[Steven] The Caribbean was the birthplace of barbacoa, the origin of our term barbecue, and it remains a hotbed of grilled delights today.

Oh, man.

That is- That is a blast of flavor.

Get ready for authentic Jamaican jerk chicken.

Oh my God.

Wow.

A Trinidadian grilled vegetable dip called choka.

The aroma is really intoxicating.

And shrimp boka dushi, a spicy West Indian kebab whose name literally means happy mouth.

From Historic Houston Street in San Antonio, Texas, I'm Steven Raichlen.

Welcome to Planet Barbecue.

[opening theme music] [announcer] Steven Raichlen's "Planet Barbecue" is made possible by... [narrator 1] 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.

[narrator 2] Fire Magic, combining style with the versatility to sear, smoke, rotisserie cook, and charcoal grill.

Crafted in America for over 80 years.

[music] Shun Cutlery handcrafted in Japan.

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[narrator 3] Argentine Beef proudly supports "Planet Barbecue."

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[announcer] And by the following: [Steven] If there's one region that deserves the designation "Planet Barbecue", it is surely the Caribbean.

It was here that Spanish explorers first encountered a barbacoa, the Taíno Indian wooden grilling platform that gave us our word barbecue.

It was also here that French Mariners learned the art of buccan, preserving foods by smoking, the origin of the term buccaneer.

The locals contributed such indigenous seasonings as Scotch bonnet chilies, annatto seed, and allspice.

The result is a live fire cooking culture that varies dramatically from island to island but remains constant in its obsession with fire and spice.

Get ready for big flavors and the haunting scent of wood smoke.

Nicola Blaque is the chef-owner of San Antonio's popular Jerk Shack, which comes as no surprise.

She was born in Mandeville, Jamaica.

What is surprising is how much else Nicola has on her plate: a fast food concept called Mi Roti in the Pearl District and a private chef gig for the San Antonio Spurs.

Oh, and she's the mother of a one- and two-year-old.

Nicola graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and served as a logistician in the US Army in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Welcome to Planet Barbecue, Nicola.

Thank you.

I've been jonesing for some jerk chicken.

All right now.

So, we're going to start off with making our brine.

[Steven] Okay.

[Nicola] It's about two cups of water.

And about four tablespoons of salt.

[Steven] All right.

And then about four tablespoons of sugar.

All right, so we've got salty and sweet.

Yes.

And we're just going to combine this.

Okay, so everything has dissolved now.

[Steven] Very good.

[Nicola] So, we're going to add in our garlic.

These have already been sliced open so the flavor can release.

And then we've got some oranges and lemons.

[Steven] All right, so the pungency of the garlic and then the fruitiness of the orange, the acidity of the lemon.

[Nicola] Yeah.

So, I like to use the sweet onions.

I kind of just quarter them open and throw them in here.

[Steven] Okay.

Then we've got habaneros.

Traditionally, everything with jerk is Scotch bonnet.

[Steven] But a habanero is very similar flavor profile and heat level.

Yes.

And they're easier to find here.

[Steven] Uh-huh, of course, in San Antonio.

And this is like a combination of spices.

So, I've got-- [Steven] What do you have?

[Nicola] Bay leaves, fresh thyme, cloves, and peppercorns.

We'll give this a quick little stir.

We can pour this right over it.

Can already start to smell.

Yep.

It looks great and it's very aromatic.

Now, how long do you brine the chicken for?

I do it overnight.

Overnight?

Yes.

[Steven] So that's the first step in the process.

[Nicola] Yes.

I'll put this in the refrigerator, and I'll see you 24 hours from now.

All right.

So what's next, Nicola?

We are going to make the jerk marinade, or some would say, our jerk seasoning.

[Steven] All right.

And what's in that?

[Nicola] So we've got green onions, some sweet onions.

These are alliums, yes.

[Nicola] Garlic and habaneros.

We are adding all?

All of them.

-Whoo.

-We like it spicy.

[Steven] All right.

Me too.

Then we've got our orange peel.

[Steven] Orange and lemon zest.

[Nicola] We kind of want to pulse it, kind of break it down already before we add the dryer ingredients.

Pulse.

That's good right there.

[Steven] Okay.

Oh man, that is... Wow.

That is a blast of flavor.

So in here we've got peppercorns and we've got cloves.

And these are thyme.

And we remove most of the heavy stems because we don't want it to be kind of gritty in there.

Okay.

Very traditional Caribbean and especially Jamaican ingredients.

[Nicola] Yes.

And then we're going to add about half of that sugar.

[Steven] So half of the brown sugar.

And then we're going to do just a little bit, about a tablespoon and a half.

This is liquid browning, so you can use molasses or brown sugar.

But you buy liquid browning.

[Nicola] I do.

It's just faster and we sell a lot of jerk chicken.

I can't imagine why.

All right.

[Nicola] So then we're going to add a little bit of salt.

Okay?

Yep.

A little bit of pepper.

Okay.

That's the characteristic color.

Yes.

[Steven] And finally?

A little bit of water.

Just a quarter of it.

And how much oil?

Right there's good.

Good?

[Nicola] That's good.

We can give it a taste.

[Steven] Okay.

Thank you.

[Steven] After you.

[Nicola] Mm.

Oh man, that is divine.

However, it is very, very hot.

[laughing] That's how you like it, huh?

[Nicola] Yes.

All right.

So, here is a batch of chicken that we marinated 24 hours ago.

Yes.

We're going to take our marinade that we made earlier and we're going to massage it all over this chicken.

So, we don't want to use all of the marinade, we want to save some to baste the chicken.

[Steven] And then you're just going to rub that into the meat?

[Nicola] Yes.

[Steven] That's the jerk chicken that I'm familiar with.

How long is this going to marinate?

Twenty-four hours.

I'll be back.

All right.

[Steven] All right.

To cook your jerk chicken, we set you up with a ceramic kamado style cooker set up for direct grilling.

Take her away.

[Nicola] We're going to start off with oiling the grates.

Then, we've got our chicken.

I like to use my hands to lay it skin side down first and we want this under 400, right around 360.

[Steven] And how long does it take to cook?

So it can take anywhere from about 30 minutes to about 45 minutes.

All right.

So, we're going to give it a flip so that way it doesn't get too dark.

[Steven] Mhmm.

That looks amazing.

[Nicola] We're going to take some of our marinade that we reserved and we're going to baste it on here.

[Steven] Extra layer of flavor.

[Nicola] Yeah.

And we're going to baste this side a little bit.

See that char that's getting in there?

Oh, man.

[Nicola] Yeah.

[Steven] That's the best part.

[Nicola] That is.

So if you were at home, you could take a beer and you could kind of drizzle it on here.

Well, I happen to have a bottle of beer.

Let's open it.

What I like to do is put my thumb over and shake-- Okay.

[Steven] --and then.

[Nicola] Whoa.

[Steven] Sort of like that?

[Nicola] Yeah.

[Nicola] All right.

We're all done here.

[Steven] That looks fantastic.

[Nicola] So after cooking our jerk chicken for basically two days.

Two days, uh-huh.

[Nicola] This is the finished product.

[Steven] Oh my God.

It looks amazing.

[Nicola] Thank you.

[Steven] And what are you serving it with?

So this is a traditional rice and peas from Jamaica.

[Steven] And those look like real, genuine pigeon peas.

[Nicola] Yes, they are.

We're going to take some pieces on top of our rice with some green onions.

[Steven] Mm.

Well, it took us 48 hours to get here, but I sure am hungry.

Well, let's eat.

[Steven] All right.

And without any further ado.

Mm.

Wow, this is outrageous.

[Nicola] Thank you.

[Steven] The skin is crusty.

The meat is moist, robustly seasoned.

[Nicola] Thank you.

[Steven] It's hot, but it's not painful.

[Nicola] Thank you.

[Steven] Let me take some pigeon peas.

Mm.

[Nicola] It's like the perfect cool down to the spicy chicken.

[Steven] This is just textbook.

So what I love most about jerk chicken is that lingering flavor.

You just can't get enough of it.

All the spices coming together, even though it's a long process.

Well, that's why you're in the restaurant business, I'm in the eating business.

Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for coming on Planet Barbecue.

Thank you.

[Steven] And best of luck with the new restaurants.

Thank you.

[Steven] Travel the world's barbecue trail and you'll find fire roasted eggplant almost everywhere, with good reason.

The soft, spongy flesh absorbs smoke flavors like a sponge.

Trinidad and Tobago's version is choka, a fire roasted eggplant dip.

Today, we're serving it with bake, a traditional fried flatbread, here cooked Planet Barbecue style, on the grill.

This baked dough is unusual in that it contains two leavenings: yeast and baking powder.

Start by proofing the yeast.

First, combine granulated sugar, yeast, and warm water.

Stir these ingredients together.

Then, let the mixture sit until foamy, like a head of beer.

Meanwhile, for your dry ingredients, all-purpose flour, a little whole wheat flour for extra flavor, baking powder, and a teaspoon of salt.

Stir these ingredients together, and here's your dry mixture for the bakes.

Once the yeast is proofed, you can see it foams like a head of beer.

Add it to the mixing bowl, then add the remaining warm water.

Then add your melted butter and stir the butter into the yeast mixture.

And finally, stir in your dry ingredients.

The idea here is to make a soft, pliable dough.

Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead the dough until smooth and pliable.

Okay, I think we got it.

Once the dough is smooth, oil a glass bowl, place the dough in the bowl, roll the dough around to coat it on all sides with oil.

Then, cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Let the dough rise until doubled in bulk, about one hour.

I like to grill the vegetables caveman style, that is directly on the embers.

So, I'll light the burner and while the charcoal is lighting, let me show you how to prepare the eggplant.

The eggplant uses an interesting technique.

We're going to make a series of slits in the eggplant, so we insert the knife.

Give it a little twist, and then we'll insert a clove of garlic.

I love this technique because the garlic cooks right into the eggplant.

So, there are your eggplants ready for ember roasting.

We also have scallions, and I'll just cut off the green part.

Plum tomatoes, and a habanero chili.

Arrange the vegetables directly on the embers.

Your goal here is to char the vegetable skins, the eggplant skins, the tomatoes.

This drives the smoke flavor deep into the vegetable.

And when the skins are charred on one side, you turn the vegetables.

Obviously, the tomatoes will cook a little more quickly than the eggplants.

The aroma is really intoxicating.

When the vegetables are charred on the outside, soft in the center, transfer them to the sheet pan and keep the eggplants moving.

Once the eggplants are charred on all sides and tender, transfer them to the sheet pan as well.

And let the vegetables cool to room temperature.

So, here's the dough for the bakes.

It has doubled in bulk, and I'll simply take it out of the bowl.

Put some flour on the cutting board, and then roll it into a tube, and I want to divide this into eight even pieces.

Okay, so next, roll this lump of dough into a smooth ball.

And then with a rolling pin, you can flour the rolling pin, roll it out.

Looking for a flatbread about five to six inches in diameter.

That's two.

I like these little specks of whole wheat that you see in the dough.

There's three.

One more.

The last step now, brush the bakes with extra virgin olive oil, and I'll brush the other sides once the bakes are on the grill.

Set up your grill for direct grilling.

Heat it to high.

And then you want to brush the top with oil before you invert it.

You see how the dough comes up.

It starts to blister on top.

Turn the bake.

Once the bakes are browned on both sides, transfer them to a cloth lined basket.

So here are the bakes.

Let's finish up the dip.

Scrape off the charred skin.

I always like to say that eggplant comes with its own smoking device.

You char the skin and the skin smokes the flesh.

Now, don't worry about getting every last piece of burnt skin off.

A little bit of char adds extra flavor and color.

All right let's do this one.

And cut the tomatoes into chunks.

And now with the habanero chili, again, scrape off the burnt charred skin.

For spicier choka, leave the seeds in.

For a milder choka, remove the seeds and add it to the processor bowl.

And finally, your charred scallions.

We'll cut this up.

Then add the remaining flavorings: yogurt for creamy tartness, ground coriander, grated fresh ginger, chopped cilantro, thinly sliced scallion green, freshly grated lemon zest for brightness, and freshly squeezed lemon juice for acidity.

Finally, coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

And that, my friends, is your choka.

So here you have it: grilled bakes and ember roasted choka.

Let's see how we did.

The bake, crusty on the outside.

Soft and chewy inside.

Mm.

Wow.

Incredibly smoky thanks to that charred eggplant.

Nice heat from the habanero.

Creamy with the yogurt.

I'd like to think of choka as baba ganoush, West Indian style.

Up next, a kebab that makes your mouth happy.

I first tasted these spicy kebabs on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, but their roots lie in the former Dutch East Indies.

Today, Indonesia.

The name also stretches across cultures.

Boka means mouth in the local Papiamento dialect while dushi means sweet.

Get ready for fiery shrimp kebabs with an East-West Dutch peanut sauce.

Start with nice large shrimp.

Then, with the tip of a paring knife, make a starter hole in the tail end of the shrimp and the head end of the shrimp.

This will make it easier to insert the skewer.

Now, you could grill the shrimp on commonplace bamboo skewers, but I like to use sugar cane swizzle sticks.

That way when you take a bite, you get a sweet burst of flavor.

Cut the tip of the swizzle stick, then skewer the shrimp.

Insert the pointy end of the skewer through the starter holes, and you wind up with a kebab that looks something like this.

Then, place them in a baking dish over ice.

The marinade starts with two traditional Indonesian ingredients: sweet soy sauce, also known as kecap manis.

And yes, a related sauce gave us our word ketchup.

And sambal oelek, a fiery chili paste.

Next, add freshly squeezed lime juice for acidity, grated fresh ginger for spice, minced fresh garlic for pungency, turmeric for aroma, and ground cumin.

Whisk these ingredients together.

Now, spoon the spicy marinade over the shrimp.

This marinade incidentally is excellent for pork, chicken, and even beef.

And don't forget to turn the shrimp over so you can marinate the other side the same way.

Save any excess marinade for glazing the shrimp while they grill.

Marinate the shrimp for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the peanut sauce.

It starts with three aromatics: finely chopped onion, minced garlic, and sambal oelek, Indonesian chili sauce.

Mash these ingredients together.

You're probably wondering what's the purpose of mashing these aromatics in a mortar and pestle?

Well, you get a slightly different, more intense flavor than you would if you pureed them in a food processor.

Once pounded to an aromatic paste, add these ingredients to the saucepan.

Next, add peanut butter.

And peanut butter peanuts are the heart and soul of Indonesian sauté sauces.

Now, for acidity, this is called tamarind water, and tamarind is a tropical fruit pod.

It looks like this, and you can pull off the shell.

To make tamarind water, you would take this pod, pull off the threads, place it in the bowl of a blender with warm water, run the blender in bursts.

You can also buy pre- made tamarind puree, which is what I used earlier.

A lot easier.

I'll turn on the burner.

And you want to warm these ingredients together, stirring to dissolve the peanut butter.

So, think about the flavor profile here.

We've got the sweetness of the peanut butter and the soy sauce.

We've got the acidity of the tamarind, the spice of the sambal oelek.

We have garlic, ginger, the aromatics.

This sauce is loaded with flavor.

So, in Indonesia, these skewers would be called Satey.

Satey actually comes from an Indonesian word meaning, "to skewer, to run through".

There you go.

That creamy consistency, that's what you're looking for.

Just take a taste.

Mm.

Really nice.

You're playing the salt off the acid of the tamarind.

It's going to be perfect with the shrimp.

Here are your shrimp after 30 minutes of marinating.

Now, the grill.

I've set the grill up for direct grilling, heated it to high.

We want to start by cleaning the grill grate and oiling the grate.

This prevents sticking, of course, and it also cleans your grill grate.

One final preparation, a grill shield to keep the exposed part of the sugar cane skewers from burning.

So, take a sheet of aluminum foil and fold it in thirds like a business letter.

And there's your grill shield.

Now place the grill shield on the grill grate and start arranging your shrimp on the grate.

The grilling time is really quick.

One to two minutes per side will do it.

Got to get these over.

As the shrimp grill, baste them with the remaining marinade.

The shrimp are ready when they're sizzling, browned, and firm to the touch.

So, take your shrimp off.

So here you have it, folks.

Your boka dushi with peanut sauce.

Let's take a taste.

Mm.

There is so much flavor here.

The heat of the sambal oelek, the sweet soy sauce, the tart tamarind.

When you bite into the skewer, you get a little burst of sugarcane sweetness.

Boka dushi, the grilled shrimp that makes your mouth happy.

[announcer] For recipes, books, and more live fire cooking, visit StevenRaichlen.com.

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

Steven Raichlen's "Planet Barbecue" was made possible by... [narrator 1] 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.

[narrator 2] Fire Magic, combining style with the versatility to sear, smoke, rotisserie cook, and charcoal grill.

Crafted in America for over 80 years.

[music] Shun Cutlery handcrafted in Japan.

[narrator 3] Father's Cooker, multi-fuel, multifunction.

[narrator 3] Argentine Beef proudly supports "Planet Barbecue."

[narrator 4] Truly wireless temperature starts with Maverick.

[announcer] And by the following: [Matt] Yeah.

Ready, and...

I'm Steven Raichlen and we are Planet Barbe- We're, Planet-- Thanks for watching.

We're Planet Barbecue.

Thanks for watching, we're Planet Barbecue.

[Chris] That's good.

That's good.

My nails aren't done though.

This one's not.

It's called kids.

[laughing] Gee, mine aren't either.

I know.