Flan

Courtesy of Epicurious.com

While often associated with Spanish cuisine, flan is really just a crème caramel. In fact, according to its etymology, the origin of flan is flaon, or “flat,” from the Old French. The word refers to its flat or broad appearance, particularly when baked in one dish rather than in individual ramekins. In South Africa, it’s called a melktert, or milk tart and that’s exactly what it is. At its base, it’s a custard with eggs, milk or cream, vanilla, and sugar. Throughout history, custards can be found to be both sweet and savory. (A quiche is essentially a savory custard base in a pie crust.)

Flan is not to be confused with panna cotta, although very similar. The Italian dessert has a custard base too, but calls for gelatin to solidify it. Both dishes, however, are served cold.

There are a gazillion recipes for flan online. Some even call for condensed or evaporated milk, which I think makes it a little too thick and cloyingly sweet. It’s already got a glaze of caramelized sugar plus another ¾ cup of sugar in the mixture. Then you want to incorporate a sweetened milk too? Overkill, man.

For this one, I went old school and stuck to a tried-and-true source: The Joy of Cooking. It tasted great, but ended up looking like crap. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, the mixture was a little too soft and didn’t set well (as a result of a quick pick-up of one of my daughters and turning the oven off prematurely). Two, I didn’t caramelize the sugar long enough. I was afraid of burning it—which can happen pretty quickly with sugar—so I took it off the heat a little too soon. (I see a pattern here…) The next time, I will allow for a little more set time for the custard and deepen the color of the sugar. But this is a dessert that can be made ahead easily—once, of course, you’ve got the technique down.

Here’s the recipe:

CARAMEL GLAZE:

¾ c. sugar

¼ c. water

CUSTARD:

5 large eggs

¾ c. sugar

⅛ tsp. salt

3 c. milk

¾ tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 F degrees.

Place sugar in a heavy saucepan and drizzle water evenly over the top. On medium heat, gently swirl the pan to incorporate sugar and water together and to clarify the mixture. Increase heat to high. Cover pan for a two-minute rolling boil. Uncover and cook until an amber color. Pour caramel into baking dish and swirl up the sides.

Whisk the eggs, sugar, and salt until blended. Heat the milk until steaming. Gradually whisk in the heated milk into the egg mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla. Pour into dish. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet with enough water to come about halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake for about 1 hour. Refrigerate to set for 4 hours or up to 2 days.