Flan, a Typical Spanish Dessert
Custard Made of Eggs, Milk and Sugar, very popular in Spain
Basic ingredients to prepare Flan are eggs, milk and sugar, but you can add any others; sweet or salad, and the result will be delicious!
You can enjoy this sweet dessert, flan, anywhere in Latin-America and Spain. In fact, this recipe had been always associated to Spain, but today, due to the influence of different gastronomies from different continents, the flan can be found nearly anywhere in the world, according to several variants. For example, the flan, as a dessert, is sweet and we can add very different ingredients, like chocolate, coffee or coconut. But that is not all, as the flan can be also a good salad dish if we add asparagus or salmon, for example, to the basic recipe.
In fact, several Roman and Medieval sources reveal the flan was present in their cultures. Thanks to the Roman Empire, its recipe was extended through the continent, although the idea of mixing eggs and milk was taken from Old Greece.
But let’s concentrate on the flan, as a dessert. You can buy a mixer for flan at the store, but we all in Spain think the best flan is the traditional one, cooked at home
The hardest part will be preparing the caramel. The rest is very simple. You will need the following ingredients to prepare this recipe:
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups of (fat) milk
- 8 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 lemon
Preparation:
Caramel:
- Peel a lemon, removing all the bitter white pith.
- Place 4 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of water and some lemon juice into the (flan) mold, on medium heat. Sugar will melt and take a brown color. (Be careful, don’t burn it!). When the caramel is ready (amber color), move the mold so that its walls are covered by caramel.
Now, we are going to prepare the Flan:
- Cook the milk, together with the lemon peel for some minutes, and then remove from heat. Discard the peel.
- Beat the eggs and add the rest of the sugar (4 tablespoons)
- Heat the milk, and when it’s warm, add the previous mix (eggs and sugar) and poor it into the mold with caramel.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and place rack in center of the oven.
- Place the mold inside a pan with hot water, but be careful, water has to reach no more than halfway up the side of mold.
- When the oven had reached the temperature, bake the flan (custard) for about 40 minutes. To know if the flan is ready, touch gently its center with finger, it must be set.
- Remove it from oven and let it cool. After this, place in refrigerator.
- To serve it, unmold the flan using a sharp knife around the borders. Use a plate upside down and lift the pan. The caramel flan will be now on top and sides of it.
You can also use single molds instead a big one. Enjoy!
