Cream caramel : Crème caramel or flan caramel or crème caramel dessert is a crème dessert topped a layer of caramel, as opposed to creme brulee, which is a cream dessert where the caramelization is only on top or else the cream pot which has no additions.
The dish is eaten all over the world. Crème caramel is ubiquitous in European restaurants; Alan Davidson, culinary historian, points out that: “In the latter part of the XNUMXth century, crème caramel occupied too much of the dessert menu of European restaurants. This is likely due to the convenience for restaurateurs of being able to prepare large numbers in advance and hold them until needed. »
Etymology: Both crème caramel and flan (from Old German flato meaning "cake") are French names, however flan can have different meanings depending on the region.
In Spanish-speaking countries and North America, flan refers to crème caramel. Originally in Spanish usage, the dish is now better known in the United States in a Latin American context. Elsewhere, including in Great Britain, flan usually means a pastry flan, sometimes as a q, containing a thick cream dessert made of eggs with aromas savory ou sweet. In modern English flan or flawed in nascent modern English come from French flan, from Old French flask, itself from fladone men in Medieval Latin, derived from Old High German flado, a kind of pancake, probably from the Indo-European root meaning "flat" or "wide". The North American meaning of flan as crème caramel was borrowed from Latin American Spanish.
Preparation, cooking and presentation: Crème caramel is a variant of ordinary flan (cream), where sugar syrup cooked to the caramel stage is poured into the moule before the dessert cream base is added. It is usually cooked in bath on a stove or in the oven in a water bath. It is stirred and served with caramel sauce on top, hence the name “crème caramel versée”.
Imitations: An imitation of crème caramel can be made from instant flan powder, thickened withgelatin or carrageenans, rather than with eggs. In some Latin American countries, the true version of custard is known as milk flan (milk flan), or milk cheese, and the substitute version is known as the flan.
Regional varieties:
Latin America: More particularly in Argentina, Mexico and Uruguay, but also in some neighboring countries, crème caramel is usually eaten with milk jam.
In Venezuela and Brazil, it is often made from sweetened condensed milk, with milk, eggs, and drizzled on top with caramelized sugar. The Venezuelan version is known as quesillo. In Brazil it is called condensed milk pudding or pudim of milk.
In Chile, it is often accompanied by Quince paste (a gelatin quince) or concentrated milk sweet.
Cuba: Cuban flan, known in Spanish-speaking countries as "Flan de Cuba", is made with two Egg whites and for the aroma a stick of cannelle. A similar Cuban dish is "Copa Lolita", a small flan with caramel served with one or two scoops of ice vanilla. Other variants use the ice to the coconut or the family rhum.
Philippines: In the Philippines, flan is known as leche flan (local term of Spanish origin Leche Flan, literally flan de lait), which is a heartier version of the Spanish flan, consisting of concentrated milk sweet and more jegg ells. Leche flan is usually steam cooked or directly in the flame on the stove, more rarely, it can also go into the oven. THE leche flan is a staple at parties. An even heartier version of leche flan, the tocino del sky differs in that it has significantly more egg yolks and sugar.
Vietnam: Crème caramel was introduced by the French and is common in Vietnam under the name banh caramel or from Kem caramel to the north, or Flan ou flan South. The caramel on the bottom can sometimes be replaced with black coffee giving the dish a new flavor and distinct scents.
Japan: Industrial creme caramel is ubiquitous in Japanese convenience stores under the name of purine or fla puddingnot. Often an entire shelf in a Lawson or 7-Eleven store is dedicated to more than a dozen brands and varieties of these crème caramels.