My high school piano teacher, Ms. Sung, asked for a flan recipe, so I sent her this one. She said it turned out great, but the vanilla bean was pricey. It’s true. Vanilla can get pretty expensive. Don’t buy it at the grocery store. I have found better luck at specialty markets. Online is always an option, too, except sometimes you’ll have to buy like 50 of them… Hopefully, you really like flan.

Flan’s kind of weird to me. It’s not a consistency we’re used to eating. The caramel is running and the custard is all wiggly like a creamy jello. My sister, Teva, gave me a bunch of dishes and serving ware when I moved out of the dorms in college. One of the dishes was a flan pan. Inside, I found a 3×5 card with a hand written recipe for flan. So I made it, and my liking of flan improved. I still have to be in the mood for it. This is a salted vanilla caramel offshoot of that original recipe.

2 T sugar
A pinch of sea salt
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
Same amount of whole milk
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean, seeded

There’s a tool and a pan for everything these days. There are avocado corers, strawberry stem removers, and scone pans… They’re all very lovely, and maybe even a little more convenient, but mostly they’re just ways to spend more money at Sur la Table. A lidded flan pan, however, is helpful because it saves you a step or two. You’ll see…

1. Heat your sugar in the flan pan on the stove over low heat, swirling until it becomes liquid. (Alternatively, heat it in a sauce pan, and pour into a cake pan). Once the sugar becomes liquid, stir until it turns a deep caramel brown. Tilt the pan so that the caramel spreads evenly. Immediately, sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool, so that it hardens while you make the cream. It’s ok if it cracks.
2. Whip together the remaining ingredients, using the back of your knife to scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean (Keep the rest of the pod for other uses. You can stick it in a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar…)
3. Pour the cream mixture over the caramel and cover with the lid.
4. Place in a ban marie, or hot water bath, filling the pan halfway up with warm water. I think it’s easier to place the pan in the oven first and then add the water.
5. Bake at 350° for an hour .
6. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.
7. Invert onto a plate. The caramel top should run down the sides when you flip it.