Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Leche Flan - The Filipino Creme Caramel (12th June)

        Creme caramel is a dessert I grew up loving. I actually grew up eating the pre-made ones that you buy from the supermarket - my parents would always buy these as a treat and Mum never really had time to make them. I remember that I would never be able to finish a whole serve and absolutely loved eating the caramel, I'd drown the custard in caramel and eat most of it leaving behind just custard with not a lot of caramel left and gave it back to my parents to finish.
        Growing up the pre-made stuff was fine to eat, until I discovered the home made Vietnamese version that my aunty made. Our version is a much lighter custard, I remember my aunty teaching me the recipe, it was pretty much based on ratios and a can of condensed milk to measure. It was made with whole eggs, condensed milk and water. It's also steamed rather than baked which is quite a skill as to not let the custard bubble - something I have never quite mastered.
         Being introduced to the Filipino version called Leche Flan was a whole new revelation for me, it's one of Ryan's favourites. It was dense, it was rich, and it was evil - in a good way! Every time there was a function of some sort in the Romero household you could pretty much guarantee that someone would bring Leche Flan. Ryan's mum doesn't really make desserts, so it was only ever at these functions that we were able to eat it, and it's been a looooong time since they've had any functions at their household, nor have we attended any big Filo gatherings together.

        The first time I had made Leche Flan was back in January this year, according to Ryan and his mum, I hadn't quite hit the mark. It wasn't as dense/rich as a traditional flan and I was told I needed to use condensed milk (which I did). I actually googled Leche Flan and picked one of the first recipes in the search results, I thought I had favourited it but can't seem to find it on my list. I think the recipe was an adaption from the author and at the time reading it I thought it sounded alright. Presentation wise it wasn't the best, the custard got a little caught at the bottom of my ramekins so were a little hard to unmould. My caramel was also just a touch on the dark side.
        Recently (about a month ago) I had the itch to make Leche Flan again and wanted to make it as authentic as I could, this time I had the power of a food blogging community and Twitter. Someone on Twitter actually gave me a link to their blog for Leche Flan. I didn't know this person, nor was I following them so was suprised that they had responded to me. I read through the recipe and thought "wow this sounds really rich" but it was their mum's recipe and who could say no to that. I pretty much had all the ingredients at home except for evaporated milk so had to walk up the road to the shops to buy it.

        The recipe uses 12 egg yolks, yes 12! I've read other recipes which call for 10 yolks with the same amount of evaporated milk and condensed milk. It also meant I had 12 whites leftover! Oh macarons!

        Making creme caramel/leche flan is not all that hard once you find a good recipe. All the ingredients go into the same jug and stirred. The trick is not to stir too hard to cause air bubbles in the mix. Oops, you can see some tiny ones on the surface there. The egg yolks didn't seem to want to break up, should probably have beaten them up seperately before adding to the milk mixture.

        Once combined, use a fine sieve to catch all the bits of egg which havn't broken up. The sieve I had to use wasn't as fine as I had hoped so I still get little bits of egg in the mix, no matter though as they float to the top during cooking and then the whole thing gets tipped over so you won't see it anyway.

        I think I wasn't feeling 100% that day, for some reason it took me 3 goes to cook the caramel, I kept ending up with sugar crystals but couldn't seem to figure out why.

        Last time I made individual custards but I know that it's usually traditionally cooked in a large tin of sorts and then flipped and served onto a plate. I decide to use my two oval dishes which I had bought from Ikea. One for us and one for Ryan's family.

        Golden baked custards. They are cooked in the oven in a bain marie (water bath) and covered with aluminium foil so they don't overbrown.

        For photo purposes I flipped one out, it's so shiney! I end up cutting this one up and putting it into a container for home. I take the other one in the dish to Ryan's place. It's a little thinner than I had anticipated but as it's so rich you don't really need a large piece. I need to practice my unmoulding of these things still.

        So the verdict? Ryan loved it "Very rich but oh so good!". Ryan's mum loved it too but suggested that I should have added some lime peel as that's how it's traditionally done, oh drats why did I have to leave it out. It would have added another dimension to it though, I remember the ones I've had always had a hint of citrus or even possibly ginger. With the amount of egg yolks and condensed/evaporated milk I can see why I only ever get to eat this on special occasions.
        If I were to attempt a double batch, that's a lot of eggs! I might just do it with 10 yolks next time though for comparison. So what did I do with my 12 egg whites? I attempted macarons again of course! Two batches of macarons and a batch of amaretti biscuits and even then still had 2 whites left, posts to come.

13 comments:

  1. Ooo it does look so silky smooth... I grew up eating the pre-made ones too (still do when I'm lazy). I giggled when you said "macarons" :P You know what you could also make? Friands! :)

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  2. Honestly, I never liked the supermarket creme caramel. I always told people that I hated it because of it. Then I ate it at a restaurant and it was delicious! Judging by the ingredients I reckon I would've loved this. Nice one, Angie!

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  3. Woah, seriously rich stuff! And yay for eggwhites = macarons, pavlova, friands...

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  4. That looks so amazing! So silky smooth and decadent!

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  5. Oooh I love flan! Yours looks really good! :) And good thinking with making macarons too! :D

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  6. Looks fantastic Angie! So shiny and I love the deep colour!

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  7. oh wow that looks fab angie! i need to get me some eggs now haha

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  8. That really looks very good! Yeap... the egg whites will be used for macarons! I am now inspired to make some....

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  9. 12 yolks! Wow- it must taste so good! I've never had leche flan before....
    but I've had creme caramel! And I loved that- so I'm pretty sure I'd love this!

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  10. Flan is something I grew up with as well. Our is the steamed version, which I could NEVER master. Thanks GOD for the oven! Yours look wonderful

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  11. Hi Phuoc: Haha yeah pre-made ones are okay when lazy but home made is oh so much better =p Ohhh friands, havn't tried to make my own yet, next to bake!

    Hi Amy: Hehe aww the supermarket ones wern't that bad, but maybe 'cos I grew up with them.

    Hi mademoiselle délicieuse : Haha sometimes you think there's not alot you can do with whites but oh my when you really think hard about it there's so much to make!

    Hi Forager: Thanks! Very decadent indeed =D

    Hi Lorraine: Lol, only usually make macarons if I have something else to do with yolks, worked out perfectly =D

    Hi Maria: Thanks! It rather is nice and golden hey =)

    Hi Suze: Thanks! Lol, shouldn't eggs be a staple ingredient at home? =p

    Hi Penny: Thanks! Hehe yes make some this weekend ;)

    Hi Von: It pretty much is a very rich creme caramel, it's even better than the original! ;)

    Hi Anh: Yes I forgot to mention the steaming part when my aunty was teaching me hoe to make it, I would always end up with bubbles in the bottom of the custards.

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  12. I haven't had one of these for ages! Looks beautiful

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  13. Hi John: Thanks! Sounds like I might have to make another soon then ;)

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