Guava Duck

Even though I write a blog about cooking, I was never really much of a chef. Until I graduated university, I mostly subsisted on pasta with canned tomato sauce and grilled cheese sandwiches. But then I fell in love with tacos and started on the path to being a capable adult. Being forced to come up with new recipes every week has really helped me grow as a cook. I was so confident in my abilities that I decided to take on a challenge I'd never before attempted - cooking duck. After loads of research into cooking methods and a trip to the grocery store for the most expensive meat I've ever purchased, I rolled the dice on a recipe for a tropical fruit-inspired duck taco. Using guava jelly as a glaze base, I whipped up this recipe and surprisingly it worked out! The duck was perfectly cooked and let me assure you that if this idiot can do it, you can too.

Guava Glazed Duck Recipe

Serves: 8 tacos             Prep Time: 10 min            Cook Time: 20 min
  
2 duck breasts
1/2 cup guava jelly
1/4 cup tequila
1 tbsp lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Mango salsa
Corn tortilla
Chipotle crema

Cook the Duck

Preheat the oven to 250F. Cut the duck skin (the fatty looking side) in a crosshatch pattern, making sure not to cut into the meat. Season both sides with salt and pepper. On the stove, heat a dutch oven (or frying pan, but the dutch oven helped contain the fat splatter) over medium-high. When fully heated, place the duck in the dutch oven skin-side down. Let cook for 8 minutes. Turn the duck and cook for 3 minutes on this side. Remove and wrap loosely with tinfoil, then place duck in the oven for 5 minutes.

Make the Sauce

Drain off rendered duck fat from the dutch oven, leaving 1 tbsp and place over medium heat. Add the guava jelly and stir until dissolved. Add the tequila and lime juice and stir. Remove the duck from the oven and place in the jelly mixture. Cook for 45 seconds on each side.

Build a Taco

Cut the duck breasts diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices. Drizzle with the excess sauce, place 2 pieces of duck into a warm corn tortilla and top with mango salsa and chipotle crema (5 parts sour cream, 1 part adobo sauce).