Cook This: 3 smoked and grilled recipes from Barbecue, including a juicy Florentine steak

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Our cookbook of the week is Barbecue by pitmaster Hugh Mangum with writer Shana Liebman.

Jump to the recipes:Florentine steak, berbere ribs and hawker wings.

Pitmasters in the United States tend to focus on American barbecue regions, such as the Carolinas, Kansas City, Memphis and Texas. For his cookbook debut, Barbecue (with Shana Liebman, Phaidon, 2025), Hugh Mangum took a wider view, examining foods cooked with fire and smoke the world over.

The Connecticut-based chef and pitmaster features roughly 280 recipes from 80-plus countries on six continents, including Canadian maple-smoked salmon, Ethiopian berbere ribs, Italian bistecca alla fiorentina (Florentine steak) and Singaporean hawker wings.

“I started to think about what makes barbecue special besides, obviously, the food. And it’s the culture around it, which is celebratory. And it’s always celebratory. Whether it’s a Tuesday or Sunday afternoon, it’s always about a good time,” says Mangum.

“It got me thinking about barbecue as a global cuisine versus an American cuisine. And so, what is that celebratory food in Tokyo? What is it in Beirut? What is it in Portugal, or whatever it may be? What do people gather (around) on a Sunday or a Saturday or a Monday with their friends and family that’s cooked with live fire or smoke?”

The book opens with a focus on animal protein in chapters devoted to mains, skewers and sausages. Mangum gives vegetables and grains their due in a spotlight on sides, including salads, slaws, pickles, dips, fries, fritters, flatbreads, cornbreads and biscuits, and desserts that benefit from time on the grill.

Mangum describes himself as “a cook, through and through.” Changing careers from musician to chef, he studied at the French Culinary Institute and, in 2012, went on to co-found the barbecue restaurant Mighty Quinn’s in New York City with his wife, fellow chef Laura Malone.

As the pitmaster, he cooked every day for the first few years. “There’s something really special to me about not just nourishing my own soul, but nourishing people and having my hands actively in food,” says Mangum. “I almost killed myself working so much, but that was just my day-to-day. I was just in it, in the eye of the storm. And it was exciting, and it was rewarding. It was also hard because I was missing my family. I didn’t see them as much.”

Today, Mighty Quinn’s has locations in New York, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut. As Mangum and Malone grew the business, his role leaned more toward management than cooking. Experiencing “a bit of burnout,” he felt disconnected from what had started as a passion project inspired by his late Texan father, ”my introduction to the world of barbecue.”

Reconnecting to cooking during the pandemic was the catalyst for the book. Mangum and Malone were at home with their three children, watching movies and cooking every day. The couple founded Rise Doughnuts in 2020 as a creative outlet. It’s now a brick-and-mortar shop in Wilton, Conn., where they host barbecue pop-ups.

“It was like, ‘What’s for breakfast? What’s for lunch? What’s for dinner?’ There was intention to all of it. And I think, through that intention, there was also joy in getting back to getting my hands in food every single day. But also, I was nourishing the people I love most,” says Mangum.

“Through doing that, I recognized that I missed this piece of my life that was barbecue. Through lighting fires at home and doing open-pit stuff, on a grill or whatever it was, it rekindled my love of it.”

Mangum is a believer that if you start with quality meat, you’ll get good barbecue. “There’s really no bad barbecue because people enjoy it no matter what. But there’s good barbecue and there’s great barbecue. And what makes great barbecue great, truthfully, starts with the fire.”

In the book, he offers a fire primer, but says the goal is to have a two-and-a-half to three-inch bed of glowing embers with two logs sitting on top and a cascading flame. The wood provides the smoke in short or slow bursts, and the embers are the heat source.

A globetrotting “Texas gentleman,” Mangum’s father, Hugh Mangum III, travelled the world for work. He returned with a taste for dishes he’d enjoyed in countries such as Peru and Japan. There are Peruvian recipes in Barbecue that Mangum’s father made for him when he was a child growing up in Los Angeles. Though he didn’t recognize it while writing the book, Barbecue brought him full circle.

Whenever Mangum does Sunday barbecue pop-ups at Rise, he lights the smoker at 6 p.m. on Saturday and works overnight. Not sleeping is brutal, but there’s also beauty.

“When the bed of embers is happening, and I’m lighting the fire, and I’m sitting there, it’s just a very deep connection to my father,” says Mangum. After years of being a pitmaster, he’s grown to see barbecue as an analog escape in a digital world.

“There are a lot of arts that are becoming lost because of technology and because of the phones we’re on. Barbecue is one of those few things where you can’t fake it. To get it right, you have to be really connected to it. And for me, I get the double whammy of getting to connect with my beloved father posthumously every time I light a fire.”

FLORENTINE STEAK

Serves: 2

1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp chopped rosemary
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tsp for drizzling
1 (2 1/2-lb/1.1-kg) rib-eye, T-bone or porterhouse steak
2 tbsp sea salt, plus 1 tsp
1 lemon, cut in half
1/4 tsp black pepper

Step 1

In a large bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary and olive oil. Add the steak and coat in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour but, preferably, overnight.

Step 2

Preheat a grill to 500F (260C).

Step 3

Bring the steak to room temperature. Rub 2 tablespoons of salt over the steak, then place it on the grill and cook for 7-10 minutes.

Step 4

While the steak cooks, place the lemon halves cut-side down on the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes or until lightly charred.

Step 5

Flip the steak, then cook for another 10 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 125F (52C) for medium-rare. Set aside to rest for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper, then drizzle with oil.

Step 6

Serve immediately with the grilled lemon.

BERBERE RIBS

Serves: 6-8

For the ribs:
1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar
3 tbsp berbere
1 1/2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
2 tsp dried thyme
4 racks baby back ribs or 2 racks St. Louis-style pork spareribs

For the sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 tomatoes, seeded and chopped, or 2 1/2 cups (1 lb 4 oz/560 g) canned chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (2-inch/5-cm) piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 serrano chili, seeded, deveined and finely chopped
1 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tsp berbere
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp coriander seeds, coarsely crushed
4 tbsp strong coffee
4 tbsp honey

Step 1

For the ribs: In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients except the ribs. Place the ribs on a baking sheet and sprinkle evenly with the rub, covering both sides of the ribs. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.

Step 2

Make the sauce: Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium- low and simmer. Stir in the chili, tamarind paste, berbere, cumin and coriander seeds. Pour in the coffee and 2 cups (475 mL) of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 40 minutes. Stir in the honey, then simmer for another 10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Set aside to cool.

Step 3

Preheat an oven to 225F (107C).

Step 4

Place a wire rack in a roasting pan, then lay the ribs on top. Brush half of the sauce over the ribs, then pour 1 cup (240 mL) of water into the pan. Tightly cover with aluminum foil and roast for 5 hours, or until tender. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes.

Step 5

Preheat a grill to medium-high heat.

Step 6

Brush the ribs with the reserved sauce. Place the ribs on the grill and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until caramelized and slightly charred.

Step 7

Transfer the ribs to a serving dish and serve immediately.

HAWKER WINGS

Serves: 4

For the marinated chicken:
1/2 cup (120 mL) soy sauce
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
4 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
24 whole chicken wings

For the hot sauce:
6 red bird’s eye chilies
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (120 mL) hot chicken stock
1 tsp calamansi (Filipino lime) juice or lime juice

Step 1

Marinate the chicken: In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the chicken. Add the chicken and mix well to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Step 2

Make the hot sauce: In a food processor, combine the chilies, garlic, ginger, sugar and salt. Blend until it forms a paste, then transfer the paste to a medium bowl. Stir in the hot stock, then add the juice.

Step 3

Preheat a grill to medium-high heat.

Step 4

Place the wings on the grill and cook for 8-12 minutes on each side, until cooked through and slightly charred.

Step 5

Transfer the wings to a serving dish and serve with the hot sauce.

Recipes and images excerpted from Barbecue ©2025 by Hugh Mangum. Photography ©2025 by Nico Schinco. Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.

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