Man Fire Food

Charleston, South Carolina is one of America's top dining destinations. But to find traditional whole hog barbecue and oyster roasts, Roger Mooking leaves the city and heads into the low country.

Hawaii island Oahu is known as the "gathering place," and Roger Mooking's invited to two community gatherings. On the east side of the island, chef Mark "Gooch" Noguchi teaches Roger how to prepare a traditional Hawaiian imu.

Roger Mooking's first visit to the 50th state promises big fires. In Honolulu is a family-run restaurant Koala Moa, famous for chickens roasted over fire. At Ma'O Organic Farms, Bob McGee roasts half a cow over a metal grill.

In Napa Valley, the Steltzner family is famous for their wines and outdoor oven called "the Infiernillo." Roger Mooking harvests clams with John Finger, owner of Hog Island Oyster Farm.

Roger Mooking meets two chefs celebrating Argentina's Asado and Brazil's Churrasco. At Farmstead Restaurant in St. Helena, Chef Stephen Barber built a "live fire" cook area, complete with an eighty-five gallon cauldron.

Roger Mooking experiences two unique pig roasts. John Fink butterflies the whole pig, seasons with mojo and slow-roasts over wood coals. Todd Spanier stuffs a whole pig with truffles and mushrooms, and roasts over a rotisserie.

Roger Mooking visits two legendary BBQ joints in Central Texas where the right amount of smoke and heat transforms the meat into delicious eats. Roger lends a hand and is rewarded with a generous sampling of their famous barbecue.

Tink Pinkard is a hunter, fisherman, caterer and all-around nice guy. Roger Mooking and Tink build a barbecue pit out of cinder blocks. A whole pig is deboned and seasoned, and then rolled tightly into a log with porchetta.

Roger Mooking heads to the Texas and Louisiana to feast on classic Cajun cooking. In small town Mamou, Louisiana there's a big time smokehouse filled with five hundred pounds of Southern smoked favorites.

Roger Mooking travels across Massachusetts to meet two chefs who are putting a brand new spin on fire-roasted, rotisserie chicken.

Roger Mooking visits the Rotary Club of Essex as they roast 300 pounds of fish nailed onto oak boards. Roger meets Neftali Duran who dug a hole and lined it with stones and bricks for a classic dish from Oaxaca, Mexico.

In Searsport, Roger Mooking visits a campground with a superb outdoor kitchen where a feast of lobsters, mussels and corn are cooked. In Trenton, he meets a family-run lobster pound boils thousands of lobsters in seawater.

Roger Mooking's search takes him to Jamaica to Scotchie's Too, a restaurant famous for jerk. He meets local fisherman Dennis Abrahams at Alligator Pond, a beach where boats pull in after a morning of fishing to sell their goods.