Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Steamed Flan Recipe

Follow all the directions for the original flan recipe, except instead of placing the mold into one inch deep hot water to be baked in an oven, you will steam the flan instead. Depending on who you are, you might already have a metal or bamboo steamer in which you can fill the bottom level with water and the second level with the mold filled with the flan mixture. If not, you will, like FS, improve. Generally, FS looks for a large pot with a cover. Then, she considers what she can use as a stand: either a flipped over bowl or a metal stand upon which to the place the mold filled with the flan. Then, stand in place, an inch or two of water is added to the pot and then the mold placed on top of the stand. Heat to a simmer and cover the pot, leaving a small sliver open for some of the steam to escape. The water does not need to touch the mold. The steam is enough to cook the flan. Moreover, steaming takes a shorter time than baking and does not result in the eggy, hard layer atop the flan.


Steam for 45-50 minutes instead of a full hour (and maybe less depending on the size of your pot or the intensity of your stove's flame - a small pot or a good steamer may result in only 30 minutes steam time). And voila, flan!

Beautifully whole and perfect with only minimal bubbling along the sides...

Perfection is this: the sweet, smooth feel of flan.