Travel Chef Andrew Zimmern is All Fired Up

By Nicola Bridges

Andrew Zimmern is on fire. In addition to his "Wild Game Kitchen" show, the globetrotting cooking connoisseur, Emmy-winning TV host and four-time James Beard Award-winner is premiering a new culinary-adventure series, "Field to Fire."

Zimmern is widely known for his "Bizarre Foods" Travel Channel franchise that took him to far-flung worldwide locations. Now he's stateside and doing what he loves in domestic destinations: fishing, hunting and gathering, and cooking his catch on a campfire setup that puts the average backyard barbecue to shame.

"'Field to Fire' has that little added French kiss of seeing me catch what I'm cooking," Zimmern said. "From a lifestyle and conservation standpoint and prescription perspective for a better food system, it's the perfect outdoor cooking show specifically because we gather the food in the field, on the water and forage in the forest. I adore this show."

He also adores the scenic stateside locations. Traveling from Minnesota to South Carolina and Texas, Zimmern teams with local pros to hunt and hook some of the best wild game and fish in America, then demonstrates delicious dishes cooked on an open fire. In Minnesota, he hunts chukar partridge, cooking them a la cacciatore on the grill. In Texas, after a successful day in the blind, he plucks redhead duck to slow-roast with a honey and coriander glaze and braise with vegetables in red wine.

In Texas he tracks nilgai, a breed of sturdy, thin-legged antelope, and roasts rolled-and-stuffed nilgai braciole with cheesy polenta. In South Carolina, Zimmern hits the water with Captain Jim Hutson, reeling in redfish that he grills in what he calls a "hybridized Cajun-Creole" crawfish sauce with lemon rice pilaf.

You can hear in Zimmern's voice that he loved his travels for this show.

"Fishing with Captain Jim outside Charleston made for some epic, epic days. Traveling somewhere to hunt, I loved going to Texas."

But his favorite place? That's Minnesota.

"I love showing people and viewers where I live and what makes our home state so wonderful," the New Yorker-turned-Minnesotan said.

A favorite "wow!" moment was fishing for sheepshead in South Carolina.

"It was extraordinary," he said. "Captain Jim put me in position and gave me tips on what to feel for on the line. I was casting 20 feet in front of fish you can actually see. Aimed, dropped the line, then watched the fish strike the lure. What's better than that?"

Perhaps grilling and eating it.

"Sheepshead only feed on crab and shrimp," Zimmern said. "So I grilled it with a simple crab sauce to really bring out the flavor. It's like dropping raspberries into red wine; each makes both taste better."

The decadent dishes Zimmern cooks outdoors, he assures, are actually simple. "We need to make sure we're demonstrating recipes that are translatable," he said. "So when we're cooking squirrel, the dish needs to be able to be done with steak."

Zimmern has cooked on open campfires in some of the most remote places.

"My favorite 'Bizarre Foods' place I cooked on a fire? It's a tie for about 22 places," he said, laughing.

He's done it in northern Finland near the Arctic Circle in the heart of Lapland, on lake shores in Russia, in Chile, China and "the middle of nowhere" in Argentina and Brazil.

"The farther off the grid you are, the more likely you're cooking over an open fire," he said. "What a fantastic thing to have in my back pocket, all those experiences learning. That impacted what we do in the show. I'm not 'Mr. Grill Guy.' I really, really love doing it."

It certainly shows on "Field to Fire."

For serious live-fire cooking enthusiasts, here are Zimmern's must-have essentials:

Gloves that can handle high-heat work: "The Kevlar pair allows me to move hot iron and wood without a thought even when the fire is live," he said. "The others are for general grill work: Magid Kevlar/PBI High-heat gloves, $111.65; Premium Suede Grilling Gloves, $65.

Shovel with a flat lip: "I like the Razor Back. I own two and cut one down to a 2-foot handle for work around the grill once the wood or coals are in the pit. A round-tipped shovel is for gardening and won't carry wood or coals as safely": Razor Back Square Point Shovel, $78.99.

Open wood-fire grilling system: "I love the systems from Fogues down in Texas. I own the Alamo, and it's the best pit system I have ever used": Alamo 80, $1,680.

Ceramic grill: "The Big Green Egg is great for year-round grilling. It's the best of its kind on the market": $659.95 and up.

Hand-forged heavy-duty grilling tools: "Anything else will fall apart. Mine have lasted for years, and I abuse the heck out of them": Alex Pole Ultimate Forged BBQ Kit, $440.

Big cutting board: "Size matters when prepping and serving outdoors": Gene's Woodworks Store boards, "$159 to $400.

Heavy-duty knife set: "For my money that means knives from Shun Cutlery and Kai USA. They even have a great barbecue set": $229.95.

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WHEN YOU GO

"Field to Fire" premiered Sept. 23 on the Outdoor Channel and Tastemade streaming. For Zimmern's essentials, visit:

www.magidglove.com

www.kalamazoogiurmet.com

www.amazon.com

www.foguestx.com

www.biggreenegg.com

www.eatingtools.com

www.etsy.com/shop/GenesWoodworksStore

https://shun.kaiusa.com

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Nicola Bridges is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.