Plate 09 of 10

Guava Duff

Name: Guava Duff
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 105 min
Yield: 10
Cuisine: The Bahamas
Ingredients: 500 g All-purpose flour; 15 g Baking powder; 3 g Fine salt; 100 g Butter, cold, in cubes; 100 g Shortening, cold; 300 ml Milk; 400 g Ripe guava, peeled, seeded and chopped; 150 g Sugar; 250 g Butter, soft; 200 g Icing sugar; 60 ml Dark rum

The national dessert, a rolled and steamed pudding. A soft dough of flour, butter, shortening and milk rolled into a rectangle, scattered with chopped ripe guava and sugar, rolled into a tight log, wrapped in parchment and foil, and cooked in a water bath at 175 °C for an hour until set. Sliced warm into pinwheels under a sauce of butter, icing sugar and rum.

Prep: 45 min
Cook: 1 hr
Serves: 10
Difficulty: Hard

Researched · Kitchen testing pending

Five pale slices of rolled guava duff, each with a pink spiral of guava, in a pool of butter and rum sauce on a white oval platter.

Guava duff is the Bahamian dessert, a spiral of soft dough and pink guava that is steamed rather than baked and served under a sauce of butter, sugar and rum. It descends from the boiled puddings of English sailors, tied in a cloth and dropped in the pot, and the islands gave it their own fruit.

A duff takes an afternoon and it is made for Sunday dinner, Christmas and any occasion where a pudding in a cloth is a way of saying the day matters.

Ingredients

Duff
500 gAll-purpose flour
15 gBaking powder
3 gFine salt
100 gButter, cold, in cubes
100 gShortening, cold
300 mlMilk
Filling
400 gRipe guava, peeled, seeded and choppedabout 6 guavas, or 350 g guava paste, diced
150 gSugar
Sauce
250 gButter, soft
200 gIcing sugar
60 mlDark rum

Guava

Ripe pink guavas, peeled and seeded, are the fruit; the seeds are hard and must go. Guava paste, the firm block sold in Latin markets, is the year-round stand-in and gives a redder spiral.

Boiled or baked

The old way is to tie the duff in a cloth and boil it for hours. A wrapped log in a water bath in the oven does the same job with less watching and no risk of a soggy end; both give the pale, steamed crumb the dish is known for.

The five tastes on this plate

Salt is a pinch in the dough. Fat is butter and shortening, and more butter in the sauce. Acid is the guava's own tartness. There is no heat. Umami is the browned butter edge of the sauce.

Equipment

Large bowl and a rolling pin
Parchment and heavy foil
Roasting pan deep enough for a water bath
Electric mixer, for the sauce
Instant-read thermometer

The water bath is the steamer. Use a pan deep enough that the water comes halfway up the wrapped log.

Method

Make the dough10 min
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter and shortening until the mixture is sandy. Add the milk and mix to a soft dough; knead 30 seconds, no more.
Whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in cold butter and shortening until sandy; add milk and mix to a soft dough. Knead only 30 seconds.
Fill and roll10 min
Roll the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle 35 by 25 cm and 1 cm thick. Scatter the guava over it, leaving a 3 cm border, and sprinkle with the sugar. Roll from a long side into a tight log and pinch the seam and ends closed.
Roll dough on a floured surface to 35 × 25 cm and 1 cm thick. Scatter peeled, seeded chopped guava or diced guava paste over it, leaving 3 cm borders; sprinkle sugar. Roll tightly from a long side and pinch seam and ends shut.
Wrap5 min
Wrap the log loosely in parchment, then securely in a double layer of foil, leaving a little room for it to swell, with the seam on top.
Wrap the log loosely in parchment, then securely in two foil layers. Leave room for expansion and keep the seam facing upward to protect the dough.
Cook1 hr
Heat the oven to 175 °C. Set the wrapped log in the roasting pan and pour in boiling water halfway up its sides. Bake 60 to 70 minutes until the log is firm and reads 95 °C at the centre through the foil.
Heat oven to 175 °C. Place wrapped log in a roasting pan; add boiling water halfway up its sides. Bake 60–70 minutes until firm and 95 °C centrally, probing through foil. Do not let the water bath boil dry.
Make the sauce5 min
Beat the soft butter with the icing sugar until pale and smooth, then beat in the rum. It should be a thick, pourable cream; a spoon of warm water loosens it.
Beat soft butter with icing sugar until pale and smooth, then beat in rum. Aim for a thick, pourable cream; loosen with a spoonful of warm water if needed.
Slice and serve10 min
Rest the duff 10 minutes, unwrap, and slice 3 cm thick. Serve warm with the sauce spooned generously over.
Rest the cooked duff for 10 minutes, unwrap and cut into 3 cm slices. Serve warm with generous spoonfuls of the butter-rum sauce.
07
Sensory cues of doneness
- Visual: a pale, set slice with a pink spiral, the dough springy, the guava jammy.
- Auditory: the water bath ticking, never boiling dry.
- Olfactory: guava's musky sweetness, butter and rum.
Check for a pale, set and springy crumb with a pink guava spiral and jammy filling. The water bath should simmer gently; expect sweet guava, butter and rum aromas.

Storing it

The duff keeps 3 days refrigerated, wrapped; re-steam slices 10 minutes or warm them covered in a low oven. The sauce keeps a week refrigerated; bring it to room temperature and beat again.

Troubleshooting

Gummy, doughy centre.: Undercooked, or the log was too thick. Roll to 1 cm and cook to 95 °C.
The roll split and leaked.: Rolled loose, or the border was skipped. A 3 cm bare edge and a firm seam.
Sauce separated.: Butter too cold or the rum added fast. Soft butter, and the rum in a thin stream.

Substitutions

One-to-one swaps, with the technique change each one needs.

Ingredient substitutions

Ingredient	Replace with	Culinary impact and technique adjustment
Fresh guava	Guava paste, diced, or thick guava jam	Sweeter; halve the sugar in the filling
Shortening	All butter, 200 g in total	Richer, slightly less tender
Dark rum	Rum extract and milk, or a splash of vanilla	The sauce without the spirit; the same texture

Scaling

Half

A shorter log, 45 minutes in the bath.

Double

Two logs side by side in the same pan; check each with the thermometer.

What to serve it with

The rum-butter sauce, and more of it
A cup of strong coffee
Vanilla ice cream, for those who want it colder

Questions

Can I boil it the old way?

Yes: tie the log in a floured cloth and simmer 2 hours in a covered pot, topping up with boiling water. The crumb is a little wetter.

What is duff?

An old English word for a boiled pudding, plum duff being the ancestor. The Bahamas swapped the plums for guava.

Is the sauce cooked?

No. Butter and icing sugar beaten with rum, the Bahamian hard sauce, poured over the hot duff so it melts into it.