Flan

About the dish

Flan, the caramel custard known in France as crème caramel, is beloved in Spain and across Latin America, and leche flan is a Filipino favorite. Egg custards go back to Roman cooking; the caramel came later.

Sugar is cooked to an amber caramel and poured into the mold to coat the bottom. A custard of eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla goes on top. Many Latin American and Filipino versions use sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk, which make a denser, richer flan, and leche flan often uses many yolks. Straining the custard removes stray bits of egg.

The flan bakes in a water bath at a low temperature, which keeps it smooth and free of bubbles, until it is set but still wobbles a little in the center. After chilling, a knife runs around the edge and the flan is turned out onto a plate. The hard caramel will have melted into a thin sauce that pours over the top. The flavor is sweet and rich, with a pleasing bitterness from the caramel. In Britain and France the word can also mean a tart: an open fruit tart in Britain, a baked custard tart in France.

Written from general cooking knowledge, as background on a dish from the game’s recipe book. It is not a tested recipe.

The flavors it leans on

• Sweet
• Rich
• Bitter