First Flan
Eggs, milk and sugar. It seems easy, right? Well, each teacher has his booklet. No two are the same. They dance on the plate, they are juicy and fluffy and one of the most classic desserts of the Spanish cookbook. Who are we talking about? From his majesty the flan , which returns to sneak into the dessert menus of many restaurants. Or maybe it had never left?
With the permission of the queen, the cheese cake , we are going to claim a dessert as rich as ours. Because if the aforementioned is in almost all the dessert menus of the country's restaurants, our beloved flan follows behind.
Its origin dates back to that Typopatinam that they prepared in Ancient Rome, which could be known as the ancestor of flan . Many years later, it began to be prepared with the ingredients we know today and during the Middle Ages, it was one of the favorite desserts during Lent. The way to give it more grace? Caramel and sugar. And so it became known as ‘flado', that evolved in France and Spain, until it became known as pudding.
You will have eaten them hundreds of times for dessert, at your grandparents' house, at your parents' house. It is a dessert that tastes like childhood , to put two globs of cream and enjoy the beauty. As well, flan is no longer only taken as the end of a menu of the day or those industrial ones, now **it makes room among chocolate, cheese or lemon tarts** and occupies a prominent place on the menu of many restaurants. These are the best and believe us, no two are alike.
THE BEST FLAN IN SPAIN?
One of those who began to revalue it was Paco Quiros at his premises. Everyone knows his exceptional cheesecake , creamy and high-ranking, but the **flan from La Primera or Cañadío ** is not far off the mark. In fact, it is considered by many to be the best of Spain.
Halfway between custard and a panna cotta, its flavor will not leave you indifferent. we know it takes cream, eggs, milk, lemon and orange zest... But we have no idea of his master formula , faithfully kept under lock and key by its cook. What we do know is that has no rival and that pays homage to Álex's lofty flan, from Santander's Bodega del Riojano.
First Flan
Mr Martin has earned a place among the leading fish restaurants in the city of Madrid. Alfonso Castilian embroiders the point of each piece that passes through his hands. and in one letter 'with height', I could not miss a flan of those that make you fly.
”Our flan is made exclusively with egg yolks of the Gallo-Celtic breed Y Artisan cream from the Fontona cheese factory in Cudillero (Asturias)”, they tell us. And they continue: "Then we cook it in our pressure steam oven so that the coagulation is as fast as possible and, consequently, as fragile as possible".
They infuse it twice, once hot and once cold. The result? Pure softness full of flavor, served with Asturian cream and a quenelle of fresh cream.
Flan of Mr. Martin
He drove us crazy about his lemon pie or the Idiazabal cheese cake , and of course, his flan drives us crazy. Because in the kitchens of Lakasa Only the best of the best enter. And they know that well César Martín and all his team . Following the traditional recipe of a lifetime, they add that little point that can only be given by pure and hard product cuisine.
Instead of cow's milk, **they use sheep's milk from the Ultzama Valley (Navarra)**, which has much more flavor and less fat, and Free-range eggs from cereal-fed hens , which come from an organic farm in Toledo, known as Cobardes y Gallinas. Thus, nothing can go wrong.
Then they steam it until it reaches 77 degrees. "It should be, according to our point of view, very tender, to the point of collapse," César tells us. The only thing left for you is to sink the spoon and not leave a drop on the plate.
Lakasa Custard
One of the last to arrive has been the bistronomy , the restaurant where Carlos del Portillo raises the sea to the fifth power . The flan does not speak of the sea, but it speaks of its ability to obtain the best raw material. In fact, in the letter you will find it as 'The best'.
To make it, use eggs, sugar, 35% cream, milk, cinnamon stick, orange peel and Maldon salt . Wait. Salt? But weren't we talking about a sweet? "The salt enhances the flavor of the other ingredients," he notes. So clear.
Once they have everything assembled, they cook it in a bain-marie and at a low temperature , until the interior reaches, this time, a temperature of 75 degrees. They accompany it with vanilla ice cream.
The return of the dessert of a lifetime: flan
Another one that opens in Madrid is the Esteem by Rafa Zafra . After triumphing in Barcelona, he has opened a place where you eat the sea pure and simple.
After his stratospheric sea urchin with prawn tartare and caviar , its exceptional fried foods or the Queens of Roses, her red prawns , it is best to finish with your flan, bailongo as well as tasty and sweet but in the right measure.
They prepare it with free-range eggs and accompanied by whipped cream and pistachio zest.
Flan of Estimar
In addition to the more or less classic versions, such as the usual egg flan of the slice , others sneak in the one who adds condensed milk as a touch of the house, in the case of **Carbón Negro,** cooked at low temperature, creamy and with the finest flavor or that of cheese.
This last one is adorned by **Manuel Urbano in La Malaje**, where they cook from the south, so it could not be missing from their sweet endings, a great Payoyo cheese flan in different textures.
Black Carbon Flan
oh! And a little ultra sweet whim, the dulce de leche flan . Honoring its origin, Javier Bichetto , in his new Argentinian premises, Piantao , proposes to finish the lunch or dinner with a bomb that will leave a good taste in your mouth and that dessert is none other than their dulce de leche flan, with cream and more dulce de leche to top it off.
What do you say, do we make a hole in the flan?
Flan of La Tajada