The Catalan TableIngredients
Servings:
4
Ingredients
- caramel hair
- 100 gwhite sugar
- 60 mlwater (best bottled)
- 2 duck eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 500 mlwhole milk
- 120 gsugar (can also be brown cane sugar)
- 1 lemon (the peel) OPTIONAL
- 1 cinnamon
Nutritional Information
Per Serving (Approx.)
Calories
567 kcal
Protein
25 g
Fat
18 g
Carbohydrates
85 g
Disclaimer: These values are estimates based on ingredient types and may not be precise.
Step-by-step Guide
Prepare a Caramel
- Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat without stirring, until it acquires a golden color and a viscous caramel texture. This process typically takes between 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the heat. If necessary, gently swirl the saucepan to ensure the caramel distributes evenly.
- Carefully pour the caramel into the bottom of the mold and tilt the mold so that the caramel also adheres to the sides. Do this quickly before the caramel cools and solidifies.
Preparation
- Prepare a baking dish that is large enough to hold the ramekins without them touching each other.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF) with both top and bottom heat to ensure even cooking.
- Put the milk in a pot along with the peel of one lemon and half a cinnamon stick. Heat over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Once boiled, turn off the heat and let it infuse for about 10 minutes until the milk is warm.
- Carefully separate 4 yolks from the whites, ensuring there is no trace of white with the yolks.
- In a bowl, place the sugar, the 2 whole eggs, and the 4 yolks. Stir with a manual whisk until you achieve a homogeneous and slightly frothy mixture.
- Strain the milk with a fine-mesh strainer directly over the bowl with the yolks, stirring slowly and constantly to prevent foam formation (if foam forms, the flans may rise during cooking and shrink when cooling).
- Pass the resulting cream through a fine-mesh strainer again to remove any remaining egg white lumps.
- Fill the flan molds with the cream, leaving approximately a 1 cm margin unfilled to prevent spilling during cooking.
- Place the ramekins in the water bath container and fill it with hot water until it reaches a little over halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake at 180ºC for 45-50 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of a custard; it should come out clean but with slight moisture to ensure a soft and creamy texture.
Note: to Sants: 50 minutes
- Let them cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Once cooled, place them in an airtight container and refrigerate until the next day.
Recommendations & Tricks
- It's important to prepare the flans the day before. This way, they can rest and better achieve the right consistency in the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours.
- Use small molds of 7-8 cm in diameter to achieve uniformly sized flans.
- For the caramel, slowly dissolve 100 g of white sugar with 60 ml of bottled water in a pan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar completely dissolves and acquires a golden hue.
- When the caramel is ready, quickly distribute it to the base of the molds before it hardens.
- For the flan mixture, beat 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks until well integrated.
- Heat 500 ml of whole milk with 120 g of sugar (you may use brown sugar if preferred) and the peel of one lemon for aroma. Once hot (without boiling), pour the milk over the beaten eggs, stirring continuously to prevent the eggs from cooking.
- Strain the mixture with a fine sieve to remove any lumps or impurities before pouring it into the molds over the caramel.
- Cook the flans in a bain-marie by placing the molds in a tray with water in a preheated oven at 150 °C for 40-45 minutes, until the flans are set but slightly wobbly in the center.
- Allow to cool at room temperature and then place in the fridge for at least 6 hours to achieve the proper texture.