Jay Ducote learned to cook over fire as a kid at South Texas hunting camps, where his dad cooked steaks, ribs and foil-wrapped potatoes over open mesquite. He cut his teeth at LSU tailgates, feeding crowds from cast iron cauldrons, grills and fryers, and went on to finish runner-up on Food Network Star.

Today he cooks on a Sea Island Forge Kettle at home in Baton Rouge, and our recipe series together has grown to more than a dozen dishes: tailgate wings, a Cajun burger, chargrilled oysters, biscuits from a Dutch oven and a Thanksgiving turkey.

He cooks the way he lives, outdoors and for a crowd, which is exactly what the Kettle was built for.