OVO-LACTO: Flan

[Barry S Spieler]

FLAN

Spanish Caramel Custard

Here's an easy recipe for a rather traditional flan,
from my wife's grandmother in Guatemala:

Ingredients:

I.

3/4 Cup sugar
2 Tbsp. water
quick squeeze of lemon juice

II. (note: I often double the step II ingredients and make a higher flan)

4 eggs
2 Cups milk
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Procedure:

I. Stir first three ingredients together in a small saucepan over
medium heat. Stirring constantly, cook until syrup darkens to a rich
reddish brown color. Immediately pour into a baking pan, cake pan, or
whatever you have (I use a round pyrex dish, about 8" diameter); it
should be deep enough to hold all the step II ingredients and just a
tad more. Tilt dish as necessary to coat entire bottom (and sides, if
you like) with the caramel syrup. Let stand (on a cooling rack, if you
have one) to cool down to room temperature. The caramelized sugar
should form a hard brown glassy coating on the bottom of the dish.

II. Preheat oven to 300 deg. Meanwhile, beat eggs in a bowl (I just
use a fork) and then add milk, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well with fork,
and pour mixture into the caramel-coated bakng dish. Cover and put dish
into a larger pan of water in the oven, and bake for about an hour.
Test with a toothpick in the center, as one would for a cake--if it
comes out looking clean, it's done.

III. Allow it to cool on the rack, and when it reaches room
temperature, put it in the refrigerator. Serve (cold) by placing a
serving plate over the dish and inverting them together. The flan
should come out onto the plate in a cake-like shape, bathed in dark
caramel syrup. (You may want to run a knife around the outside first,
to help the flan come out more easily.

Barry S. Spieler spi...@function.mps.ohio-state.edu