Puddings

Photo by Restaurant la Deu (Olot).

Flan or crème caramel (in Catalan called flam) is a dessert originating from South-Western Europe, but that has become one of the most popular desserts in the world. We often serve it with whipped cream.

Ancient Greeks and Romans already made food by mixing eggs and milk, but it was in the Middle Ages that flan became very popular, particularly during Lent (the anual period where Catholics are not allowed to eat meat). Back then, flans could be sweet (with fruit, cheese and honey) or savoury (with fish and vegetables), but the sweet version, inverted and with a caramel sauce, became a dessert in the Iberian peninsula and France.

A savoury flan, heir of the Medieval legacy, is still eaten in Terres de l’Ebre (the south of Catalonia) and Maestrat (in the north of the Valencian Country). It’s a flan soup (sopa de flam) made with chicken broth and sugar-less flan.