Of All Custard Desserts, Flan is the Worst

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Jan 13th 2006 @ 2:23AM

flan It's no secret amongst my friends and family and even fellow blog-friends that I am not a fan of custard desserts. I've never liked pudding (i mean the creamy Bill Cosby kind, not what some countries call cakes), I never ever understood the fascination with creme brulee, and even desserts that sounded new and fancy to me like panna cotta and creme caramel were, well, still custards. I don't know what it is - I guess I just don't find the soft, slimy texture all that appealing. I like something I can bite into.

But I have to say that of all the custard-y desserts out there, the worst one in flan. I know that flan is supposed to be chilled after it is made, but I find that it's almost always too cold, too slimy, sometimes weirdly grainy, and whatever caramelization that has occurred on the top and/or bottom has congealed into a gummy layer of something reminiscent of the cartilage between oxtail bones.

Maybe I'm just bitter that too many Mexican and Latin cuisine restaurants serve only flan for dessert. Is it that much harder to make pastel de tres leches?

Filed Under: Ingredients
Tags: custard, dairy, dessert, desserts, flan, food, food and drink, latin cooking, latin cuisine, south america, sweets

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-13-2006 @6:13AM Berkana said... Ugh. That flan you've got displayed is overcooked. I myself don't like badly made flan, and to be honest, most flan I find at Mexican restaurants is badly made. I make an awesome flan, and I'm sure that if you taste it, it may well redeem flan for you. My friends pretty much agree that it is superior to all the flan you can find in the mexican restaurants they've eaten at.

The two biggest culprits of bad flan are poor caramelization, and overcooking. Caramelization of the sugar simply needs to be mastered through experience. As for the custard, it needs to be baked with a water bath, or you end up with that nasty cheese look and taste.

Here's my recipe and detailed procedure:

http://homepage.mac.com/Berkana/docs/Berkanas_flan.pdf
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1-13-2006 @6:22AM Berkana said... . . . oh, and lastly, for presentation, flan needs to be cut from the ramekin with a sharp knife. I use a retractable snap-segmented hobby knife that I wipe clean; it's razor sharp, and gives me a smooth cut.

A great variation is to substitute maple sugar for sugar in the custard itself. Maple flan rocks. I chill my flan for as long as possible; that way, the caramel liquifies more; it will continue to draw water out of the custard as it diffuses into the custard until it reaches osmotic equilibrium. Then, you end up with a nice liquid caramel sauce, and a caramel flavor gradient going into the flan. Seriously yummy when served ice cold. ^_^
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1-13-2006 @9:03AM Richard Leader said... I love good custard deserts. I had creme brulee earlier this week in a restaurant that was an inch away from being very good. The custard itself was really well made - creamy, lots of real vanilla and delicious - unfortunately, it was cooked at too high a temperature. When the oven's too hot, the outside can curdle and solidify and the middle doesn't cook through. Or the alternative is what you have above - something grainy with holes in. I think this is a combination of the oven being too hot and the original custard mix not being very good.
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1-13-2006 @9:48AM jmchez said... I agree with Berkana, badly made flan is not "Good Eats". However, my home made flan is always a killer. I have a number of variations, pumpkin, Kahlua, orange, etc. I even make a hybrid of cheesecake and flan that everybody in the family loves. It has a nice texture but the sweet flan flavor.

Funny thing is, I got all of those recipes from the Food Network.

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1-13-2006 @7:47PM Huffy said... Panna cotta, "Bill Cosby" pudding, creme brulee, junket, flan, blancmange, custard -- call 'em what you will, I am amongst those heretics who don't care for any of the "nursery" style desserts. They're just so, well, um, one-dimensional, I guess. And no, I don't like rice pudding either.

Give me texture, give me heft, give me pastry crusts, give me chips and nuts, give me fruit desserts like cobblers and crisps, give me cake, give me PRESENCE. I'll go for cheesecake, but it mustn't be crustless. Ice cream, gelato, sherbet, sorbet? Yes, yes, and yes!! But why should this be, if I don't go for creamy-sans-contrast?? The cold/icy factor, perhaps? Ah, sweet mystery of food preferences.

Huffy
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1-16-2006 @6:56PM Userless said... Sounds like you're getting bad flan. That's one of my favorite desserts and here in Texas the caramel is never gummy and the flan is always creamy and very tasty.

If you don't like soft textures, how can you eat a lot of things? Pasta, fruits, and cooked vegetables? Or do you just enjoy dry bread?
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