1st cook on the Traeger - Bone in Pork Shoulders

So thanks to my buddy Andy Tarczon I have a working Traeger Lil Texas Elite. He had two of them, one wasn't working so said I could have I wanted.  I said sure.  A $100 bucks later and I had it up and running. 

Finally had the time to do my first test cook on it; turned out great but I learned a couple things.

1.  It is way more efficient than my old run of mill "ole cheap-o" from Academy. 
2.  Pellet Fed smokers are pretty nice for the set it and forget it.  On my wood burner I have check the fire ever 45 minutes.  The Traeger I just set the temp and made sure the pellet container was full.  This time I used Apple Pellets. I will write more on the Traeger after a couple more cooks.

So on to the main reason you are reading this blog, the BBQ.

Normally, I cook Boneless Pork Shoulders however this time I ended up at Sam's Club with my friend Josh and ended up getting 2 Bone In Pork Shoulders.

Got them home, Trimmed them up (I don't trim a lot off. Usually the fat caps I remove the really hard fat and then do some clean up.  After the trimming I inject. (Apple Juice, White Vinegar, Sugar, Spice).  After the injection in the fridge it goes for about 2 - 3 hours.

For this cook, the shoulders rested in the injection/marinade for about 2 hours.  I took them out, patted them dry, and then rubbed them down. Sweet and Spicy rub - home made. 

Now for where my cook procedure or steps change a little.  On my old smoker, I'd bring it up to temp at 250 and start the cook.  However on the Traeger you need to set it for SMOKE, smoke the meat for set time frame, then turn up the temp and finish  your cook. This is the shoulders after 2 hours at SMOKE setting.

After the two hours at the SMOKE setting, I set the Traeger to 275 which actually averages closer to 250-260 and smoked the shoulders for 8 more hours.  2 hours uncovered, 5 hours covered, then the last hour uncovered so I could glaze them every 20 minutes. Finished product and getting read to let it rest for 2 hours.

After 2 hours of resting, I pulled the pork and then pulled some drippings over the shredded pork.  SO FARKING GOOD!

As for Bone-In vs No Bone - no real difference.  Cooks a little different but not much.  Biggest difference was the coloring on some of the meat.  The meat next to the bone was more grey while the rest was well, more white and pink from Smoke and rub.