Cooking Matt

Abuela's Flan de leche recipe

Posted by Matthew A. Gonzalez

Tags: Cuban, Dessert

I’m slowly, but surely, venturing into the land of desserts, concentrating on those of the Cuban variety. I got it in my head the other day that I wanted to make a flan de leche or milk custard, so I researched some different recipes online and looked a recipe up in my trusty Cocina Criolla book. I decided to give my mom a call to ask her a couple of questions about the whole process, mostly wondering what a “baño de María” was — apparently it’s Spanish for double boiling — but she brushed off the recipe I was going to use and gave me my late grandmother’s recipe. So here it goes:

Ingredients for a huge flan

• 12 eggs (12 yolks, 8 whites)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp vanilla (I thought this was a bit too much vanilla, tone it down to 1 tbsp for a less-vanilla-y, more-milky taste.)
• 1 3/4 cups of sugar (Separate 1 cup and 3/4 cup)
• 1 can of condensed milk
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• 1 cup of whole milk

Tools and cookware

• Large bowl
• Small pot or saucepan
• Large spoon for stirring something very hot
• Strainer
• Large baking dish
• Round, oven-safe dish with a lid (I used a deep Corningware dish.) that can sit comfortably in the large baking dish
• Stove/oven

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350º F (177º C).
2. Add 12 egg yolks and 8 egg whites to a large bowl and beat them with a fork (not a whisk). Do not overbeat. Overbeating will hinder the looks of the flan later. It’ll create little holes in it.
3. Add the 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1-2 tbsp of vanilla. Mix the ingredients slowly, but well. The trick is to be gentle.
4. Add the milks and gently stir. Allow the mixture to sit.
5. While waiting, add 1 cup of sugar to a small pot or sauce pan and place it on the stove at medium heat. Note: sugar gets very hot and can be very dangerous. According to my mom, any contact with the skin will leave some serious scarring. Stir the sugar slowly and constantly or it will stick to the pot. When the sugar is all broken up and completely brown and liquidy, carefully pour it into the round, oven-safe dish you plan on using to make the flan. Do not overheat the sugar because it will taste burnt when it’s all said and done.
6. Next, grab the egg and milk mixture, and pour it through a strainer into the round dish. You are trying to get the most-even, consistent egg whites. When you’re done, what should be left in the strainer are thick egg whites that can be thrown away or kept for another use.
7. The next step is called double boiling, or in Spanish: “baño de María.” Fill the large baking dish with 2 cups of water. Place the covered, round dish inside of the baking dish. The purpose for covering it is to make sure the flan doesn’t get soaked in steam.
8. Place the dishes in the oven for 1 hour to 1.5 hours. After about 1 hour, check every 10 minutes if the flan is done baking by sticking a knife or stick through it and seeing if it comes out clean.
9. When the flan is done, remove and separate the two dishes. Allow the round dish to cool at least 1.5 hours. Make sure to let it cool enough, because I didn’t and the middle of my flan imploded.
10. After about 1.5 hours, flip the dish onto a plate, and allow the flan to slowly slip out. Hopefully in a little while you’ll have a perfect flan sitting on a plate so you can cut out a perfect slice.

Few tips on cleaning up

Don’t worry, your pots and pans are not ruined. Put anything that came in contact with the melted sugar in the sink with very hot water and just start scrubbing. I suggest some sort of long sponge so your hands don’t come in contact with the hot water. It’ll soften and come off eventually.

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