Q&A with Mighty Quinn's & Rise Doughnuts' Hugh Mangum On His NEW BBQ Cookbook

CT Chef and resident, Hugh Mangum, co-founder of the much-loved Mighty Quinn’s BBQ as well as Rise Doughnuts, recently released a BBQ bible, a cookbook that explores BBQ across the globe.

The new cookbook is titled, BARBECUE: Smoked & Grilled Recipes from Across the Globe, and is the ultimate guide to cooking with fire and smoke, featuring 280 beloved barbecue and grilling recipes from cultures worldwide. 

We sat down with Mangum to speak with him about the new cookbook.

Why was it important to you to create this cookbook? What did you want to share with your readers?

The concept was what wasn’t out there. So many BBQ cookbooks revolve around BBQ in the US, but BBQ is much bigger than that. I seek to be an American BBQ purist…but as the world has become smaller and more connected, we know more. I wanted to explore the celebratory foods that were cooked over live fire or coal throughout the world. 

Tell us about the process of creating the book

All in the process was two years from pitching to samples, to writing. The team was myself and collaborator, Shana Liebman. She helped with most of the research. It was a very collaborative experience and my publisher was fantastic. 

How did you select the final recipes? 

This book is really a bible…there are more than 280 recipes…and we tried to represent all the cultures we could.

We did extensive recipe testing, spoke to chefs across the globe, relatives, home cooks, people who were in the BBQ culture. Then we went back and created the recipes. When we shot the book,  there were checks and balances on the recipe testing so we knew they worked. 

We tried to keep things as fresh as we could, not have too many things overlap, but also we wanted to try to represent as many different countries as possible,

We included a fire primer, equipment primer and ingredient primer in front of book, and charts the help you determine cook times as well as difficulty level.

Are there recipes in this book that are particularly meaningful to you? Recipe you knew you wanted to include?

Some of the recipes were “built the house” and had to be included. The Brisket recipe was the original recipe I launched Mighty Quinn’s with. The beans are important to me because it was based off the black eyed peas my dad used to make. 

Thai Grilled Chicken is exceptionally good, as well as the Filipino Pork Belly and the Bacon. One of the recipes I really would like people to dig into is BACON- and we demystify making great bacon at home.

What do you hope readers will gain from using your cookbook? 

…to create a knowledge and curiosity of exploring the world…there is so much divisiveness today and food and music are the 2 two things that bind us all together. Maybe people can use this book as a gateway into greater unity.

Will CT readers find any recipes from your local spots, Mighty Quinn’s & Rise Doughnuts? 

Yes. Absolutely, Many of the base recipes I started with at Mighty Quinn’s are i the book including: broccoli salad, brisket, spareribs, baked beans, sweet potato casserole, burnt ends, wings, half chicken and the pulled pork. They are all in there.