beard Awards and three International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Awards, Raichlen wrote the multi-million copy selling "Barbecue Bible" and "How to Grill," and the New York Times best-selling "Planet Barbecue."
In addition to STEVEN RAICHLEN'S PROJECT SMOKE™, he also hosts the popular series PRIMAL GRILL™ and BARBECUE UNIVERSITY™.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Episode 1: "Much At Steak" airs Saturday, July 1 at 1 p.m. - A show devoted to the most awesome cut of meat to grill: steak. Unleash your inner carnivore and build your confidence whenever you step up to the grill to cook the perfect slab of meat.
Up first, a magisterial wood-grilled beef tomahawk steak topped with Pt. Reyes blue cheese butter. Followed by a four-finger thick cherry-smoked New York strip steak, whose juices become part of an intensely flavorful sauce you build right on the cutting board.
Then a plancha-seared “steak” from the sea: bacon-wrapped albacore tuna “filet mignons” sauced with peppercorn cream sauce.
Episode 2: "Hot Stuff" airs Saturday, July 8 at 1 p.m. - A show to stoke our insatiable appetite for fiery foods, starting with smoky Nashville hot wings.
From rural Kentucky comes smoky grilled pork shoulder steaks dunked as often as you dare in an incendiary vinegar cayenne pepper sauce.
For more pain, we present piri piri prawns from South Africa grilled in the shell and ignited with a distinctive hot sauce introduced by Portuguese explorers, followed by spice-blasted Indian tandoori lamb served with Hell’s Fury Hot Sauce and a cooling cucumber yogurt raita.
Episode 3: "Fire Meets Water" airs Saturday, July 15 at 1 p.m. - Impeccably fresh local fish hits the grill in this show, which is devoted to the art of grilling seafood.
Local Channel Island rockfish roasts on a Himalayan salt slab, served with a colorful melon mint relish. Tuna steaks come spice-rubbed and grill-blackened, sauced with spicy Cajun remoulade.
Next, fire-roasted shrimp seasoned with deconstructed pesto. And for smoked fish lovers, gorgeous Alaskan king salmon cured with maple syrup and smoked over maple wood.
Episode 4: "Fire Birds" airs Saturday, July 22 at 1 p.m. - Poultry is one of the most versatile meats to cook over live fire, popular in grill cultures across planet barbecue.
From the Republic of Georgia comes tabaka, citrusy butterflied chickens grilled under a press to compact the meat and crisp the skin. On the side? A piquant rhubarb tkemali sauce.
From Fez in Morocco, experience grilled chicken and onion kebabs marinated in and sauced with spice-scented charmoula. Pound cake gets the grill treatment with fresh berry “salsa” and smoked whipped cream.
Finally, not even Norman Rockwell would recognize this magnificent bird...a smoke-roasted organic turkey with butter and sliced fresh truffles under the skin.
Episode 5: "Pac-Rim Smoke" airs Saturday, July 29 at 1 p.m. - Though grills are traditionally small, Pan-Asian pit masters (and mistresses) developed an edgy, innovative big flavor grill culture that celebrates the “fifth taste,” umami .
Striped bass is stuffed with lemongrass, chiles, scallions, and ginger and grilled — then, wait for it — the fish is topped with more aromatics and doused with sizzling hot sesame oil.
Thai beef salad is a mosaic of color and textures with an emphasis on veggies. Corn comes basted with sesame soy butter and finished with fire-toasted coconut.
Last up, pounded chicken thighs enclose Chinese ham, sausage, shiitake mushrooms, and cheese, and then get basted with Beijing barbecue sauce.
Episode 6: "Where There’s Smoke" airs Saturday, Aug. 26 at 1 p.m. - Smoke is the soul of barbecue. In this episode, you’ll learn how to smoke duck breasts (they’re tricky), achieving crisp skin without overcooking the meat. Cherry salsa underscores duck’s affinity for fruit.
Vegetarians and meat eaters alike will devour our cheese-and-bean-stuffed poblanos and savory smoked mushroom bread pudding — don’t forget this recipe come Thanksgiving.
But if it’s carnivores you’re feeding, smoke a hefty awe-inspiring beef shoulder clod until the outside is as black as coal and the inside is fork-tender. A tangy mustard barbecue sauce inspired by the Germans who settled Texas Hill Country makes the perfect complement.
Episode 7: "Extreme Smoke" airs Saturday, Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. - In this “surf and turf” show, meet the lively Stephanie Munz, a Santa Barbara-based diver/marine biologist who brings ocean-fresh sea urchins for Steven to grill — topped with an egg and served with grilled bread.
Local spiny lobster gets the caveman treatment — split and roasted in the shell directly on the embers.
Meanwhile, luxurious Alaskan king crab gets grilled and served with garlicky absinthe butter.
Representing turf are bone-in veal chops blasted with rosemary smoke (yes, the process involves a blowtorch) and beef plate ribs spit-roasted on a wood-burning rotisserie and served with ember-roasted onions and peppers and tangy Chilean pebre (salsa).
Episode 8: "Perfect Hog" airs Saturday, Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. - This show goes whole hog, with pork belly, chops, and pork loin.
Up first, pastrami bacon — made by brine-curing pork belly, then rubbing it with a pepper-coriander pastrami rub and slow-smoking it over hardwood.
An apple cider-based brine and a rum-spiked finishing glaze propel pork chops into the winner’s circle.
Hungry yet?
Next, “pork and beans” like you’ve never seen them: butterflied pork loin stuffed with brown sugar, baked beans, and a shot of bourbon get draped with bacon and smoke-roasted.
Finally, thick rings of sweet onions are doused with hot sauce, spiraled with bacon, and crisped over the fire for an addictive side dish.
Episode 9: "BBQ’s Trinity" airs Saturday, Sept. 16 at 1 p.m. - This show celebrates the holy BBQ trinity of barbecue: pork ribs, brisket, and pulled pork.
America’s favorite ribs — baby backs — come spice-rubbed, slow-smoked over hardwood, and glazed with an unexpected ingredient: cherry syrup.
Beef brisket and baked beans star in crispy grilled tostadas.
An amazing BBQ titans’ brisket takes its inspiration from barbecue legends Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue and Joe Carroll of Fette Sau, and yes, there’s espresso in the barbecue sauce.
Finally, pulled pork gets its passport stamped — marinated in an umami-rich Korean chili paste called gochujang, then smoked, shredded and lavished with a spicy Korean barbecue sauce.
Episode 10: "Mexican Smoke" airs Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1 p.m. - Its bright but complex flavors and affinity for smoke and fire have fueled the obsession with Mexican food and drink north of the border. Tomatoes, onions, and chiles are roasted directly in the coals to make an unforgettable salsa served with chive-grilled tortilla chips.
Quesadillas conceal a perfectly cooked egg (if you do it right, the yolks remain runny) in a nest of bacon, beans, and cheese. An unusual grilled nopalitos corn salad and smoky chipotle-marinated pork tenderloin make the most of the high, dry heat of the grill.
To finish, an irresistible combination of spiced and sugared fresh pineapple slices flambéed with mezcal (tequila’s smoky cousin) and topped with whipped cream.
Episode 11: "South American Smoke" airs Saturday, Sept. 30 at 1 p.m. - This show highlights the conviviality of a South American cookout, which can last through the day and well into the night, with different courses served for hours on end. Add some dishes from this multi-cultural continent to your grilling repertoire.
For years, North Americans have attempted to recreate the spicy spit-roasted pollo served in Peruvian enclaves like Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. The secrets to the marinade and special sauce will be revealed in this episode.
Little known in the U.S. is choripan, a kind of Andean hot dog that can be served as an appetizer at an asado or as a belt-loosening main course.
The meat-centricity of a Brazilian churrasco will be on full display as we spit-roast picanha (top cap sirloin), chicken thighs, kielbasa, peppers, and onions — all served with an electrifying Brazilian country-style salsa called molho a campanha.
Episode 12: "Global Tailgate" airs Saturday, Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. - Victory will be yours! Start the party in the parking lot (or your backyard) with chicken legs, brined for maximum succulence, smoke-roasted over maple wood, then glazed with a fiery fusion of maple syrup and sriracha. One-fisted eating at its best. A quartet of grilled and smoked beans appears in a colorful side dish.
Next up, a trio of internationally-inspired burgers: inside-out American-style burgers enlivened with homemade ketchup; Greek-style spiced lamb burgers served in pita bread with a tzatziki-like yogurt and cucumber sauce; and kaffir lime-scented Thai veal burgers complemented with a coconut-Thai curry peanut sauce.
Episode 13: "Project Smoke Road Trip" airs Saturday, Oct. 21 at 1 p.m. (updated) - Recipes from this episode include Hitching post red oak grilled rib chop; grilled whelk kebabs, with fresh herbs and olive oil; steak and bean nachos and crispy brisket bean tostadas.
CONNECT:
Steven Raichlen is on Facebook, Instagram, and you can follow @sraichlen on Twitter.
CREDITS:
Produced by Maryland Public Television, Barbacoa, Inc. and Resolution Pictures. Distributed by American Public Television.
