Smoked Pork Shoulder and Carne Asada Spread -- Two Fires, One Family, Easter in the Driveway

Easter Sunday at Roberto and Elena's. The whole family — and when I say "the whole family," I mean the whole family: aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, the lady from down the street whose name nobody remembers but who shows up every holiday with a casserole dish and a folding chair. The Maryvale house was built for maybe eight people. We had twenty-six.

Dad was at the grill. He's always at the grill. I've been watching him more carefully since the diagnosis — watching his energy, his color, his breathing. Today he looked good. Strong, even. He had his Tecate in hand — the non-alcoholic version Elena switched him to without telling him, which is either genius or grounds for divorce depending on who you ask — and he was turning carne asada with the same unhurried confidence he's had since I was small enough to stand on a milk crate and watch.

I brought my smoker. Set it up in the driveway next to Dad's cinder block grill, and the two of us — father and son, side by side, smoke rising from two different fires into the same April sky — cooked for three hours. I did a pork shoulder. He did his carne asada. Elena made rice and beans and her guacamole, the one with the lime and the serrano that she's been making since before I was born. Jessica brought potato salad because she's from Minnesota and potato salad is the love language of the Upper Midwest.

Sofia wore an Easter dress that she hated and shoes that she tolerated and spent the afternoon running through the sprinklers with her cousins, getting completely soaked and completely happy. Diego sat on Elena's lap under the ramada and ate mashed banana and stared at the grill smoke with the focused intensity of a baby who has found his life's purpose. Elena held him and sang to him in Spanish — the same songs she sang to me, in the same yard, under the same sky.

There's a moment at these cookouts — it happens every time, and I never plan for it — where I step back from the grill and look at the scene. The folding tables with their mismatched cloths. The kids running. The old people sitting in shade. The food piling up on the serving table. The sound of Spanish and English and laughter and the sizzle of meat. And I think: this is it. This is the whole thing. Everything I do — the firefighting, the cooking, the competitions, the waking up at 4 AM for a shift — is in service of this. This table. These people. This smoke.

Mom cried, because Mom always cries at the cookouts. She says it's the smoke. We all know it's not the smoke.

That pork shoulder sat in the smoker for the better part of three hours while Dad worked his carne asada on the cinder block grill next to me, and by the time we pulled everything off the heat, there was enough meat on that serving table to feed the whole block. This is the spread — the whole spread, his and mine — and if you’ve got someone to stand next to at the grill, I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

Smoked Pork Shoulder and Carne Asada Spread

Prep Time: 45 minutes | Cook Time: 6 hours (pork shoulder), 10 minutes (carne asada) | Total Time: 6 hours 55 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

For the Smoked Pork Shoulder:

• 1 bone-in pork shoulder (7-8 pounds)
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard (as binder)
• Apple cider vinegar, for spritzing
• Oak or hickory wood chunks

For the Carne Asada:

• 3 pounds flank steak or skirt steak
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 serrano pepper, seeded and minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

For Serving:

• Warm flour and corn tortillas
• Fresh salsa verde
• Lime wedges
• Sliced white onion
• Chopped cilantro
• Pickled jalapeños

Instructions

1. Make the pork rub. Combine chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, oregano, and cayenne in a small bowl. Mix well.
2. Prep the pork shoulder. Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels. Coat the entire surface with yellow mustard, then apply the rub generously on all sides, pressing it into the meat. Let it sit uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
3. Set up the smoker. Preheat your smoker to 250°F using oak or hickory wood chunks. Fill the water pan if your smoker has one.
4. Smoke the pork. Place the pork shoulder fat-side up on the grate. Smoke at 250°F, spritzing with apple cider vinegar every 45 minutes after the first 2 hours. Smoke until the internal temperature reaches 195-203°F, about 5 to 6 hours. If the bark darkens too quickly, wrap in butcher paper at 165°F internal temp.
5. Rest the pork. Remove the pork shoulder from the smoker and let it rest, loosely tented with foil, for at least 30 minutes. Pull the pork apart using two forks or your hands, discarding excess fat.
6. Marinate the carne asada. While the pork smokes, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, garlic, cilantro, serrano pepper, cumin, salt, pepper, and chili powder. Place the steak in a shallow dish, pour the marinade over it, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, flipping once.
7. Grill the carne asada. Heat your grill to high heat. Remove the steak from the marinade and pat lightly dry. Grill for 4-5 minutes per side for medium, or until it reaches 130-135°F internally. Let rest 5 minutes, then slice against the grain into thin strips.
8. Serve the spread. Pile the pulled pork and sliced carne asada on a large platter. Set out warm tortillas, salsa verde, lime wedges, sliced onion, cilantro, and pickled jalapeños. Let everyone build their own plates.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 485 | Protein: 52g | Fat: 24g | Carbs: 6g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 680mg