(bright serene music) - [Narrator] From the soil of our family farms to your table, there's something special about Georgia, something you can taste in every bite.

Fresh flavors, local farms, unforgettable experiences, Georgia has it all.

Support local, taste the difference, and make memories along the way.

Look for the Georgia Grown logo wherever you shop, or visit GeorgiaGrown.com.

(bright music) - [Narrator] Community, learning, working, playing, celebrating, doing life is always better together.

At GPB, we aim to provide you with the tools to be able to do life together well.

Our mission, to educate, inform, and entertain inspires everything from our wide range of programming to our stimulating radio conversations to our fun in-person events.

We've got something for everyone.

Visit gb.org/community to learn more about our upcoming events.

- It's a fascinating and ever-changing world of agriculture.

Let's hit the road here in Georgia and meet the farmers, producers, makers, and bakers who keep us all fed and keep us coming back for more, straight ahead at "A Fork in the Road."

(singer vocalizing) (deep blues music) ♪ I came from the mud ♪ ♪ There's dirt on my hands ♪ ♪ Strong like a tree ♪ ♪ There's roots where I stand ♪ - [Narrator] Georgia farmers, artisans, merchants, and producers, we depend on these men and women every day of our lives through the choices we make in the food we consume.

Their strategy and approach is always shifting, but the end game remains the same: results.

(upbeat rock music) Farming and feasting, two subjects we explore on this show nearly every episode, but it's the why, the whom, and the how that sets every story apart.

So in this episode, we continue that tradition and head down to Georgia's coast to meet a couple who have forged an old school concept into an innovative cooking apparatus that's heralded by some of the state's most decorated chefs.

Let's begin this episode at a home in St. Simons Island and learn the origin story along with the who and why behind the Georgia-made Sea Island Forge.

(energetic music) Steve and Sandy Schoettle envisioned a business that combined their respective crafts and a passion for bringing people together.

And from that, Sea Island Forge was born.

Steve has spent many years forging creative ideas when it comes to metal work as an art, but also as a useful and reliable tool or a timeless piece of furniture.

That passion continues to this day, but it's the idea of this kettle-style fire pit that combines the collective skills of this couple into a single mission.

(upbeat rock music) - So we came up with a 30-gallon kettle first and started coming up with different accessories, not for any other reason than just like now, spending time by the fire going, oh wow, okay, that's a great fire.

I'd love to throw some food on there.

- And then when the kids came home from college, it was always around the fire pit with their friends, and that was what it was about.

- You know, it's such a natural instinct: there's fire, let's cook, right?

People like to be around it.

They like to relax by it.

But if it's that time of night, you might as well cook and you might as well do it in style with the best possible device here.

Sandy, something about this is that it is custom.

And Steve showed me that very first one, and they called it Sandy's Kettle.

Tell me about Sandy's Kettle.

- It's the one from the beginning.

- It's the one that we were spending time around going, okay, I'd love to throw steak on there.

I'd love to be able to put a cast iron skillet on the sidekick.

- You know, when you all started putting this together, you were doing other work at the time.

When was it you realized this is gonna be what we end up doing.

- I think it's still us, you know, saying this is what we're gonna end up doing.

(all laughing) (upbeat rock music) You know, we are constantly working on the parts and pieces and things that we make.

We are constantly trying to make them better.

You know, what's the next level of evolution?

And this is the smokeless kettle right here, which is the current new evolution of this.

You know, now we make them in natural gas and propane because there's some wedding venues that need that.

- Something I love when I went to the showroom, and even in the Forge itself, was all the little add-ons.

There's all these pieces, all these extras that come with it.

Has that just evolved through the years?

- Yeah, I mean, we're both artists.

We both have an art background.

And so it's that constant need to create.

That means that we're constantly evolving.

These are the things that we craft and forge and fabricate.

(singer vocalizing) - [David] Let's now journey back inland to Brunswick, to the Forge itself, and watch these skilled metalsmiths go to work on these signature kettle-style fire pits.

(upbeat rock music) - So forge has a couple of different meanings.

One, it's the place where all of the metal work is done: it's called the forge.

- Okay, got it.

- And then to forge something, as a verb, means that you're changing the shape of the metal.

You're altering the metal in some way, not finish-wise, but shape- or or structure-wise.

- [David] Right, so to make it clear, what you are creating are not forges, they're kettles.

- That's right.

- What you do is forge.

You make kettles.

- We forge at the forge.

- At the forge.

- And they are kettles.

They're not forges.

So we do have a few people that go, oh, let's go out by the forge tonight.

- [David] Yeah.

- It's not quite the correct terminology, but as long as they love their fire pit, they can call it what they want.

- Right, right.

- Even though each one is handmade, they are still somewhat standardized.

But each one will have its own unique characteristics, 'cause the guys are welding each one up by hand.

You know, it's not robots in here doing things.

- And that's neat.

And that's how you want to keep it.

- [Steve] The quality that we get from our guys, TIG welding these pieces, they're artisans for sure.

- Right, right.

It's like glass flowing.

And, you know, it can look pretty much the same, but each one is special.

Each forge that everybody's getting is theirs, or each kettle.

- Yeah, that's right.

- I'll get it.

I'll get it.

- So this is the grill surface right here.

And then this welds into these rings over here.

And that becomes, you know, your grill frame, your grill surface.

- Beautiful.

- These are a bunch of the grill parts that we get in from other vendors.

This is all stainless steel.

And even though you can see a little bit of oxidation on them, this is made out of 304 stainless steel, which is food grade, but it will get a little bit of spot-pitting every now and then.

So we have different processes that we do.

And actually, right now I can show you where they're doing the vibratory finishing on some of this.

- Oh wow.

Okay.

(machinery rumbling) - You got all these little abrasive ceramics.

And then this is that same piece that I was just showing you.

- [David] Oh wow.

That's really cool.

- [Steve] Bit deeper as it cleans it up and makes it ready to go into the assembly.

And that just takes the rust off it, and then it's good for a long time.

All right.

This caught my eye.

This is the new smokeless valve for smokeless fire kettles.

And what we do is we cut a six-inch hole in the very bottom of the fire kettle.

And you kind of see the little crisscross right here: that fits inside that hole.

And then there's another piece that goes on the bottom of this that you put in the hole, and then you turn it a quarter turn and it locks it into the the bowl.

But what this does is this gives us 11 square inches of fresh air intake right into the very core, heart of the fire that's in the bottom of the kettle.

And when it's not a breezy night outside, it's kind of still, you can watch the fire generate its own Venturi airflow.

So it starts generating its own spiral airflow.

- So one of those windy days where the smoke's always finding you, this is gonna minimize... - That's right.

It is gonna be smokeless.

- That's cool.

- Or smokes less.

- Smokes less.

I like that.

Blacksmiths have been at it for centuries.

The approach, the tools, and of course the safety measures have changed, but the molding agent itself, fire, remains the same.

(relaxed music) (machinery whirring) (relaxed music continues) - So you can see right here, he's tapering the points, and he'll actually taper both ends of that.

And then one end he puts the curve onto, and then we cut it off and weld it on.

And that's the dew claw of the fire poker.

- Put your forearm out.

That's the difference (laughs).

With his kind of work compared to my kind of work.

Good heavens.

All right.

This like a giant bathtub but has the opposite purpose.

- Originally, these would've had liquid in them, whether it's boiling down cane syrup or Karo syrup or getting ready to skull the hog before you would, you know, do a whole hog, full-smoked hog.

- Right.

And I see one of your smokeless devices in there.

- That's right.

This part of the stand right here, this is called the boot rail.

And we twist it not because it looks great, like rope.

What the twisting does is that maximizes our surface area to dissipate heat.

You can reach down with your bare hand and grab a hold of the boot rail and you'll never burn yourself.

And it's called the boot rail because when everybody's sitting around the fire, this is where everybody puts their shoes.

- And the soles don't melt.

- This is good for your soul.

- Ha, like it.

- This trailer, all of this gear on this trailer, we're delivering tomorrow to Rainbow Island for Danny Zeal and his team to create all amazing flavors and atmosphere that we're gonna enjoy over at Sea Island.

- All right.

Alright.

I'm excited to see what they do with all this.

- Yeah, the big smoking jacket.

- Wow.

- They're gonna be cooking chickens on the carousel rotisserie here.

When they're cooking, these three holes right here, those are actually broiler ports.

So as the chickens hang from here, they'll be hanging, and you can rotate 'em around these broiler ports.

And you get a different kind of heat in front of those three than you do out here to the side.

- So the chef's gonna just give kind of a quarter turn every once in a while.

That is so cool.

- And then here, this is called a Dutch oven tree.

And the chefs will be cooking some Dutch oven desserts for us in these.

So they'll have Dutch ovens hanging all over this setup.

- This is something I think is really cool.

I see it on a lot of old buildings, like old tabby buildings, the stars.

- Right.

- You see it above windows.

It gives it such a old-school look.

- Yeah, so a lot of what you're seeing, those, for structural stability in earthquake-prone areas.

You'll see a lot of them in Charleston.

That is because of the great Charleston earthquake.

- [David] This has a purpose.

It's not just decorative.

- It does.

- Wow.

- On here, this is just part of our logo.

So anytime you see a fire kettle with five stars on the lip, you know you're spending time around a Sea Island Forage five-star fire.

- [David] That's beautiful.

- So this is the Professional Series grill.

So it pivots out to the side, and then you can lower it by pulling back your two ratchets.

And then here you can see these alternating left, right, left, right as I push down on the wood handle.

- Oh yeah.

Yeah, boom.

And it holds.

And so push down a little.

Pull back, comes up easily.

And then you just lower it to wherever- - Wherever I want it.

Boom, catches.

- This is one of our original fire kettles that's been in mine and Sandy's backyard for years and years and years.

- And this original one, Steve, it reminds me of something almost colonial.

- Yeah, this is one of the original castings that we had at the foundry.

We really haven't changed the design at all, but you can see this great patina of memories that are in this bowl that Sandy and I have made.

This is an OG, original.

- An OG.

I love it.

So we've met the creators and seen how it's made.

But before we witness these amazing kettles in action on beautiful Rainbow Island, let's learn a little about a destination that helped inspire the Sea Island Forge, a place that's been central to Steve's life and career; and for that, we head to the Cloister to meet the president of the Sea Island Company, Scott Steilen.

(serene music) - The feeling we want to try to evoke is home.

Even if it's your first visit, when you come through the door and we greet you, we say welcome home.

We want people to have that feeling of a place to be, to gather, whether it's multiple generations, whether it's a family getting away, whether it's a couple getting away, or whether it's somebody individually just seeking to find whatever they're seeking to find.

This is one of the most unique places I've ever seen in my entire career, where generations of people come together and everybody has a distinct but similar memory of what Sea Island is.

- [David] Now, we've seen Steve's handiwork in the Forge, but it's here at the historic Cloister at Sea Island where his artistic talents are seen all around: in the restaurants, the bars, and the hallways throughout.

Scott said there are little bits of Steve all around this place, your influence.

- We've done everything from the boot rail, like in the old cowboy saloons down here.

They actually even had us come in and wrap the bottom of these stools with some brass because people's shoes were messing up the wood finish there.

And then we did the copper bar top here, which actually there's really only two pieces of copper in that whole top.

And that one sheet of copper in this top is about 130 pounds just by itself.

The sushi bar used to be more of an old English pub-style bar.

Got the wonderful brass inlays here that are under the Taj Mahal stone right here.

And the stone is so cool, because when they cut it with a water jet, it glows.

And then we were very fortunate to be able to help create this beautiful, amazing brass and Italian glass chandelier for the Cloister and Sea Island Company.

It was three and a half days up in the attic.

It's 1600 pounds.

- [David] It's gotta be special to walk around this whole resort and see your work throughout.

And they trusted that you're a part of this place.

- Well, you know, I grew up teaching sailing out in front of the Beach Club with Barry's Beach Service.

Just being on Sea Island, it's an enchanting place to live, an enchanting place to grow up.

- [David] A short walk, bike ride, or even horse trot away from the Cloister lies a unique Sea Island gathering spot known as Rainbow Island, where the Sea Island Company team was creating a scene that Scott will tell you could very well be the exact vision Steve and Sandy had when creating the Sea Island Forge.

- We're big fans.

We've done a ton of work with them together.

They've built a lot of unique pieces for us.

We're sitting in this courtyard here, and the railings they've done, they've redone railings for us.

They've done parts of the bar in the Georgian rooms.

But Rainbow Island I think is probably where, if I were sitting in Steve's shoes, I would think that this might be the epitome of what I envisioned when I wanted to start Sea Island Forge: people sitting around a fire with this incredible piece of iron that they've crafted, making memories, having great food, enjoying each other's company, and seeing an incredible scenic background.

It's perfect.

- [David] So while the folks gathered around these fire pits, I had the privilege of hanging out with Chef Daniel Zeal, the resort executive chef at the Sea Island Company.

Chef Zeal leads an experienced team who were creatively cooking a variety of delectable dishes on these Georgia-made and hand-forged kettles.

(bright folk music) - We want people to be able to indulge in multiple dining experiences while they're here on Sea Island, everything from classic Italian, French to Southern.

And where we are here on Rainbow Island is one of our, you know, most near and dear Southern staple dining experiences where you're sitting by the water enjoying marsh views and sunsets and really, really unbelievable open-fire cooking experiences.

See Island Forge just brings versatility and ability to cook over open fire in multiple different ways that are giving us the opportunity to showcase our culinary skills and manage live fire at the same time.

So it creates a really nice ambiance, but also a really cool cooking experience for us, getting back to the humble roots of just cooking over flame.

- Danny and his team have done such a marvelous job of differentiating these experiences.

Everything is unique.

Everything is authentic.

Everything has one simple thing about Sea Island in terms of the way a chef had always wanted to do it: a recipe they learned from their mother, something that they brought from their native culture that they've now infused into our wonderful Southern culture here at Sea Island.

I think that's really what makes the dining experience at Sea Island so unique and so special.

- [David] Paula, PK.

Chef PK.

- Yes.

Chef PK.

- Chef Zeal was talking about all the different stations.

I was looking forward to this.

- Quail.

So Broadfield's known, it's one of the hunting properties for Sea Island.

And we're known for hunting quail, the pheasant.

We also do falconry.

You'll actually see the simulation between the Harris hawks and the dog working together.

So you'll see the hawk flying above the trees and locating the prey.

And then you'll see the dog following the hawk.

And once the hawk drops, whether it's a quail or a squirrel, he'll go and retrieve it and return it back to the guide.

So it's a beautiful property.

- So most of this that we see out here is from your garden?

- Yes.

We have the hen-of-the-woods.

honey is locally sourced as well.

And for the dressing for the salad today, there's ginger that grows wild in the marsh out there.

And we've harvested some ginger, some lemongrass from our garden, and mixed that in with the spicy honey that we serve on our fried chicken out there.

And for the quail, I made a scuppernong and Aleppo pepper glaze.

- Tell me about how you do it.

Do you do it well done?

What kind of meat do you want here?

- Yeah, I marinate it for at least an hour, hour and a half.

And we want it to get an internal temperature of 165.

And literally you are gonna let it, just put it on the outside perimeters of your grill.

That way it's cooking a lot slower and it's not on that direct heat.

That's gonna dry it out.

- But you can always raise it and lower it.

- Oh yes, the forge is gorgeous.

We'll raise it up and let it cook slow and low and then turn 'em over.

The garden's fantastic, because whatever grows on property is sustainable.

So we will have a garden, harvest from the garden, and put it up for the next hunting season.

- This is stunning.

I've never made a salad that looks like this.

- And it's all a forged salad.

You ready to try it?

- Yes.

(PK chuckles) - Oh, so soft.

Oh, man.

Oh, Chef PK.

- The lodge at Broadfield.

- Oh, how about that.

Alright, Chef Pete.

I see shrimp.

Probably didn't come from very far, I'm guessing.

- Not a long way.

No.

- Not a long way.

What are we doing here today?

- Alright, so we are doing a tradition here, exactly where we are at Rainbow Island.

This is Rainbow Island supper's shrimp in a skillet.

- [David] So this is a tradition that's been going on here for a long time.

- It is.

You got the paella pan here.

And we have the paella pan.

So that's our skillet.

Alright, so to start off this recipe, we're gonna add some olive oil to our bowl, and we're just gonna make a rub.

So the key ingredient to it is the smoked paprika.

We're gonna add some garlic, because shrimp and garlic is delicious.

- Always.

- A little bit of onion.

Some cracked black pepper.

And then to keep with the Spanish theme, we're gonna add a little bit of cumin and a little bit of ground coriander.

This is of course our Georgia shrimp.

We got this from our friends at City Market in Brunswick.

- I know that place.

- Yep, absolutely.

We're just gonna rub it up.

- [David] Oh wow.

- Okay.

So we got this all marinated up.

Alright, so this is an urban-fused oil.

We're gonna put in our pan.

And then the shrimp just goes straight in.

- [David] In this heat, you don't have to cook it too long, I guess.

- No, absolutely not.

(upbeat jazzy music) In the meantime, we're gonna add some of that Spanish chorizo to it.

Is that all right?

You want me to start stirring again?

I know it's hot.

- (laughs) I'm good.

Gotta earn my keep.

- That's a house-made Fresno chili sauce.

All right, now we're gonna booze it up a little bit.

Crack one open.

Boozy shrimp.

- [David] And what's the beer doing for it?

- Honestly, the alcohol helps cut any of the bitterness it might get from the chili.

And if we were in Spain, we would probably add something like Sherry or Madeira.

But we're not.

The Spanish were here once.

We're in the Golden Isles, so we can add beer if we want to.

- And what do we have here?

- This is the (indistinct).

This is the roasted red pepper, caramelized onion, and tomato sauce, the Basque sauce.

- Well, these Sea Island Forge kettles sure help bring like the whole community together, I feel.

- They do.

Absolutely.

- Well, I feel like a member today.

- (chuckles) You are a member today.

So these are our stone-ground grits.

We did a chive grit today.

So that's a creamy chive grit.

- [David] Yeah, I notice a different color there.

- We put a little bit of Manchego cheese, of course, the Spanish cheese.

Alright.

- Get some grits, some shrimp on it.

And of course a little chorizo.

- How'd we do?

- All those flavors.

- Yeah?

- That's special.

That's different than any I've had.

- Is that right?

- Okay, good.

You're like, "I'm all right.

That's what I do."

- It's our shrimp and grits.

That's our spicy shrimp in a skillet.

- All right, Chef, this is the next station.

What are we doing here?

- So what we've got is we've got some really beautiful short ribs that we've slow braised for about six hours.

And then we've got some marble potatoes from Hastings, Florida.

And then we've got a little bit of sauce mise en place.

We're gonna make a chermoula, which is a North African sauce, very similar to chimichurri.

So for this short rib, you know, we've got this fun pigtail here.

- The pigtail.

I was waiting for this.

Saw it in the showroom.

- So the pigtail, we're just gonna pop that guy up.

- Okay.

(upbeat rock music) Right on the flat top.

- Right on the flat top.

Those potatoes, we're gonna take 'em, we're gonna throw 'em on this flat top.

And we're gonna baste them with a little bit of Wagyu beef tallow that we've rendered.

And we like to just kind of crack 'em.

- Okay.

- Smash potatoes.

- That's right.

Little smashed potatoes.

- Oh, look at that purple one.

- That's right.

- [David] That's stunning.

- So it's gonna add a little color, texture, flavor, differential.

- Why tallow?

What's that bring to it?

- It's just gonna add a little bit of a beefy, meaty flavor, a little richness to the dish.

And then we're gonna hit it with some rosemary salt.

And that rosemary salt is gonna give it a nice aroma.

So you can see the little caramelization there on the outside of those potatoes.

They're starting to get nice and crispy.

- Moment of truth.

- Here's the moment of truth.

Nice, that slow braise.

You can kind of see a little bit of pink still left inside that short rib, which means we've done our job.

It's delicious.

You want to taste it?

- Yeah.

(Pete laughs) All right.

- Oh yeah.

That's the bite.

- Mmm!

- So good.

- Oh my goodness.

- So good.

- That is perfect.

And that dissolved.

- Just melt.

That's right.

- That is stunning.

- Thank you very much.

- Man, there's gonna be some happy people.

- There's gonna be some happy people.

That's right.

- [David] Incredible dishes served up by some of Georgia's finest chefs cooking fresh local cuisine in a picture-perfect setting: island life at its finest.

And in this case, it's fullest.

I'm David Zelski.

See you at the next "Fork in the Road."

(bright folk music) "A Fork in the Road" was brought to you by: (cheerful music) - [Narrator] Community, learning, working, playing, celebrating, doing life is always better together.

At GPB, we aim to provide you with the tools to be able to do life together well.

Our mission, to educate, inform, and entertain inspires everything from our wide range of programming to our stimulating radio conversations to our fun in-person events.

We've got something for everyone.

Visit gb.org/community to learn more about our upcoming events.

(relaxed music) - [Narrator] From the soil of our family farms to your table, there's something special about Georgia, something you can taste in every bite.

Fresh flavors, local farms, unforgettable experiences, Georgia has it all.

Support local, taste the difference, and make memories along the way.

Look for the Georgia Grown logo wherever you shop, or visit GeorgiaGrown.com.