• Preheat your smoker to 225 °F. (You can do 250 °F if you want it to cook slightly faster.)
• Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels, and double-check the outside for any small bone fragments. Trim excess fat off of the outside of the pork shoulder, then coat the entire thing in a thin layer of mustard.
  
• Heavily dust the pork shoulder all over with brown sugar dry rub, using as much as you can get to stick. I use nearly 1 cup of rub per ~8 lb pork shoulder.
  
• Place the prepared pork shoulder in your preheated smoker and insert a meat thermometer into the thickest portion.
  
• Smoke until the internal temperature reaches 195 °F to 200 °F, this will take around 20 hours but can vary every time. Pulling the meat off at 200 °F will result in slightly softer meat. Make sure to check the pellet hopper occasionally and refill as needed.

  Leaving your pellet smoker unattended overnight: It is fine to leave your Traeger (or similar grill) running overnight. Make sure you top off the pellets before going to bed and check the hopper first thing in the morning to ensure your grill does not go out. Note, the grill uses more pellets when the outside temperature is low, if it's cold outside you may want to check the pellet hopper once overnight.
  
• When you pull the meat off of the grill, wrap it in aluminum foil and let it rest for 1 hour before shredding. Place the wrapped meat in an empty cooler while it rests. If you don't have a cooler available, place the wrapped pork on a cookie sheet and let it rest in the oven (do not turn the oven on).
  
• After resting, shred the meat and remove the large bone. Remove any large chunks of fat or gristle that you see. Optionally, toss the meat with a few more tablespoons of the dry rub. Serve immediately.
  

Freeze Leftovers:

• Separate into the portions you expect to use at a time (I use 10-12 oz per meal for two adults). Seal these portions in a freezer-safe zip bag with the air pressed out, or vacuum seal if you’re able to. Place the packets in the freezer until ready to use.

To Reheat:

• Place the sealed bag of frozen pulled pork in a bowl of cool water, let it sit until it's mostly defrosted, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pork to a microwave safe container and warm in the microwave, tossing every 30 seconds, until heated through.

To Use:

• There are endless possibilities for what you can add this pork to! Serve it on lightly grilled buns with barbecue sauce for a classic pulled pork sandwich. Try it in loaded fries, loaded nachos, or sub it for the chicken in my BBQ Chicken Melts!