Absurdly easy flan

[eyesroll]

1. Melt 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 c water in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Let it boil and cook until it's nice and golden and reduced slightly in volume. (Basically: Make a simple syrup, but cook it further.)

2. Quickly pour into six small ramekins. The syrup will harden quickly. Let cool to the point where it's not too hot to touch.

3. Preheat oven to 350.

4. In a large bowl, combine four egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 big can (it's 12 ounces or so, I'm not sure) evaporated milk (NOT skim, NOT condensed). Mix with a whisk until well blended and a little frothy.

5. Pour into ramekins over the hardened syrup.

6. Put ramekins into a baking pan. Fill the pan with water up to the level of the custard (about 1.5 inches, I've found).

7. Bake at 350 until the custard is set. This took 45 minutes in my oven, but there's no rhyme or reason for anything with custard. Check after 30 minutes.

8. Remove from oven, cool for a bit on a rack, then refrigerate until cold. These keep for a day or two.

9. To serve, insert a knife around the custard, cut it loose, and invert on a plate. The syrup will have re-liquified, and will make a nice sauce. Garnish with berries if you wish.

This recipe can be doubled and baked in an 8-inch casserole (in a water bath, still), too.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. In Acapulco,

I learned this trick from the cook in our really, really, really rich friends' villa a long time ago:

Take a can of Carnation Sweetened Condensed Milk and put it in a saucepan of barely simmering water for - I'm not sure of the time anymore - maybe an hour. The water must barely smile the whole time, never boil.

Open the can at both ends, and slide it out.

Flan.

[Dora]

2. Best typo ever!

"The water must barely smile the whole time..."

Mona Lisa water? The idea sure gave me a grin.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

4. Not a typo

"Smile" is the cooking term given to water that's heated not quite to boiling, but is only bubbling around the edges.

Isn't that lovely?

[eyesroll]

5. How does this not explode?

That sounds a little too rich, even for me...

[OldLeftieLawyer]

6. That's why I said "smiling" water, not boiling

It just cooks very, very slowly. Exploding - I don't know how that would happen, but it never has.

It's just easy, and I like that.

[Habibi]

7. Oh, yeah! I worked at a Mexican restaurant in NYC

where the chief cook made flan this way. (I don't know if she called it flan or something else, too long ago.) She would punch a hole in the can to guard against explosion, and the water she boiled (or "smiled") the can in wasn't deep enough to rush into the hole.

Yummy stuff. Never was brave enough to do it myself, though.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

9. Ah, the hole

I forgot to include that in the original post I put here.

See? I wasn't hallucinating. That's a great method. Give it a shot.

Well, not a shot, actually ...........

[hippiegranny]

8. My Colombian honey calls this

arriquipe. (odd-a-keep-ay) We actually boil it for 5 hours. It is super super sweet and can only be eaten in tiny portions!

[SoCalDem]

My Cuban grandmother always made hers in the squat 1 lb coffee cans

I have lost her recipe ages ago..but it was the best flan ever No cinnamon (yuk)..just gooey caramely sauce, drizzly down the sides and the concentric circles transferred onto the flan (from the can)..

i know she used eagle milk, vanilla & caramelized sugar..

[SoCalDem]

3. duped