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Smoked Duck Quesadilla with Pomegranate Sauce

I have been working remote for the past few years, but they recently called us back to the office. While it sucks going to work every day, I do look forward to all the places we go for lunch. One of the places we recently discovered makes this Smoked Duck Quesadilla’s with a Raspberry Sauce. I’ve had it a few times and it’s exceptional. When I was thinking of meals I could cook for Christmas, this Smoked Duck came to mind, but instead of a Raspberry sauce, I decided to do a pomegranate sauce in an attempt to make it more Christmassy.

Pomegranate and Smoked Duck turned out to be a killer combo! It was delicious and I can’t wait to make it again. Creating the Pomegranate sauce can be labor intense, and the juice can stain your clothes and hands. You could probably save a few steps by buying Pomegranate Juice, but its worth the effort to make your own.

Ingredients

Pomegranate Sauce

Smoked Duck

Instructions

Smoked Duck

Step #1 Cut or poke some small slits in the duck’s skin, being careful not to pierce the meat. This will allow the duck fat to drain more easily.

Step #2 Spray outside skin of duck with cooking oil spray, then season generously with salt and pepper. Soak your wood chips in a bowl of water for at least 30 minutes before starting your cook. I used Apple wood, but any fruity wood should work. Try Peach, Maple, Cherry, or Pecan wood. Place the duck on the top rack with a oven safe bowl underneath to capture the duck fat for future recipes. Set your smoker at 225 – 250 and smoke for 2 – 3 hours, until internal temperature is around 160.

Step #3 Once the temperature reaches desired temp, remove from smoker and set aside and allow to cool.

Pomegranate Sauce

Step #1 Gather Pomegranate, a small bowl, wooden spoon and blender.

Step #2 Cut the top off the Pomegranate where the stem is located, then use your fingers to break apart.

Step #3 Use a wooden spoon and gentle beat the back of the Pomegranate over a bowl, the seeds should release into the bowl. Continue until you have all the seeds removed.

Step #4 Add the seeds to a blender, pulse on high until all the seeds are liquefied.

Step #5 Pour through a strainer into small saucepan. You may need to use a spoon to help work the juice through the strainer.

Step #6 Place on saucepan on stove, setting heat to low. Add in maple syrup and salt. Let reduce by half. Remove from heat. Then pour into serving bowl or small ramekin.

Duck Quesadilla

Step #1 Once the duck has cooled. Remove the meat from the duck, then either cube up or shred.

Step #2 Added shredded duck meat to small skillet with tablespoon of butter. Season generously with taco season the warm through.

Step #3 Place skillet on stove over medium heat. Butter one side of flour tortilla and place buttered side down in skillet. Add shredded duck meat. Added Cheese then sprinkle with a little salt. You can also add other garnishments here, like salsa, cilantro, green onions, green chilies and/or onions. Butter another flour tortilla and place on top. Optionally, you might consider covering the skillet with a lid to help melt the cheese.

Step #4 Cook for a few minutes then flip to brown the other side, being careful not to spill the contents of the quesadilla.

Step #5 Once both sides are browned and the cheese melted, remove from heat, and cut into quarters. Add pomegranate sauce to bowl, large enough to dip your quesadilla in.

Recipe Card

Smoked Duck Quesadilla with Pomegranate Sauce

Written by Jeff Davis Visit : Visit authors website

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Prep Time: 2 hours - Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients

Pomegranate Sauce

2 whole Pomegranate or 1 cup pomegranate juice

2 tbsp Maple syrup

1/8 tsp Kosher Salt

Smoked Duck

1 whole Duck

Kosher Salt

Ground Black Pepper

Taco Seasoning

Flour Tortillas

Butter

Fresh cilantro

Fiesta Cheese Blend

Vegetable Oil Spray

Apple Wood Chips

Instructions

Smoked Duck

Step #1 - Cut or poke some small slits in the duck’s skin, being careful not to pierce the meat. This will allow the duck fat to drain more easily.

Step #2 - Spray outside skin of duck with cooking oil spray, then season generously with salt and pepper. Soak your wood chips in a bowl of water for at least 30 minutes before starting your cook. I used Apple wood, but any fruity wood should work. Try Peach, Maple, Cherry, or Pecan wood. Place the duck on the top rack with a oven safe bowl underneath to capture the duck fat for future recipes. Set your smoker at 225 – 250 and smoke for 2 – 3 hours, until internal temperature is around 160.

Step #3 - Once the temperature reaches desired temp, remove from smoker and set aside and allow to cool.

Pomegranate Sauce

Step #1 - Gather Pomegranate, a small bowl, wooden spoon and blender.

Step #2 - Cut the top off the Pomegranate where the stem is located, then use your fingers to break apart.

Step #3 - Use a wooden spoon and gentle beat the back of the Pomegranate over a bowl, the seeds should release into the bowl. Continue until you have all the seeds removed.

Step #4 - Add the seeds to a blender, pulse on high until all the seeds are liquefied.

Step #5 - Pour through a strainer into small saucepan. You may need to use a spoon to help work the juice through the strainer.

Step #6 - Place on saucepan on stove, setting heat to low. Add in maple syrup and salt. Let reduce by half. Remove from heat. Then pour into serving bowl or small ramekin.

Duck Quesadilla

Step #1 - Once the duck has cooled. Remove the meat from the duck, then either cube up or shred.

Step #2 - Added shredded duck meat to small skillet with tablespoon of butter. Season generously with taco season the warm through.

Step #3 - Place skillet on stove over medium heat. Butter one side of flour tortilla and place buttered side down in skillet. Add shredded duck meat. Added Cheese then sprinkle with a little salt. You can also add other garnishments here, like salsa, cilantro, green onions, green chilies and/or onions. Butter another flour tortilla and place on top. Optionally, you might consider covering the skillet with a lid to help melt the cheese.

Step #4 - Cook for a few minutes then flip to brown the other side, being careful not to spill the contents of the quesadilla.

Step #5 - Once both sides are browned and the cheese melted, remove from heat, and cut into quarters. Add pomegranate sauce to bowl, large enough to dip your quesadilla in.

About the Author

Jeff Davis

You may think cooking and recipes don’t have much to do with a website dedicated to hunting dogs ... but really, why do we hunt? Sure, we enjoy watching our dogs work in the field and being outdoors, but ultimately, hunting is about survival and feeding our families. We might as well try to do it well. I'm not a chef and definitely no food authority ... but I do like to eat and enjoy cooking. After searching for people willing to share their recipes on Gundog Central, without much success, I decided to try to do a few on my own, with my wife Tami's help. The recipes I share here are things I like to eat and have made here at home. I've tried to include step-by-step instructions with each meal describing exactly how I did it, but my method may not be best, if you decide to try a recipe posted here, please use whatever technique you think works best, I'm simply sharing how I did it. You'll see a lot of recipes where I've tried to make things from starch, when I could have just used store bought ingredients, simply because I wanted to learn how something was done. My goal is to continually update these recipes as I learn new things and techniques. These are my attempts at creating good, home cooked food, that I would like to eat! If I'm sharing it here, my family and I enjoyed it and I believe you will too.