Long avoided, this great classic offers a gourmet comeback. Five good reasons to break up.
He is loved by chefs
If, as the pastry chef Alban Gilman of Caen says, “everyone loves flan”, then this cake was born in England in the 15th century.e century, had a bad patch. Made with industrial powders, tasteless and heavy, it had only one merit: to stop the eater after chewing the sandwich. But he was saved by some enlightened amateurs. Alban Guilmet thus set about his recovery ten years ago. Mathieu Carlin, pastry chef of Hôtel de Crillon, also gave him pride. now she is the star of her Butterfly Patisserie, located in a Parisian palace.
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He comforts
“I see there’s been an obsession with flan since the end of Covid. People, worried, might need to go back to the reassuring classics,” notes Mathieu Carlin. For his part, Alban Guilmet compares the pleasure of eating a good flan to the pleasure of tasting a rice pudding, like a return to childhood. A pleasure that, in addition, remains very accessible. “For us, says Alban Gulmen, it is almost twice as expensive as our other creations, despite the use of honest raw materials, which has increased greatly.” Or €3.20 per piece versus €5.20 for individual millefeuilles.
He likes simplicity
If flan is “easy to love”, it is undoubtedly due to the fact that it is made only from ingredients known to everyone. “A great flan,” explains Alban Guilmet, “is above all great vanilla, whole milk and cream from the farm, good butter. And for us who are based in Normandy, they are mostly local products. The same observation by Matthew Carlin, who, as an expert, also identified quality markers; the little black dots of vanilla are clearly visible in the light and fluffy filling and the brown top, caramelized without burning, almost au gratin.
It can be taken anywhere
For Alban Guilmet, flan is also “all terrain”. It can be served at the end of the meal. It’s perfect as a tea time snack because you don’t need knives to enjoy it. “Me, that’s the cake I eat when I’m hungry. I’m in the lab and I’m tasting flan while debating with the teams,” he continues.
He likes change
If the flans of Alban Guilmet and Matthieu Carlin are made with puff pastry, other experts prefer short or sweet pastry. The filling recipe also varies according to individual taste. Matthieu Carlin includes extra fresh eggs, while Albin Guilmet, who doesn’t like their overpowering taste, prefers to do without. The latter offers a chocolate version along with its vanilla flan. As for Matthew Carlin, his marbled vanilla, chocolate and hazelnut is Butterfly’s best seller.
Alban Guilmet, 6, rue Saint-Jean, 14000 Caen, albanguilmet.fr; Butterfly Pastry, Hotel de Crillon, 10, place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris.
Source: Le Figaro
