Rancho de Chimayo Flan, Take 2

I wanted to see if this recipe would work to make a big flan that could be sliced like pie. Well, really I wanted to get the sugar right and laziness was the motivation for the single flan. Why wash eight custard cups if I could just wash a single pie dish?

Rancho De Chimayo Flan, Take 2
adapted from the first time I made it
click to print

6 eggs, slightly beaten
2 1/4 c evaporated milk
1 3/4 c sugar, divided
3/4 c water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Set a 9" pie plate in a baking dish or broiling pan large enough to accommodate, with a little room for air circulation, within easy reach of the stove.


To prepare the custard, combine the eggs, evaporated milk, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, water, and vanilla extract in the top of a double-boiler. Beat with a whisk for about 1 minute or until the mixture is well blended and begins to froth.


Insert the pan over its water bath and heat the mixture over medium-low heat until it is warm throughout, reducing the heat to very low, if necessary, to prevent the custard from boiling while preparing the caramel.


To prepare the caramel, place the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar in a small, heavy saucepan and cook over low heat. Watch as the sugar melts into a golden-brown syrup. There is no need to stir unless the sugar is melting unevenly. Once melted, immediately remove the pan from heat.



Pour the caramel into the bottom of the pie plate; the poured syrup will harden almost immediately.


Pour the warmed custard mixture into the pie plate. Add enough warm water to the pan to cover the bottom third of the pie plate.

I wiped the bottom of the bowl with a clean towel to prevent pouring water into the pie plate along with the warm custard. The excess custard was transferred into a jelly jar.

Bake 1 hour and 45 minutes. Check to see if the custard is firm and its top has just begun to color a light brown; if not, bake for up to 10 minutes more.

What the hell? It deflated almost immediately after it was taken out of the oven.

Remove the flan from the oven and let it cool for 15 to 20 minutes at room temperature. Cover the flan and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

FYI, warm flan out of a jelly jar is pretty tasty.

Remove the cover.


Attempt to unmold the flan by placing an inverted plate over the flan, and in one quick motion (over the sink) flip the flan and plate. Wait for something to happen. Invert it again and see that nothing happened except that the plate has sugar syrup on it.


Cut and remove a small wedge of flan to break the vacuum.


Place a plate over the pie dish, and in one quick motion (over the sink) invert the pie dish and plate.



Alright! Now that's a good lookin' flan (minus the chunk I ate for breakfast, which was delicious)! The rest went to work with me. The empty dish came home. One comment:

OMG soooo good! The caramel has a much more subtle flavor today, I like it more than yesterdays.

There you have it: don't burn the sugar. It'll be bitter.

Cost:

• 6 eggs: $1.82
• evaporated milk: $1.76
• sugar: $0.37
• vanilla extract: $0.11

Total: $4.06 or about $0.51 for each of 8 servings.

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