The FLAN FAQ
You know, I'm getting tired of defending my flan here... Calling "flan" a
sweet dessert dish and limiting one's definition to that is not unlike
believing that a "pie" can only be a $1.50 snack for sale at McDonalds
that has apples in it.
Subject: Chicken Flan
Source: The AFP Recipe Archive. http://www.lspace.org/fandom/recipes/
8oz/250g cooked chicken
oil pastry (see below)
1 small onion chopped
butter
3/4lb/ 350g leeks cooked and sliced
salt and pepper
2 eggs
3/8 pint/200ml milk
2oz/50g cheese,grated
Line a 10 in/25cm flan dish with oil pastry and bake blind. Slice the
chicken and arrange it over the bottom of the pastry case. Soften the
onion in a little butter and stir in the leeks. Season and place over the
chicken. Beat the eggs with the milk and half of the grated cheese, and
season well. Pour over the top, sprinkle with the resr of the cheese and
bake at 375f/190c/gas5 for 35-40min
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Subject: Salmon Flan.
Source: Lauretta Nagel from rec.food.cooking.
Salmon Flan (Served with Grapes and whatever dessert
I can think up....maybe cinnamon-sugar pastry shells
filled with fruit or chocolate mouse or both)
Puff pastry (now you know why I'm thinking of using
it for dessert too....gotta use up the leftovers.
2 tsps cornstarch
2/3 cup milk
7.5 oz can of salmon
1 egg, beaten
salt & pepper to taste
Dill (my addition since I probably won't use salt)
And I might add some spinach too, for green-ness.
Thaw and roll out pastry to line an 8 inch quiche pan.
Line pan and trim off extra.
Mix cornstarch with 1 tbsp of milk.
Boil rest of milk and pour into cornstarch mixture.
Mix, return it all to the pan and bring back to a
boil. Cook 1 minute.
Season, add liquid from can (if using fresh salmon,
add about 1 tbsp butter).
Remove pan from heat and add egg, beating it in.
Flake salmon and add it in. Turn it all into the
pie shell.
Bake at 375 deg F for about 35-40 minutes.
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Contrary to popular myth, flan is a generic term that refers to any type
of baked open pastry dish cooked within a pastry shell that meets certain
criteria.
It comes from the French word "flaon" as well as the Latin "fladon." Flat
cake.
Webster's Dictionary defines "Flan" as an open pie containing any of
various savory fillings.
The misconception of flan as a sweet custard comes from the unfortunate
tendency of many Americans to assume that there the only variations to
food are the ones they are most commonly used to.
A Shepard's Pie, for example, is by all definition, a pie. Yet it has no
sweet filling. A pastry also contains meat, yet most folks assume that a
pastry is accurately analagous to a danish. It is and yet is not.
Here's rec.arts.comics.*'s favorite chef and evil overlord, Mike Chary
with his definition of flan:
"Flan" referring to the meat dish is a different word than "flan"
refering to the custard dish. The first is one of the oldest foods in the western
world. The word derives from a Latin word referring to a flat metal disk.
Flan is any sort of crust containing anying from meaty and potatoes to
fruit. Pliny the Elder discusses this flan in his letters, for instance.
There are recipes in Ancient Roman cook books.
"Flan" as custard, otoh, derives from the Germanic root "plot-" to
"flathon" via Grimm's law of consonental drift meaning "cake."
_Larousse Gastronomique_ has a more comprehensive explanation.
Thanks Mike. I owe you a cookie.
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