It’s no coincidence that six of the ten episodes of Andrew Zimmern’s new cooking show take place in Texas and South Carolina. For the premiere season of Field to Fire, which debuts September 23 on the Outdoor Channel and streaming on Tastemade, the globetrotting chef and host displays a definite affinity for the South. “In the South and a few other areas of the country,” Zimmern says, “you still have people who hunt and fish at night for their meals the next morning, and hunt and fish in the morning for their meals that night. We are honoring the culture of feeding yourself and cooking over a fire in the place that literally birthed what we think of as American food.”
Of course, from a more practical perspective, the South’s long seasons and inviting weather (Hurricane who?) make it a great location for outdoor filming. But there’s no denying the fact that the region is topped with awesome sauce when it comes to hunting and fishing.
Field to Fire highlights Zimmern, with rod or gun, literally putting food on the table—after it makes a pit stop over an open fire. Early discussion of the series centered around the option of another ITK show—that’s “In the Kitchen” in food TV speak—but Zimmern was adamant about showing the full circle of wild game cuisine, enlisting locals for his adventures in the field or on the water. An avid hunter and angler, he offers more elevated approaches to game cooking but without going overly haute cuisine either. “This is me doing what I love to do, cameras or no cameras,” he says. That makes the show particularly accessible, and even those who don’t swing a shotgun or double-haul a fly rod might pick up a few tips to up their outdoor-cooking skills. “If you don’t have grouse,” he says, “I’ll tell you how to use a supermarket chicken.”
These are particularly busy days for Zimmern. His PBS series on sustainable aquaculture, Hope in the Water, debuted in June, and he’s in the middle of shooting the fourth and fifth seasons of Wild Game Kitchen, which also airs on Outdoor Channel and focuses on more of an ITK approach. (Isn’t it cool to be in on the lingo?) For the premiere season of Field to Fire, Zimmern pursues and cooks wild hog, redfish, and sheepshead in South Carolina. In Texas, he set his sight on redhead ducks, alligator gar, and nilgai antelope. He filmed the other four episodes in Minnesota, his home state, so he gets a hall pass on those.
The show brings a real-world perspective to outdoor pursuits, with all the foibles anglers and hunters experience during their own trips afield. “I’m a chef and a cultural explorer,” he says. “I don’t hit everything I aim at, and I prove why they call it fishing and not catching. You won’t hear about the brand of spinning rod or fishing lure I’m using. This show is about exploring the outdoors culture of different parts of the country, going out with people where they live and where they are working to conserve the wild.”
And for season-one starters, it’s also about sour and spicy pork vindaloo, redfish with crawfish sauce, whole sheepshead with crab butter sauce, ducks slow roasted with a honey and coriander glaze, and nilgai transformed into a traditional Italian-style Sunday gravy. All handled outdoors, and all over an open flame. “Cooking entire meals over a fire is much trickier than cooking in a kitchen,” Zimmern says. “But it’s much more fun to learn.”
Hear More from Andrew Zimmern
Zimmern was a guest on Episode 7 of G&G‘s The Wild South podcast, in which he discussed his hunting and fishing adventures, cooking tips, favorite spices, and a story about visiting James Beard’s home as a boy in New York City. Listen to the episode.
