Octobarcue

Every football season I experiment with different recipes for our Patriot game tail-gaits. One of the recipes from this season that I liked a lot I called Octobarcue. Octobarcue was an attempt to bring together classic New England fall tastes with good old-fashion barbecue. It's probably heresy in the eyes of a barbecue purist but I thought it was pretty good eats.

I started by dry-rubbing pork ribs with a spice rub of my own creation. The exact mixture is unfortunately lost but it featured pumpkin pie like spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, clove with more traditional savory spices like onion powder and paprika. Once rubbed down, the ribs sat in the fridge over night.

The next day I created pouches of heavy aluminum foil for the ribs and braised them in pumpkin ale for two and a half of hours in a low oven - around 250. I chose Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale, a really tasty brew that's not overly spiced like so many pumpkin beers. I'm sure you could use any braising liquid but I thought this fit in well with the theme. As a side note: whenever I use this braising technique, no matter how many layers of foil I use the packets always leak so I suggest you use a jelly-roll pan or other item to catch the inevitable mess that will occur.

For the glaze I simmered a mixture of three parts applesauce, one part real maple syrup, Serrano peppers and a little lemon juice until it was nice and thick.

At the game I put the ribs on the portable grill to heat them up and give them some color and then slathered them with the glaze.

I think the flavor combination worked really well. The moist pork definitely had noticeable hints of pumpkin ale and pie spice and the glaze brought a sweet heat to the party. If you're looking to infuse some fall flavors into a tail gait or football party give this recipe a try.