flan-msg - 3/12/14

Custard based desserts or tarts filled with custard, fruit or cheese.

NOTE: See also these files: custards-msg, Custard-Tarts-art, Islamic-Pudng-art, jellied-milk-msg, puddings-msg, To-Mke-A-Tart-art, White-Mash-art, pies-msg, eggs-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 00:41:17 -0700
From: James Prescott <prescotj@telusplanet.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: fladen
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks@ansteorra.org>

At 23:13 -0600 2003-11-29, Stefan li Rous wrote:
> Thorvald commented:
>>> Ein Buch von guter spise has several recipes for morella cherries, 
>>> including Einen fladen von wisseln (A fladen of morella cherries)
>>>
>>> Just what is a fladen? This recipe seems to be more or less a fruit leather,
>>> but the other recipes for fladen include meat/chicken, cheese and eggs
>>> on a leaf of dough.
>>
>> I reckon it's a crustless flan, also spelled 'vlade' and 'vladen',
>> with any of a variety of fillings.

> Oh? The only "flan" that I've seen has been the Mexican flan. Usually 
> served as a round disk of custard stuff with a small pool of caramel? 
> on top and around the edge. There were probably period ancestors, 
> although any that have been given I've probably filed under pudding. 
> So, is there a difference between a flan and a pudding?

A flan usually has a lower crust, and is generally fairly flat.
The word 'flan' comes from a word meaning a flat cake.  There
are a variety of dishes called 'flan', both sweet and savoury.

Larousse Gastronomique (1961) gives about 18 recipes, mostly
savoury (it lists most of the sweet recipes suitable for flans
under tart), and says "In essence, a flan is no more than a
kind of open tart [that is, without an upper crust] ...."

A quiche could be a flan or a tart depending on how you felt.

The OED equates English 'flawn', French 'flan', Dutch 'vlade',
and modern German 'fladen'.

The four 'vladen' recipes in Cocboeck (1593) are all baked in
presumably shallow dishes or cups, *without* the lower crust,
and tend towards the sweet end of the spectrum, with a firm
consistency, and with ingredients:

1) milk, eggs; small amounts of flour, butter, salt, sugar

2) mashed cooked apples, bread crumbs, egg yolks; small amounts
of butter, wine, ginger, sugar, cinnamon

3) mashed cooked quinces, cream, eggs; small amounts of flour,
sugar, herbs

4) pounded almonds and rice cooked in milk, eggs, cream;
small amounts of rose water, sugar, butter, sprinkled
decoration

Thorvald


Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 09:22:55 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: fladen
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks@ansteorra.org>

> Thorvald commented:
>>> Ein Buch von guter spise has several recipes for morella cherries, including
>>> Einen fladen von wisseln (A fladen of morella cherries)
>>>
>>> Just what is a fladen? This recipe seems to be more or less a fruit leather,
>>> but the other recipes for fladen include meat/chicken, cheese and eggs
>>> on a leaf of dough.
>>
>> I reckon it's a crustless flan, also spelled 'vlade' and 'vladen',
>> with any of a variety of fillings.
> Oh? The only "flan" that I've seen has been the Mexican flan. Usually
> served as a round disk of custard stuff with a small pool of caramel?
> on top and around the edge. There were probably period ancestors,
> although any that have been given I've probably filed under pudding.
> So, is there a difference between a flan and a pudding?
>
> Stefan

Pudding is a soft dessert usually containing flour (or a cereal product)
which has been boiled or baked.  Flan is commonly a custard based dessert or
a tart filled with custard, fruit or cheese.  The American usage of
"pudding" for a custard is more modern.

Flan derives fron the Latin "fladon-" meaning "flat cake" and comes to
English from the German.

I suspect the "fruit leather" fladen is actually cooked only to the
consistency of a pie filling.  In my opinion, it is likely that it is meant
to be put in a shell based on the understanding of the word "fladen" and
that the author omitted the instructions on that basis.

Bear


Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 12:49:55 -0700
From: James Prescott <prescotj@telusplanet.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: fladen
To: mooncat@in-tch.com, Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks@ansteorra.org>

At 08:44 -0700 2003-11-30, Sue Clemenger wrote:
> Recipe tease!
> --maire, drooling

CAUTION: these are my rough translations.  There may be errors.  And
yes, Cocboeck (1593) is Dutch.  "Guldelingen" is presumably an apple
variety, but I couldn't identify the word.

45 How to make a milk-crustless-flan.

Take to a jar of milk a spoon of flour and a good 20 eggs small-beaten 
and leave together to boil a quarter-part of a hour. Then put therewith 
a little butter and a bit of salt and sugar, until it is as sweet as 
you want and then put in the cups and leave to bake. You might also 
make this in a dish.

46 How to make apple-crustless-flans.

Take "guldelingen", peel and cut it in pieces and put in a pot with 
some wine and butter and leave so to stand to braise. Rub apart very 
small and then put therewith half as much grated white-bread as you 
have apples and five egg yolks, ginger and sugar. Mix this all 
together. This is for two dishes. Rub your dishes with butter and then 
add your paste and set your dishes on a coal-fire and leave to bake 
until it is so stiff that it lifts off the rims. Then sprinkle thereon 
sugar and cinnamon and serve to the tables.

47 How to make a quince-crustless-flan.

Take three or four quinces, boil it very soft in water and then take 
cream, eggs and some flour and mix together. If you wish you might put 
therewith sugar and herbs and make hereof a custard in a dish or cup 
and leave to bake.

48 How to make a special crustless-flan.

Take four ounces of peeled almonds, four ounces of rice, an hour cooked 
in sweet-milk. Pound this together very small with a bit of rose-water, 
then put therewith seven or eight eggs small-beaten, put it together 
through a sieve and then mix therewith sweet cream as much as you think 
good and sugar as sweet as you want. Make this warm together in a pot 
then put therein four ounces of fresh butter. Then set this together in 
a dish on coal-fire under and above and leave to bake and then sprinkle 
thereon what you want and serve.

Thorvald


Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 12:02:56 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: fladen
To: <mooncat@in-tch.com>, "Cooks within the SCA"
	<sca-cooks@ansteorra.org>

It is interesting to note that all of these ingredient lists, with the
exception of list 2, could meet the general definition of a custard.  
List 2 leaves off milk or cream and is therefore may be custard-like rather 
than a custard.  It would be interesting to see the recipes to see if these are
custards.

Looking at the spelling of the title, we are talking about the Dutch
cookbook.  The Netherlands, until shortly before this publication date, 
were ruled by the Hapsburgs from Spain.   If these recipes are custards 
without crusts, then we may be looking at evidence of the relationship between 
the crusted German fladen and the modern Spanish flan.

Bear

James Prescott wrote:
> The four 'vladen' recipes in Cocboeck (1593) are all baked in
> presumably shallow dishes or cups, *without* the lower crust,
> and tend towards the sweet end of the spectrum, with a firm
> consistency, and with ingredients:
>
> 1) milk, eggs; small amounts of flour, butter, salt, sugar
>
> 2) mashed cooked apples, bread crumbs, egg yolks; small amounts
> of butter, wine, ginger, sugar, cinnamon
>
> 3) mashed cooked quinces, cream, eggs; small amounts of flour,
> sugar, herbs
>
> 4) pounded almonds and rice cooked in milk, eggs, cream;
> small amounts of rose water, sugar, butter, sprinkled
> decoration


Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:11:24 -0400
From: "Denise Wolff" <scadian@hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] A Challenge to Find a Dish
To: sca-cooks@ansteorra.org

> For an SCA "family" potluck, find a dish using these guidelines:
> -- The name of the dish must start with the first initial of your  
> first name or the first initial of your last name. You cannot use your  
> middle name if you have one.
> -- You must use your SCA name.
> -- You must make enough of this dish to feed 20 people.
> Iasmin de Cordoba, kicked out of the nest a few years back OL

Well Done!
What a great idea! I have chosen amidon. Therefore I use the recipe  
below,

Mistress Andrea MacIntyre,OL, OP

28. And again, flans of almond milk: according to the quantity of flans
which you are making take the quantity of almonds, have them well and
cleanly blanched and washed and then have them very well brayed; and take
very clean fair water and let him strain his almond milk into a bowl or a
cornue which is fair and clean according to the quantity of flans which he
should make. And then take fair amidon and wash it in fair fresh water and
put it in a fair bowl when it is washed; and then take your almond milk and
put it into your moistened amidon, and put in a little saffron to give it
color; and then strain it through a fair strainer into a fair and clean
bowl, and put in a little salt and a great deal of sugar. And when this is
made call your pastry-cook who is making the crusts and let him put them in
the oven a little to harden; and then let the said pastry-cook have a fair
spoon either of wood or of iron attached to a good stick to fill in the oven
the little crusts of the said flans.


Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 08:28:21 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Flan of Almayne
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks@lists.ansteorra.org>

I haven't seen the recipe, but the derivation of the word "flan" is from Old
German "fladen" into Late Latin "fladon" or  "flado" and then into Old
French "flaon."  The meaning is "flat cake."  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.

Bear

> Why is this called a flan? What I am familiar with as a flan is custard
> with carmel and if there is a pie crust it is custard pie. Please explain?
> De


Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:55:48 -0400
From: Robin Carroll-Mann <rcarrollmann@gmail.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks@lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Flaon

On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 6:33 PM, Deborah Hammons
<mistressaldyth@gmail.com> wrote:
> Does someone have handy the entry from de Nola on Flaon? ?(Flan)

You rang?

Custard Which Is a fritter
     FLAONES QUE ES FRUTA DE SARTEN

Take new cheese, and curds which should be very dry, and grind them
well in a mortar with as much again of eggs; and you can also put a
little of fat buttery cheese which should be grated and ground with
the new cheese, and the curds, all together with a little dried and
powdered mint; and then cast a little rosewater into the mortar, and
it should not be much, but medium, and then make dough of very good
flour, and knead it with sweet oil, which is very fine, and in such a
manner that it is very well-kneaded, and that it remains and becomes
very hard; and then make from the said dough some empanadillas to put
the cheese into; but before you put them in and you fill them, warm
the dough a little, however it should be firm; and after filling them
with the said pottage, and before the empanadillas or custards are all
filled, take some little tongs and shirr the edges.  And then they go
to the fire to cook.  And when they are cooked, that they have lost
the color on top and have a little color; then as they are hot, cast
on them melted honey or sugar syrup, but not made with rosewater; and
when they have absorbed the honey or the syrup, cast sugar and
cinnamon on top of them.

Ruperto de Nola, Libro de Guisados (Spain, 1529)
Translation: Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann)

Brighid ni Chiarain

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	flan-msg	6 of 7