I have officially fallen in love with Duck! I recently went on my first duck hunt, I learned how to fabricate a whole bird and now I have made tamales… be still my heart.

When I think of tamales I always think of the mexican pork filled, or beef with chili on top. At first I was intimidated to make them from scratch, but after making these I may never go back

I unfortunately thought to post this recipe after I had already done the duck- so the confit process is undocumented, lo siento.

• To prepare a confit, the duck thighs are rubbed with salt, garlic, sugar and thyme, then covered and refrigerated for up to 36 hours. Salt-curing the meat acts as a preservative and keeps the meat moist. Prior to cooking, the spices are rinsed from the meat, which is then patted dry. The meat is placed in a cooking dish deep enough to contain the meat and the rendered fat, and placed in an oven at a low temperature (170 – 275 degrees)The meat is slowly poached until the meat is tender, generally four to ten hours.

Once you have the duck prepared this dish comes together really quickly.

 

The texture of the masa dough reminds me of playdough- a little childhood nostalgia for a Friday afternoon!

 

A little corn, poblano chilies, lime juice and queso fresco pair so well with the salty duck but you can get really adventurous here.

 

While spreading out the masa dough and filling in the corn husks I kept finding myself wanting to sing la cucaracha la cucaracha- ya no puede caminar! These are so fun to make!

Ingredients: 1 duck thigh makes 3 tamales

duck confit thighs, 1/4 cup chicken stock, 1 Tbsp lime juice, 2 pinches of oregano, corn husks- pre soaked in water, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup corn kernels, 1 cup masa harina or cornmeal, 4 Tbsp softened butter, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp finely diced poblano chiles, Tbsp queso fresco

Recipe:

Shred duck confit meat from the bone, then in a bowl combine the duck, lime juice, stock, oregano and queso fresco. In a small sauce pan heat the milk and cook the corn- after about 5 minutes cooking reserve 1/3 of the corn, and puree the rest in a robot coup. Add the corn puree to the masa as needed to form a soft dough- adding the butter, baking powder, and salt. Spread out the masa dough onto the corn husk and then fill the dough with duck mixture. Roll each corn husk and fold bottom under. Steam until done- about an hour and a half. Serve with a little salsa verde and you are good to go!

 

I hope you have a great Friday, happy eating!