F for Flan Mexicano I How to make Flan – Day 6

Flan also known as Caramel Custard in India is an easy dessert. Caramel Custard has fewer ingredients and is light. Mexican Flan on the other hand is rich, yet  refreshing.

F for FLAN MEXICANO– MEXICO

History: Quoted from here

"Like many desserts (including our beloved cheesecake), flan’s existence began during the Roman Empire. The Romans were the first to domesticate chickens and they found themselves in the middle of an egg surplus. So they used techniques they learned from the Greeks to develop new egg-based recipes. These recipes, as you can imagine, resulted in loads of dishes and desserts, including flan.

Back then, most versions of the dessert were savory rather than sweet and included flavors like eel sprinkled with pepper. But a few early, recorded recipes contained the only sweetener of the day: honey. And as the Romans conquered basically all of Europe, their customs, beliefs, and recipes went with them. The sweet variety of flan gripped the newly vanquished lands and when the Empire fell in 476 CE, flan survived.

Of all the peoples introduced to this dessert, the Spanish were particularly taken with it (and were the first to top it with a sweet caramel sauce). Like the Romans before them, the Spaniards brought flan to new lands, when in 1518, the famous conquistador Hernán Cortés landed in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.

The Mexicans took flan to a whole new level. They created coffee, chocolate, and even coconut flavors and the recipes became popular not only in Mexico, but the rest of Latin America."

So what took its origin in Rome, was sweetened by the Mexicans hence the Flan Mexicano. 

Flan Mexicano:

You will need:

Recipe adapted from here

1 cup Sugar

1 cup Milk

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1 tbsp Vanilla extract

1 tbsp Corn starch

1 cup Heavy cream

Place sugar in a heavy pan over medium high heat and cook stirring constantly until the sugar melts and begins to darken. You want a golden amber color, anything darker it will taste bitter. Remove from heat and pour into a flan mold or smaller ramekins. I used ramekins. Let cool.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Whisk together milk, condensed milk, eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and cornstarch until combined. Then add the cream and whisk for a minute, until the mixture is smooth. Pour this mixture over the cooled caramel syrup.

Place the ramekins in a deep pan. Pour boiling water into the pan, the water should reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Place in oven carefully and bake for 30-35 minutes until the centre is set but still jiggly. If using a flan mold bake longer.

Allow the flan to cool completely and then chill for 3-4 hours. Using a sharp knife, run it around the sides of the ramekin to release the flan. Invert it onto a plate and serve chilled.

The smooth texture of the flan is simply fantastic. The eggs give it good structure and the cream makes it silky smooth. It has the right amount of sweetness and the caramel compliments it beautifully.

BAKES FROM AROUND THE WORLD:

A for ANZAC BISCUITS

B for BASBOUSA
C for CHOCOLATE ECLAIRS
D for DAMPER BREAD
E for EMPANADAS

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