Flan Magico

[caroline]

Hi, I'd promised to post this recipe for pressure cooker flan. It's the way all Mexican flan has been made since Nestle invented their recipe for Flan Magico as they called it. this was, I think, in the 1960s, though I'd have to check.

It is denser than French creme caramel. That is popular in Mexico because it means you can add pureed fruit, nuts, or other flavorings to make a zillion variations. The plain remains the most popular though so far as I can tell.

Rachel

Flan

The signature dessert of Mexico. Condensed milk makes a wonderful flan. For those who worry about using a canned ingredient, it is worth remembering that Mexicans have been boiling down sugar with milk to make cajeta (Mexican dulce de leche) and fudges since at least the eighteenth century. The cans simply offer a handy short cut. In this recipe, the pressure cooker is not used to speed things up but because it makes a smoother flan than one cooked in the oven.

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 cup fresh milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the sugar in a metal flan mold or a 9 inch ring mold and heat over a low flame until the sugar turns brown and caramelizes. Stir constantly so that the mixture covers the bottom and sides of the mold. Allow to cool for an hour.

Blend the rest of the ingredients, pour into the mold, and cover with flan lid or aluminum foil.

Now there is a choice:

(A) Use a pressure cooker for the smoothest flan.

Place a metal stand or upturned saucer in the bottom of a pressure cooker. Add 2 ½ cups of water. Place the mold in the cooker, making sure the water comes well up the sides.

Bring the cooker to full pressure and cook for 25 minutes.

Gradually remove the pressure cap, allowing steam to escape. Take off the lid and remove the aluminum foil so that no water condenses on the flan.

Allow to cool to room temperature and unmold.

(B) An oven is an alternative.

Heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the mold in a large pan of water. Bake in the oven 1 ½ hours or until set.

Remove the lid or aluminum foil, allow to cool completely and unmold.

[theabroma]

Caroline, can you cut down the 1 cup of sugar, or dispense with it all together? I'm sure there will be some change in consistency - but I am trying to figure out how to curtail the amount of sugar. I love this stuff ... have never made it in a pressure cooker, though I have been looking at several models recently with and eye towards getting one.

Theabroma

[caroline]

Sure. here are three variants I just pulled off the shelf.

(1) From Personalidades en la Cocina (a cookbook produced after the MC earthquake in 1985.

This has one can condensed milk, 1/2 liter of milk, 4 eggs and a dash of vanilla. Rest of the method the same.

(2) From Chepin Peralta, 25 Años en Television (1998). Long Mexico's leading TV cook. A flan de almendra with 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup milk, the can of condensed milk, 4 eggs, and 100 grams of peeled and toasted almonds, all blended together, rest of the method the same.

(3) From Hazme El Cazón, the cookbook put out by the Consejo de Estudios de la Historia de México (1998).

A flan de coco. I litre milk, 3 egg yolks, a little bit of cinnamon stick, 3 tablespoons of coconut, 150 grams grated coconut, 1/2 tin of condensed milk, dash of vanilla. Cook milk with cinnamon stick, add rest, and proceed as in all the other recipes.

So you can see the sugar can really be reduced. These are forgiving preparations.

Rachel

[Jaymes]

Rachel --

I've never owned a pressure cooker. I remember the one my mama had, cooking away on the stove, small metal tinkertoy disc on top whirling and spinning and whistling and spewing and hopping about like a thing possessed, threatening to burst and horribly scald and maim us all.

So I never got one.

But boy do I love flan.

So I think I may have to make the leap. Confront the devil. Sounds as though it'd be worth it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post that.

Edited April 24, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[theabroma]

Rachel --

I've never owned a pressure cooker. I remember the one my mama had, cooking away on the stove, small metal tinkertoy disc on top whirling and spinning and whistling and spewing and hopping about like a thing possessed, threatening to burst and horribly scald and maim us all.

So I never got one.

But boy do I love flan.

So I think I may have to make the leap. Confront the devil. Sounds as though it'd be worth it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post that.

Pressure cookers are all grown up, and out of their braces and training bras. They are much safer, and much more elegant. They can be quite expensive as well.

I, too, adore flan. And so I have been eyeing a pressure cooker myself. Got the ganas bad for a Kuhn Rikon, but will have to counterfeit coin of the realm to be able to afford one. I've been threatening to take a few days R&R and hop down to Monterrey. If the p'cookers there are sturdy shall I bring a few back????

They are also so great for beans and soups, etc.

Theabroma

[Jaymes]

I've been threatening to take a few days R&R and hop down to Monterrey.

When might you do that? If it's sometime between May 23rd & the end of the month, I'll go tambien.

[caroline]

Hi Jaymes and Theabroma,

Good to be chatting to you both. I've had horrendous computer problems for the last month (which I put down to wonderful Telmex) so forgive me if I have not replied to letters or postings.

I was in Mexico City yesterday with some folks preparing to photograph Mexican food. Sure enough, there in the kitchen was a pressure cooker humming away cooking beef for deshebrada and cubes, frijoles, and goodness knows what else as well.

My impression buying pressure cookers in Mexico is that the brands are the same as you can get in the US. Ecko and (goodness I forget, it will come to me soon) are the main cheap brands and go for somewhere in the range of $50 US. But there is usually a good selection of better quality, usually European brands (often French it seems), in Sears or Liverpool. These are more in the $100 range.

Mine is a big stainless steel MAN made in Spain. I think it cost me about $80 on sale at Sears. I like it a lot.

Cheers,

Rachel

[fiftydollars]

hmm... this is probably not the place to bring this up, but

as long as we are on the topic of pressure cookers.

I got an old faberware pressure cooker from my grandmother and I am wondering if it is safe to use. It looks to be about 25 years old. The seal is intact and the whole thing is in excellent, almost never used, condition. It is a model with a round regulator.

Anyway, I have had if for more than a year and this is the first time I have been tempted to use it. I love flan and I would really like to try Caroline's method, but not if it means prying pressure-cooker shrapnel from my kitchen wall.

[caroline]

Goodness Fifty Dollars, I'm no expert on pressure cookers. If it's a really old one, I think the crucial question is whether the rubber sealing ring is in good condition.

But I do have the impression the modern ones are much safer because they have interlocking metal flanges. Is it worth $50 bucks to make pressure cooker flan? I' m not sure. Here they have so many other uses. But look at the wonderful comments on the other flan thread (help, site managers, any way to combine these?).

Best,

Rachel