I absolutely love flan, but have never actually tried to make one, so when it came about that I will be co-hosting a holiday party for the lovely people taking salsa classes with Julio Montero, I thought I had better practice before the actual day. This is my first attempt at flan, Cuban or otherwise. Yes, it has a bellybutton and an appendectomy scar, but what’s a flan without a little personality? That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. On another note, if you are looking for a fantastic Cuban experience, check out Julio’s new project 7daysinCuba. I had the chance to go with a group led by Julio and his lovely partner Rita, this past March and it was amazing.
Anyway, back to the kitchen. I settled on this recipe, from MinatheBrat, for Delicious, Easy Cuban-Style Flan which I found on Food.com. There were a bunch of recipes that were pretty similar. Some called for 1 egg and 5 egg yolks, one for 3 eggs and two yolks, and one just 4 whole eggs. I didn’t have plans to make anything with egg whites. That was until I started looking at uses for leftover egg whites and realized I had limes that needed to be used (lime curd pavlovas anyone?). So, I tweaked the recipe and went with 4 egg yolks and 1 whole egg (plus I only had 5 eggs and was too lazy to go to the grocery store.
I also didn’t have a flanera (I might have to get one), so I used a round oven-proof casserole dish and made a bain Marie which is a fancy name for cooking in a water bath. Gotta love the French, they make everything sound sexy.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 4 egg yolks and 1 whole egg
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 can evaporated milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
Method
- Melt the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until it caramelizes and is nice and golden.
- Pour the caramel into an oven proof dish and swirl to coat the bottom (work fast because the sugar cool quickly).
- Set aside to cool and make the custard.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk the yolks and egg together, add the condensed milk, evapourated milk and vanilla.
- Pour the custard mixture into the caramel lined baking dish.
- Place the custard dish into a larger oven proof dish and fill the dish with hot water (be careful not to get the water in your custard!).
- Cover the custard and put in the oven.
- Bake 45 minutes, turn off the oven and leave it in for another 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and the water bath and let cool completely.
- Run a knife around the outside edge of the flan. Put a plate big enough to catch the liquid caramel and invert (praying a little that it won’t stick might help – I did).
- Put in the fridge to chill for at least an hour before serving.
Notes: It should come as no surprise that this is super sweet. A small sliver will go a loooong way.