[Sca-cooks] flan vs. custard

[Terry Decker]

Digging into Davidson's "The Oxford Companion to Food," flan is defined 
(NSOED) as, "an open pastry or sponge case containing a (savory or sweet) 
filling."  Davidson further states, "A typical flan of this sort is round, 
with a shortcrust pastry. ...The filling, especially if it is a sweet one, 
may incorporate custard."

This definition derives almost directly from the Old German "fladen," where 
the shape (a flat cake) is the critical point.

Davidson points out that in France, Spain and Portugal the term flan refers 
to a custard dessert.  He then ties this back to the Latin "flado" with a 
principle meaning of "a custard."  I believe he errors, because be does not 
address the Germanic root.

>From personal experience, I have encountered a cheese flan and an apple 
flan, neither of which had a custard.  Creme anglaise, vanilla slice and 
Zabaglione are custards that are not flans.

Flans are uncovered tarts, with or without custard that are referred to as 
flans, creme caramel, or a molded custard similar to creme caramel. 
Confusing, huh?

Bear

> Bear replied to my questions with:
> <<< Personally, I would stick all of the flan stuff in under flan,
> which would
> handle custard and non-custard flans.  A flan is not necessarily a
> custard
> and a custard is not necessarily a flan. >>>
>
> Huh? Now, I'm even more confused. When is a flan not necessarily a
> custard, and when is a custard not necessarily a flan.  Where is the
> dividing line between the two? I don't think I can go simply with
> whether the recipe or message writer uses the term "flan" or not. If
> I did, I suspect I see recipes for the same item in both files or
> things that modern people would consider flans in both files.
>
> In your earlier message you said: "Modernly, the word refers to a
> tart of custard, fruit or cheese, a custard with caramel topping, or
> a metal
> blank for pressing a coin." which I took to mean that all flans were
> custards, other than the flan which was a flat piece of metal.
>
> This is an example of where I was thinking it might be better to go
> with the modern meaning, since "The meaning is "flat cake."" would
> apply to a large number of items I now have in a number of other
> files and that I don't think most people these days would think of a
> flan as a flat cake.
>
> Thanks,
>  Stefan
> --------
> THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
>    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas
> StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
>
>
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