Ainsley Harriott kicks off the series with a complete guide to cooking on coals, and testing different types on barbcues on the market. He also prepares Uncle's Pork Calypso, korma courgette and chickpea burgers, his own classic barbecue sauce, and a roasted sweetcorn and red pepper and avocado salsa.

Ainsley Harriott travels to the tiny Greek island of Alonissos in his search for the world's best al fresco recipes. Ainsley shows how to cook kleftiko parcels and garlic pitta fingers, chargrilled squid stuffed with spinach and mint, and aubergine rolls filled with feta and tomatoes.

Ainsley Harriott samples the distinctive barbecue, or braai, style of the Cape Province in South Africa. He samples sosaties - made with vegetables and ostrich meat marinated in apricot jam, cumin, coriander and red wine, threaded on to skewers and gently roasted on a barbecue.

Thai people love cooking, especially al fresco entertaining. Ainsley learns how to make stuffed omelettes bursting with a host of different flavours. The Lahu Hill tribe cook a traditional feast of waterfall beef and spicy chicken. Ainsley returns their hospitality, cooking them exotic fruit parcels with a lemon-grass syrup.

Ainsley goes to Australia, the home of the barbecue. In the outback he samples loin of kangaroo in a natural berry sauce, with a side dish of wichety grubs. On Bronte Beach in Sydney, Ainsley prepares fresh lobster with three flavoured butters. Finally, on board a tall ship, Ainsley flames fresh fruits with maple syrup.