A Barbarian Feast
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 4:00AM 
Last Saturday, armed with yellow rain ponchos (which doubled conveniently as full body drop cloths) my sweetie and I attempted to sample a Taste of Danbury at the town’s annual food festival. Unfortunately, tornados were the only thing taking a bite out of Connecticut that day and the foodies were sent packing. But one booth braved the storm- The Barbarian Grill would not go quietly into the night and we were there to reap the spoils.
While regaling us with tales of his Mongolian war sword, Hungarian chef Steve Lang doused a full rack of his meltingly tender rotisserie smoked pork ribs with Louisiana hot sauce before wrapping them in a foil to-go pouch, which we tore into as soon as we reached the shelter of our vehicle. It was a delightfully uncivilized meal. Good thing my man’s the type who keeps wet naps stashed in the glove compartment.
This Saturday, I channeled my inner barbarian and the results were savagely delicious.
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Barbarian-Style Baby Back Ribs
Serves 2 to 4
2 racks baby back ribs (about 1 ½ pounds each)
Salt and pepper
1 cup apple cider
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
1/4 cup Louisiana hot sauce
- Let the ribs sit at room temperature while you prepare the charcoal grill. Heat coals using a charcoal chimney. Pour the hot coals into the grill and, using grilling tongs, push all of the coals to one side of the grill. Scatter a generous handful of dry wood chips over the coals and cover with the grill grates.
- Season the ribs generously on both sides with salt and pepper and place, meaty side down, onto the side of the grill without the coals underneath (this allows the ribs to smoke nice and slowly over indirect heat). Cover and cook for 1 hour, turning once halfway through cooking.
- Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the apple cider and butter and cook over medium heat until the butter is melted; remove from heat, stir in the vinegar and reserve.
- Cut 2 sheets of heavy-duty foil, each about twice as long as a rack of ribs. Fold in the sides of the foil slightly to keep the sauce from running out and lay a rack onto each sheet, meaty side down. Pour the butter mixture over the ribs, dividing equally between the two racks, and fold the foil around the racks to enclose; wrap each with another sheet of foil and seal securely. Grill the packets over indirect heat, meaty side down, for 30 minutes. Flip the packets and cook for 15 minutes more. Transfer packets to a baking sheet for easy transport.
- Unwrap the ribs, being careful to keep the juices contained in the foil packet, and transfer to a cutting board. Pour the reserved juices into a small bowl and stir in the hot sauce to taste. Douse the rack liberally with the sauce before cutting into individual ribs. Serve the remaining sauce on the side.
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Reader Comments (1)
Katie -- So glad you wrote about a place in Danbury. We are only 9 miles away in Patterson NY and are always looking for some places to eat when we go to the free concerts in the park there. Plus, your recipe sounds very interesting -- not the usual run-of-the-mill ribs. Will have to give it a try when I get some good local cider.