Thanksgiving smoke

Just some notes about smoking a pork shoulder with a Traeger grill Thanksgiving south of Portland.

The pork shoulder portion was around 8 pounds. It was on a V rack with a pan underneath. I used Kansas City rub within 30 minutes of smoking.

 The weather was cloudy with variable winds gusting a times with temperatures in the low 40's I think.  I had a thermometer placed along side the meat pan farthest away from the built in thermometer of the grill. The internal temperature of the grill would be stable after warm up until the winds gusted, when it would drop 25-30 F or more from the temperature at the built in Traeger thermometer. The thermostat was set first to Smoke then 225 when it was calm and from 250 to 300 when the wind came up with the resulting temperature of 220 to 270. The meat temperature varied from 165 to 180 when I removed it. It was allowed to rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing.

The meat took 8 hours to get to a pork roast state without the resting period.

The roast was moderately smoky and fairly tender with good flavor.