[Host] For many Americans, barbecue means meat.

So, you may be surprised to learn that one of the earliest recorded barbecue recipes featured fish, wrapped in leaves, and grilled in the embers.

In today's show, seafood hits the fire, starting with saffron-scented Catalan shrimp kebabs.

These guys explode with flavor.

Uhh.

That looks killer.

We'll grill trout Mexican style, with a sizzling garlic cilantro sauce.

And a Project Fire Mystery Box.

Whoa.

From St. Louis Union Station, I'm Steven Raichlen, and this is Project Fire .

(fire swooshes in) [Announcer] Steven Raichlen's Project Fire is made possible by...

This is the Big Green Egg where fire and flavor come together.

You can roast, bake, and sear with the versatility of a grill, oven, and barbecue smoker combined.

Locate a dealer at biggreenegg.com.

Fire Magic, combining style with a versatility to sear, smoke, rotisserie cook, and charcoal grill.

Crafted in America for over 80 years.

Green Mountain pellet grills built for woodfired versatility.

Truly wireless temperature starts with Maverick.

Crowd Cow.

And by the following... * [Steven] Seafood may live in water, but it achieves gustatory greatness over the fire.

How else do you explain the popularity of grilled seafood across Planet Barbecue?

There's something about the high, dry heat of the grill and the fragrant scent of wood smoke that brings out the innate deliciousness of seafood.

(fire swooshes in) Pinchito is the Spanish word for shish kebab.

In Andalusia and the south of Spain, it's often made with shrimp.

Briny crustaceans, spicy Chorizo sausage.

I like to think of this as surf and turf on a stick.

* Pinchitos make great fare for a beach, barbecue, or a picnic.

These are composite fruit wood charcoal briquettes.

Then take a paraffin straw firestarter, light it.

Beauty of a chimney starter: it funnels the heat upright, so the charcoal lights evenly.

I like to grill the shrimp in the shells.

The shells help keep the meat moist, and they impart an interesting flavor as they grill.

Cut down the back shell.

And then, with a fork, pull out the vein, then pull the shrimp out of the shell to loosen it, put it back in the shell.

And this will keep the shrimp from sticking to the shell.

For the vegetables, start with a bell pepper and cut the flesh off the core.

Cut the peppers into one-inch squares.

For the onions, cut into six half-wedges, then break the wedges into individual segments.

Next, slice the chorizo crosswise into quarter-inch slices.

Now, assemble the pinchitos.

Start with a shrimp, which you skewer on a bamboo skewer.

Then add chorizo, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and onion.

Add a second shrimp, and continue building the pinchitos until all the shrimp are used up.

Now, what I like to do is insert a second skewer parallel to the first one.

There we go.

The beauty of double skewing is that the shrimp stay neatly aligned and won't spin.

Next, brush your pinchitos with extra virgin olive oil, and brush the other sides with olive oil the same way.

And now, the rub.

It starts with equal parts coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, piment n, which is smoked paprika, and oregano.

This is Turkish oregano, and I just crumble the buds a little bit with my fingers.

Next, add cumin, onion powder, hot pepper flakes.

Finally, saffron threads.

And what I like to do is just kind of break these up with my fingers.

And mix the ingredients for the rub, and sprinkle the pinchitos with the spice rub.

Season on the other side, the same way.

Let the pinchitos marinate for 20 minutes, while you make the saffron aioli.

It starts with fragrant saffron.

And in this instance, we're going to do what's called "blooming the saffron," that is soaking it in hot water, which helps release its color and flavor.

Next, for the garlic, lightly flatten it with the side of a knife to slip off the skin, then cut the garlic crosswise into quarter-inch slices.

And with the handle of the knife off the board, pound the garlic, and you get instantly pulverized garlic this way.

Add the garlic to the aioli.

Return your bloomed saffron to the aioli.

Look at that amazing color.

Then, a splash of sherry vinegar for acidity, a pinch of salt, black pepper, and whisk the ingredients together.

And there is your saffron aioli.

Now, to serve with the pinchitos, Padr n peppers.

We'll simply brush the peppers with extra virgin olive oil, and season with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Once, your charcoal glows red, add it to the firebox.

Over here, that's one.

Then, rake out the coals into an even layer, and place the grill grate on top.

And I have another chimney of coals I've lit for the other side of the grill.

And again, rake the coals out into an even layer, and place the grill grate on top.

Now, we'll start with the Padr n peppers.

Arrange them on the grill grate.

And it's a quick cook, a couple of minutes per side will do it.

* Once, your peppers are browned and blistered on both sides, take them off the fire.

Next, arrange the shrimp pinchitos on the fire.

Again, the cooking time is quick.

A couple of minutes per side will do it.

As the shrimp pinchitos grill, baste them with olive oil.

And once they're browned on the bottom, turn the shrimp pinchitos over.

Baste the other side, the same way.

Once, the shells turn pink, and the shrimp is firm, it's ready.

Beautiful.

Aroma is off the charts.

So, let's see how we did.

The grilled Padr n peppers and the shrimp pinchitos.

And I'll take a dollop of the saffron aioli.

And slide off a shrimp, slide off the peppers, and then you just kind of slip off the shell.

Take a dip.

That shrimp is so moist.

A lot of times when you grill shrimp, it dries out.

Not here, thanks to the shells.

The shells also impart an interesting smoky flavor.

You get a huge blast of cumin and saffron.

These guys explode with flavor.

Take a taste of the chorizo, mm, crusty on the outside.

And the Padr n peppers, sweet, mm, and smoky, as well.

Shrimp pinchitos, small crustaceans, hot coals, big flavors.

Your next beach barbecue is calling.

(fire swooshes in) Raise this, fish go in, I'll put the heads towards you.

We're grilling on a gas grill.

(fire swooshes in) Whenever I write a new book, I start by packing a suitcase.

Which is how I found myself in Campeche, looking for killer grilled fish on the Mexican coast.

* Start with two one-pound trout.

Make a series of slashes in the side of the fish to the bone.

This will help the fish marinate and cook more evenly.

Then, place the trout in a baking dish.

I'm using trout, but you could use any whole fish.

Now for the marinade.

It starts with rough-chopped celery, chopped onion, flat leaf parsley, finely chopped garlic, ground cumin, a generous pinch of salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

(closes the lid to processor) (food processor whirring) Next, add a sour orange juice: naranja agria.

If you can't find sour orange juice, use a combination of fresh orange juice and freshly squeezed lime juice.

Finally, add a splash of extra virgin olive oil.

And we'll just pulse these ingredients together.

And I'll take a taste.

Mmm, earthy celery flavor, the cilantro, the cumin.

It's really nice.

Now, pour the marinade over the trout.

Pour a little this way, and we'll come back this way.

And we can turn the fish over, and marinate the other side, the same way.

There's your trout.

Marinate the fish for 1-4 hours.

The longer the marinade, the richer, the flavor.

(fire swooshes in) The sauce is a fried garlic sauce, and it starts with extra virgin olive oil.

To test the temperature of the oil, dip in a slice of garlic.

When you see bubbles dance, the oil is ready.

So, add your sliced garlic and your chopped cilantro, and fry until the garlic is golden brown.

Once, the garlic is golden brown, add your sour orange juice.

You want to stand back for this, it will hiss up.

(sizzling sounds) Bring the mixture to a boil, and add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

And there's your fried garlic sauce.

(fire swooshes in) Here's the trout after marinating two hours.

And I'm going to grill it in a grill basket.

You want to oil the basket to keep the fish from sticking.

* Then, we'll oil the top side.

* Place the fish in the basket.

Go one like that, and then one like this.

Then, close the lid of the grill basket, and secure it with this metal ring right here.

And place it on the grill.

I'm grilling over a high heat.

Cooking time, about six to eight minutes per side.

Once the fish is grilled on one side, simply turn the basket over.

That's the beauty of using a fish basket: you turn the basket, not the fish.

No more fish stuck to the grill grate.

To finish the grilling.

I'll place a few soaked mesquite hardwood chips over the charcoal section of the grill.

Then, we'll slide the fish over, just add a little extra sear and smoke flavor.

So, it'll just be a minute on one side, and can turn this over.

Oh, that looks killer.

* So, place the fish on a sheet pan, and then we will gently lift the top of the basket.

What you want to do now is just kind of gently slide a spatula under your fish, and transfer it to a platter.

And finally, spoon your fried garlic sauce over the trout.

* There it is folks, grilled trout with celery-cilantro marinade and fried garlic sauce.

So just make a cut up here, and then I'll just kind of follow along the backbone.

Mm, this fish is so moist.

What's cool about this dish are the layers of flavor.

You get the celery from the marinade, then the garlic, and cilantro from the sauce, the acidity of the sour orange juice, little smoke flavor from the mesquite.

And I love the char on the skin.

So, the next time you grill fish, remember four things: a soulful marinade, a sizzling sauce, a grill basket, and a screaming-hot fire.

(fire swooshes in) * [Chris] Well, this is the essence of a true mystery box, I think.

[Jen] I think so too, because the episode is "Water Meet Fire."

So, he's definitely going to think it's a fish.

[Chris] Right.

I think this is going to throw him for a bit of a loop.

[Jen] Yeah, he'll be really excited.

(fire swooshes in) [Steven] Let's see what Chef Chris and stylist Jen have chosen for me today.

Whoa, (laughs) frog legs!

Beautiful.

I'm in.

Let's go over to the pantry, and see how I'm going to round out the menu.

[Chris] So, we chose frog legs, just for the sheer wow factor, and to see what Steven can come up with.

You know, he's got some French culinary background, so it should be interesting.

[Steven] I'm going to start with some scallions.

And then, I hear these avocados calling to me, and I hear a tomato calling to me, and I hear gochujang calling to me.

Now, let's think what else I want.

All right, this is an interesting cheese.

Looks like some sort of Greek cheese.

And I'm a sucker for Moroccan preserved lemons.

Tortillas...well, I'm definitely jumping continents and mixing metaphors.

Fresh mint, serrano chilies.

Of course, I need some garlic.

Do I need olives?

I'll take the olives, we'll see.

I'll eat them, if I don't use them, I'll eat them.

A couple limes.

I think that's it.

(fire swooshes in) Coming from Miami, living next to the Everglades, I am no stranger to frog legs.

We're going to start by seasoning our frog legs.

We'll use coarse sea salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, and chopped fresh garlic.

I'm just going to mix with my fingers here, because I think that's easier to mix in the seasonings.

Splash my hands.

And next, I want to drizzle the frog legs with extra virgin olive oil and some fresh lime juice.

Excellent.

So, we'll set the frog legs aside and let them marinate, while I do the remaining preparations.

I want to make a scallion butter to use for basting the frog legs.

And first, I'll very thinly slice the scallion greens.

* When you get to the base of the scallion, you can make a couple of longitudinal cuts, so your scallion pieces remain slender.

And we'll add our thinly sliced scallions to the butter.

Cook until the scallions begin to sizzle and brown.

All right, the third step: you want to cut your avocados in half lengthwise, and then twist in the opposite direction, sink your knife in to release the seeds.

Avocados are very rich in fat, so there'll be no need to oil the grill grate.

And we'll grill the avocado halves until well browned, and the avocados will absorb that wood smoke.

Now, I want to make a little salsa.

We'll start with the tomato.

I'll cut it in half, and then we'll cut the tomato into quarter-inch slices, and then we'll cut each slice crosswise into quarter-inch strips, and then finally come back widthwise into a quarter-inch dice.

* Once, your tomatoes are diced, into a mixing bowl.

Next, our serrano chilies.

Cut them in half lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds, so the heat is not totally out of control.

We'll cut each one lengthwise in quarters.

Let's check the avocados.

Beautiful.

So, the avocados are grilled.

I'll just pull those off real quick.

Yeah.

All right, so for this crazy salsa, the next ingredient I want to add, this is a Moroccan preserved lemon.

They are tart, they're salty.

They just explode with flavor.

Again, we'll cut the lemon crosswise.

And preserved lemons are very powerful, a little goes a long way.

Next, an ingredient you might not expect to find in a salsa: this is Greek Kasseri cheese.

It's a salty cheese.

And I'll cut each strip lengthwise.

* All right, next, we'll add a little chopped scallion green and some chopped fresh mint.

We have a lot of salty flavors.

The cheese is salty, the preserved lemon is salty, and the mint is going to give this freshness.

This is going to look fantastic, Kalamata olives.

And then, we're going to squeeze the lime juice, because you always need acidity in a salsa.

Really colorful.

Let's take a taste.

Mmm, wow.

This is amazing.

It's sort of a salsa that does globetrotting from Mexico to the Mediterranean.

Arrange the tortillas on a sheet pan, and we'll brush the tortillas with the scallion butter.

We'll brush them on one side and the other side, because what I'm going to do is grill the tortillas until crisp, to make tostadas.

It's a quick grill, a couple minutes per side.

Once, the tortillas are browned on the bottom, turn them over to brown the other side the same way.

* All right, there are our six tostada shells.

Finally, the frog legs go on the grill.

When grilling multiple pieces like this, align them in the same direction, so you can keep track of what went on first and what needs to be turned next.

It would've been great, if there were some refried beans on the table, but instead, I have the gochujang.

It has a similar paste-like consistency.

It's certainly going to be intensely flavorful.

So, what we'll do is just put a little smear on the bottom.

Gochujang, of course, is Korean fermented chili paste.

It's a little spicy, a little sweet, and a little goes a long way.

So, the next thing you want to do is a spoonful of this salsa in each tostada.

All right, so once the frog legs are browned on the bottom, turn them over.

And at this point, we'll baste with a little bit of our scallion butter.

And I baste only once turned, so I'm not touching raw frog leg against the butter.

Take an avocado in hand, and you want to just cut to, but not through, the skin in one direction, then we'll come in the other direction.

And with a spoon, simply scoop out the avocado into your tostadas.

And the frog legs are cooked, and here's how you tell: you press them, you can see the meat sort of pushes off the bone.

* Finally, place a couple of frog legs, on top of each tostada, * then a sprinkle of scallion greens, and a squeeze of lime juice.

So, there you have it.

Frog leg tostadas with grilled avocado and preserved lemon salsa.

I bet that's a dish you've never had before.

Try the frog leg.

Mm.

To me, frog legs always taste like a cross between chicken and perch, very mild flavor.

They really absorb the smoke flavor and the scallion butter.

Then, we can try the avocado.

* It's interesting.

Once again, live fire transforms a food you eat all the time, avocado, gives it a smoked flavor that just makes it otherworldly.

We'll take some of the salsa.

* Mm.

That salsa, man, the heat of the serrano chilies, the tartness of the preserved lemon, salty tang of the cheese.

Wow.

Just goes to show that when a mystery box throws you an unfamiliar ingredient, with a little imagination and a lot of live fire, you can make magic.

Thanks for watching.

See you next time.

[Announcer] For recipes and more live fire cooking, visit stevenraichlen.com.

You can also follow Steven Raichlen on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

"Project Fire" and the Classic "Barbecue Bible" can be ordered online at stevenraichlen.com or call this phone number for ordering and customer service.

Steven Raichlen's Project Fire was made possible by...

This is the Big Green Egg where fire and flavor come together.

You can roast, bake, and sear with the versatility of a grill, oven, and barbecue smoker combined.

Locate a dealer at biggreenegg.com.

Fire Magic, combining style with a versatility to sear, smoke, rotisserie cook, and charcoal grill.

Crafted in America for over 80 years.

Green Mountain pellet grills built for woodfired versatility.

Truly wireless temperature starts with Maverick.

Crowd Cow.

And by the following... [Steven] I like to grill the shrimp in the shells.

Now for the shrimp, I'd like to grill, and here's how you clean them.

So once the tortillas are buttered...

Arrange them...

It's cold out.

[Crew Member] Are you kissing?

[Steven] No, I'm just seeing the... my breath condense.

[Crew Member] Okay.

[Steven] I'm wearing long johns, long johns today, so I'm feeling a lot more comfortable.

* *