As Texas BBQ Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins observes, when Texas Monthly comes out with its Top 50 list of joints every four years, “it’s the Super Bowl of BBQ.” So, it’s no surprise that five of the 10 top Posse stories in 2017 were related to TM’s list. For this post, we're defining top as most read.

And, right at the very top, we batted .500 in our fearless barbecue predictions. Franklin Barbecue in Austin wasn’t No. 1 on TM's list. Neither, though, was Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland, which we also forecast. Instead, the distinction went to Snow’s BBQ in Lexington.

At Posse HQ, maybe we should have stopped with the Franklin post, when we were ahead. But that wouldn’t have been any fun, which remains our No. 1 goal.

In April, after seven years of barbecue blogging, we launched this full-blown Web site about our favorite topic. So far, stories on the new site have attracted more than 100,000 page views.

At the time of the re-launch, we promised to focus more on cooking, which we’ve done. Three stories among our Top 10 are cooking related, as is one among the next five. We plan to ramp up our focus on cooking even more in 2018.

The top cooking post of the year is no surprise. Year in and year out it has been among our most read items since Posse pitmaster Marshall Cooper — we now call him the BBQ Preacher — first told readers in 2010 how to smoke briskets using butcher paper. This year an updated story and video came in at No. 3.

Marshall’s innovative method of cooking brisket burnt ends, published only a month ago, has also been very popular. It ranks No. 5 for the year and continues to get shared every day.

The Preacher is not the Posse’s only excellent pitmaster. Bryan Gooding’s story about pork butt for beginners came in at No. 9 on our list of top Posse stories in 2017. And his secrets for great barbecue chicken No. 12.

Gooding, who now lives on Lopez Island in Washington, made his reputation at the Blues, Bandits & BBQ festival in Dallas. We still call him the Chicken King of Oak Cliff.

Of course, as Wilkins also observes, readers continue to be fascinated by John Mueller, who we called the “Bad Boy” of Texas barbecue in a July story about his new place in Georgetown. That story finished No. 10 for the year.

Top Posse stories in 2017:

1. Killen's will be #1 in TM Top 50
2. Franklin won't be #1 in TM Top 50
3. Step-by-step, cooking butcher paper wrapped briskets
4. Meet the holy trinity of Texas BBQ joints
5. Brisket burnt ends-5 pounds of absolute heaven
6. Is 2M Smokehouse the best in Texas?
7. J.Leonardi's new trailer in Austin
8. TMs top 10 brisket joints
9. Cooking pork butt for beginners
10. The bad boy of Texas BBQ is back
11. Ronnie Killen says he's selling brisket for no profit
12. The secret to great BBQ chicken
13. Best BBQ Books
14. Tips for choosing a smoker
15. BBQ community responds to Hurricane Harvey

Here’s to a smoking good new year for all, from the Posse.