Texas_BBQ_Posse

It all started in a thick fog on a Saturday morning many years ago. We visited Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Tx., for the first time and finally learned what real barbecue is all about. We put thick slices of tender brisket on white bread and took big bites. “That's the best breakfast I've ever eaten," Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins said. Later that day, after visiting a few other top joints in Central Texas, Wilkins became even more reflective. "I didn't realize until today that I knew nothing at all about great barbecue," he said. "Everything I ate was better than anything I had eaten before." And so began the Posse’s big adventure, a mission of discovery to find, and sample, great barbecue wherever it is cooked. For a while, we went through a purist phase. The only good barbecue, we thought, was cooked with wood fires on offset smokers. But after thousands of miles and nearly a decade on the BBQ trail, we’ve softened our view. We’ve learned that it’s not the process but the outcome — the taste — that’s most important. Good barbecue is good, no matter if it comes from a classic wood-fired pit, a gasser, a pellet or charcoal machine, or a Big Green Egg. Over the years, we’ve written about barbecue on our blog and in The Dallas Morning News, talked about it on the radio, in videos, and once even to a Mensa group. There’s nothing like high IQ barbecue lovers. We turned down a book deal — don’t ask — and did a pitch video for a possible reality TV show. No takers…yet. For many of us, a highlight of our barbecue adventures remains a visit in 2010 to a little trailer just off I-35 in Austin. The original Franklin Barbecue. We made a group photo that day with Aaron Franklin and John Lewis, then young barbecue legends in the making. Posse member Bruce Tomaso spoke for many of us when he said: ”I’m telling friends they should visit Franklin as soon as they can. The trailer experience will never be duplicated in a restaurant; and the brisket might not be, either."