Cocinando con fuego

Roger Mooking loves a great barbecue sandwich and when the meat's cooked low and slow and kissed with just the right amount of smoke, he rolls up his sleeves and digs in.

Mexican food is a favorite of Roger Mooking because of its complex, earthy flavors and tradition of cooking over a wood fire. Roger meets Chef Johnny Hernandez in San Antonio and cooks regional Mexican dishes.

Good things come in small packages and that's especially true when it comes to artisanal food makers. Roger searches the Gulf States for tasty foods kissed with smoke and fire that deliver big flavors.

In the Carolinas, barbecue is not just a tradition, it's a way of life. Roger heads to North and South Carolina to visit a couple of old school restaurants that have upheld a long tradition of barbecue for several generations.

Texas is famous for American barbecue, but Roger Mooking is making his way through the Lone Star state for live-fire Latin American cooking and to savor the flavors of smoked European-style sausages.

It's all about Roger Mooking's favorite animal - the pig. He's hamming it up at some of the country's best suppliers of cured, smoked and aged pork.

Roger Mooking heads to the heart of New Mexico where cooking with fire is taken to new culinary heights with mud and steel.

Roger cruises through central California, home to many vineyards, but Paso de Record Vineyard in San Miguel has piqued Roger's interest. The vineyard hosts wine release parties and serves barbecue prepared in a deep pit.

Roger Mooking heads to Sloughhouse to visit Passmore Ranch, a freshwater, sustainable fish farm. Then, he's on the hunt for Santa Maria-style barbecue and heads to the Santa Maria Elks Lodge where they've been doing it since 1926.

Roger Mooking visits the Jack Mountain Bushcraft School in Masardis, Maine where owner and wilderness guide, Tim Smith, shows him how to create a rustic outdoor kitchen and start a fire without the help of matches or a lighter.

Everyone loves sitting in front of a fireplace, but Roger loves cooking in one. He visits two places in New England that host delicious fireplace feasts.

In Plymouth, the backyard of cookbook author, Paula Marcoux, is filled with cooking contraptions. And, at Brookside Barn and Farm in Uxbridge, owner David Adamson rents out do-it-yourself pig roasts kits.

Richard McCallister of Marksbury Farm Market invites Roger Mooking to his annual spring celebration in Lancaster, KY. Richard and Roger season a flock of spring chickens and cook them in a custom-made grill.