Marisol's Three, for your kitchen

1  The Sleeper

Duck Carnitas Tacos

Ingredients

• 4 duck legs (about 2 lb / 900 g)
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt, plus more to finish
• 1 tsp black peppercorns, lightly crushed
• Peel of 1 orange, in wide strips, white pith scraped off
• 1 cinnamon stick (canela if you can find it — softer, floral)
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1–2 cups duck fat or neutral oil, enough to mostly submerge
• 16 corn tortillas (doubled per taco), the best you can buy
• ½ white onion, finely diced
• Salsa de árbol (below) and lime wedges

Method

1. Season the duck legs all over with the salt and crushed pepper. Refrigerate uncovered, skin up, 1 hour (or overnight — better).
2. Heat the oven to 275°F / 135°C. Pat the legs dry and nestle them snugly, skin up, in a small Dutch oven with the orange peel, canela, garlic, and bay. Pour over melted duck fat (or oil) until the legs are about three-quarters submerged.
3. Cover and braise 3½–4 hours, until the meat surrenders off the bone when nudged with a spoon. Cool in the fat 20 minutes — this is where the flavor moves in.
4. Pull the meat off the bones in fat shreds, skin included. Discard bones and aromatics. (Strain and keep the fat: it's liquid gold and it keeps for months.)
5. Get a cast-iron skillet properly hot with a spoonful of the braising fat. Press the shredded duck into the pan in a thin layer and leave it alone for 2–3 minutes until the bottom crackles, then fold once. Edges like chicharrón, middle still plush. Salt it.
6. Warm the tortillas directly over the flame or in a dry skillet. Double them, pile in duck, top with raw white onion and salsa de árbol. Lime. Nothing else.

Salsa de árbol (10 minutes)

1. Toast 10–12 dried chiles de árbol and 1 garlic clove in a dry skillet until the chiles darken a shade and smell toasty — 60–90 seconds, don't walk away.
2. Blend with ¼ cup water, 1 Tbsp vinegar, and a big pinch of salt until nearly smooth. It should be loose, fiery, and a little rude.

2  The Signature

Masa-Crusted Whitefish

Ingredients

• 2 skin-on whitefish fillets, 6–8 oz each (lake trout or walleye work; so does snapper, but she'll know)
• 6 stale corn tortillas — or fresh ones dried 20 min in a 300°F oven
• 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more for the fish
• ½ tsp ground cumin (comino)
• 1 egg white, beaten loose with 1 tsp water
• 3 Tbsp neutral oil or (better) leftover duck fat from recipe № 1
• ½ cup crema or sour cream, zest and juice of 1 lime, pinch of salt — stirred together
• Shaved cabbage, cilantro, more lime to serve

Method

1. Tear the dried tortillas and blitz in a food processor (or bash in a bag with a rolling pin) with the salt and cumin until it looks like coarse sand with a few gravelly bits. Spread on a plate.
2. Pat the fillets very dry. Salt both sides. Brush the flesh side with egg white, then press it firmly into the masa crumbs. Flesh side only — the skin side stays naked so it can crisp.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. Lay the fillets in crust-side down and don't touch them for 3–4 minutes, until the crust is deep gold and releases on its own.
4. Flip, then lower the heat a notch and cook skin-side down 2–3 minutes more, until the fish just flakes at the thickest point.
5. Plate crust-side up over the lime crema. Cabbage, cilantro, lime wedge. The first bite should be audible.

3  The Last Meal

Cajeta Flan

Ingredients

• ¾ cup / 150 g sugar (for the caramel)
• 1 cup / 240 ml cajeta (goat's-milk caramel — jarred is honestly fine; La Coronilla or similar)
• 1 cup / 240 ml whole milk
• 1 cup / 240 ml evaporated milk
• 4 large eggs plus 2 yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp fine salt

Method

1. Melt the sugar in a light-colored pan over medium heat, swirling (not stirring), until it's the color of a violin — deep amber, one shade before you'd panic. Immediately divide between six 6-oz ramekins, tilting to coat the bottoms. It will harden; that's correct.
2. Heat the oven to 325°F / 165°C. Put the kettle on.
3. Warm the cajeta, milk, and evaporated milk in a saucepan, whisking until smooth — hot but not simmering.
4. Whisk the eggs, yolks, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Pour the warm cajeta milk into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking the whole time, then strain the custard through a fine sieve. (Strain it. This is the difference between silk and scrambled.)
5. Divide between the ramekins. Set them in a roasting pan, pour boiling water halfway up their sides, and cover the pan loosely with foil.
6. Bake 40–50 minutes, until the edges are set and the center of each flan wobbles like it's nervous — an instant-read thermometer says 175°F. Lift from the water bath, cool 30 minutes, then refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
7. To serve: run a thin knife around the edge, hold a plate on top, flip with conviction. Wait one second. Listen.