Growing up with Aaron Franklin and other Posse tales that deserve a second look

There have been many meals & just as many stories to tell since our first BBQ tour in November 2009. (Photo ©Gary Barber)

In the past, we've told you about our most popular blog posts and offered a readers' guide to all the tours we've written about in our Barbecue Chronicles.

Now, we're going to give you a short guide to the other end of the Posse blog spectrum. These aren't our least popular posts. We'll keep those buried to protect the innocent.

But for whatever reason, these posts didn't receive the attention we thought they would. Maybe the headlines were boring. Maybe you were busy and didn't check the blog that day. So, here's a second chance:

Aaron Franklin, right, & Those Peabodys.
(Photo courtesy of Post-Parlo Records)

Growing up with Aaron Franklin. Neil Gallagher of Bryan won the Posse's barbecue giveaway earlier this year and when I called him with congratulations we had a wide ranging conversation about the state of barbecue in Texas, including how Gallagher grew up with Aaron Franklin. It's worth taking a look just to see a photo of the proprietor of Franklin Barbecue in his rock star days as a drummer with a band called Those Peabodys.

Loving and hating Tim Byres' new cookbook. Forget our review of the book, written by the chef at Dallas' Smoke restaurant. Go directly to the end of the item and get the recipe for Byres' famous BBQ Beef Coffee
Cure rub. Then make it and use it. It's good.

Turkey makes a move to join the royal BBQ family. Privately, we've taken some heat for this post. Turkey in the same league as brisket, ribs and sausage? Heresy. Still, we think we're seeing a trend. And as they say on Wall Street, don't fight the tape.

What the Posse looks for in great Texas BBQ. The meat never lies, as Posse veteran Bruce Tomaso says. In this 4-minute video, we focus on taste, tenderness, appearance, texture and smokiness and how you need them all to have great smoked meat.