Hailing from Italy, going Texas-style

[Eads Ranch]

Looks great, I'll take a couple of slices.

 

[bbqwizard]

Looks pretty great!

 

[sandro]

The quality of the meat looks fantastic. Nice cook.

I have to agree here; I usually cook Canadian AAA (USDA Choice) briskets and the difference is staggering. This Creekstone Farms Choice was a span above its Canadian equivalent. Angus beef makes the difference

dang! That looks awesome. From a picture standpoint it looks on par with the top brisket places in Texas.

How hard is to procure a brisket like that in Italy?

Extremely hard—to come by in a shop, and to eat at any given joint. I've been to all the BBQ joints Rome has to offer over the years and they all serve terrible BBQ, especially brisket. The best I had could be defined as a dry, stringy mess as if they had boiled it to make stew and reheated it in an electric oven with liquid smoke on top. I had no idea why y'all were so crazy about brisket until I tried some in Cali on a work trip. Cali isn't really known for being Texas Style but man did that open my eyes...

Bellisimo! Is Beech a milder smoke, say on par with Maple or Alder?

Good question. Beech is definitely mild, almost bland for short cooks, Fagus trees are relatives to Oak trees and I quite like the taste it gives the meat—however, it burns really hot, really quickly, and leaves no coalbed behind—reason why it is the cooking wood of choice for pizzerie, you want them high BTUs. For instance, one small 9" long, "Red Bull can-wide" split will easily bump the temps up 20 degrees in a matter of a couple of minutes, so there's some challenge to keeping temps steady, especially in a 33gal cooker (albeit 1/4" thick).

Whenever I happen to throw an oak split in the firebox I know I can walk away for at least 30 minutes, not gonna happen with beech. I'll get some white oak anyway, it's really common around here and makes managing temps so much easier—beech is just readily available at the same place I source my briskets from

I couldn't agree more - that brisket is a fantastic representation of Texas BBQ, and hope hope we'll see it in the throwdown!

I'll definitely send it in! I agree it was pretty tasty and looked the part

Looks great, I'll take a couple of slices.

Haha thanks, unfortunately it was gone in one dinner with friends, as it should

 

[Crakaveli]

nailed it

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Great looking bark and smoke ring Looks fantastic You should definitely consider entering the Throw Down

 

[ModelMaker]

Good.
Ed

 

[jzadski]

You absolutely nailed it. I am not a Texan but, would be more than proud to serve and eat that

 

[Sevengoals]

Super! Bravo!

 

[Shadowdog500]

You made a perfect brisket!

Anyone would be proud to serve that brisket.