Barbecue: Life of Fire

Pat Martin teams up with fellow pitmasters to showcase the rugged and nuanced tradition of whole-hog cooking, West Tennessee-style.

Pat Martin heads to the Cherokee National Forest for a day of fly fishing with an old friend, and to cook up their fresh catch over the campfire.

Pat Martin travels to Gainesboro, Tennessee to visit a free-range hog farm, learn about their operations, and grill up a less desired, but no less delicious, cut of hog - pork steaks.

Pat Martin gets a history lesson on the origin of American barbecue from “The Professor” Tuffy Stone.

Pat Martin travels to Decatur, Alabama to visit a storied institution of barbecue - Big Bob Gibson’s. There, he learns the ins, the outs, and the history of a regional delicacy: pit-cooked chicken with Alabama white sauce.

Pat Martin links up with his pal, Bill Darsinos, to enjoy a tradition from the heart of Bill’s Greek culture when they cook a whole lamb on a spit roast.

When Pat’s friends and fellow barbecue chefs, Bryan Furman and Dr. Howard Conyers, come to town, the guys dig deep into the tricks and traditions of one of Bryan’s specialties: pork ribs.

Pat Martin is in the frozen tundra of Minnesota to visit his new friend, Chef Yia Vang. They brave the cold and break nearly-frozen ground to barbecue a pig's head in the earth.

Pat Martin visits chef Adam Perry Lang in Los Angeles, where the pair cook a prized catch castoff cut – Bluefin Tuna collars.

Pat Martin travels to a picturesque cattle farm in California’s Santa Maria Valley, to hear from pitmaster Nick Priedite who has uncovered the secrets of real Santa Maria barbecue.