Recently, I started reading some food blogs. I am SUCH a housewife-in-training, storing the recipes I want to make once I own things like a food processor or a grill and have access to a grocery store that is not Gristede’s and therefore doesn’t charge me $8.99 for pesto.
My favorite food site happens to be foodgawker. It pulls a bunch of recipes into my reader and from there I scroll through and see what looks good. Granted, it’ll pull like, 100+ per day so when I skip a day or two (or 5) I end up with 689 unread items. Whoops.
Anyway, I’ve noticed that it’ll pull in posts in trends. One week every recipe seemed to have something to do with ramps (a green thing that I still couldn’t fully explain to you except that I think it’s like a leek–another green thing that I couldn’t fully explain to you). Another week, fiddlehead ferns were in (and they are weirdly creepy and bug-looking if you ask me). Just this morning I had 3 recipes for “chipster-topped brownies” (which apparently are just brownies topped with cookies).
But there is one item that seems to be constant on the list. And it’s one that I can’t, for the life of me, figure out.
Flan.
I just don’t understand how a food product that looks like this:
photo from here.
is supposed to taste good. That is gelatinous and speckly and just creepy. It looks like something you might pull from a person during surgery and need to take great care not to drop because eventually you’re going to need to put it back in.
I’ll admit right now that I’ve never eaten flan so I can’t say whether or not it tastes good. I just don’t understand it. Jell-O I get. Jello is jiggly and sugary and brightly colored and doesn’t look like someone could have sneezed it out or coughed it up:
photo from here.
But flan is…well…the exact opposite of all of those things!
And look, I’m not trying to offend the flan-eaters of the world. Or even the flan bakers (especially the flan bakers who I borrowed photos from–I swear, I’m not saying your flan doesn’t taste good, I’m just saying it doesn’t look all that appealing).
I’m just asking that someone, anyone, please explain flan to me.
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23 responses so far ↓
Maxie // May 27, 2009 at 9:01 am |
it’s good, but not great. It just kind of tastes like liquid caramel goo.
bourbonmama // May 27, 2009 at 9:06 am |
kinda like tapioca pudding, only without the lumps. It’s an aquired taste.
notsojenny // May 27, 2009 at 9:17 am |
“there’s no difference between good flan and bad flan” – a good quote from a very bad movie
i’m not a fan, it’s definitely a texture thing for me. the flavor is okay, i just can’t get past the texture. now creme brulee, that’s a short delicious dessert i can get behind!
Ben // May 27, 2009 at 9:27 am |
My mom got me a flan instead of a cake for a birthday once. We didn’t speak until my next birthday.
stealthnerd // May 27, 2009 at 10:19 am |
Maxie: See, I can’t say “goo” is a taste I’m ready to experience.
bourbonmama: At least it’s w/o the lumps. That right there gives it a *slight* lead over tapioca pudding.
NSJ: I don’t think I could get past the texture either to be honest.
Ben: Aww, terrible! Although that does remind me of the Friends where Monica makes Rachel a birthday flan and at the end of the episode, after Rachel blows out the candles, the flan gets smashed with a volleyball and she says “wow, those things hardly ever come true!”
Matt // May 27, 2009 at 11:23 am |
Flan is gross.
Seriously you are not missing out
miss. chief // May 27, 2009 at 11:32 am |
yuck! on my 25th bday i was in mexico and flan is very popular there…i got some for free and they sang me a song, so i had to eat it.
i effing hate flan sooo much
it’s a texture thing for sure.
amindinmotown // May 27, 2009 at 12:13 pm |
Every time I hear the word “flan,” I think of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” It must’ve been an important part of an episode or something, ha.
stealthnerd // May 27, 2009 at 12:40 pm |
Matt: But tell me how you really feel?
miss. chief: Aww, nothing worse than getting guilted into bad dessert! I hope the singing was at least good.
amindinmotown: Haha I guess I missed that episode!
Waldo // May 27, 2009 at 12:47 pm |
It’s not bad if you make it with rum or some other ingredient that may help you forget you spent part of your finite time on earth preparing flan.
Lauren // May 27, 2009 at 3:25 pm |
I’m glad you posted this because for the life of me, I could never try Flan. It just looked too….gross!
rs27 // May 27, 2009 at 3:52 pm |
Flan always looks disgusting but then I eat all of it.
I’m not sure what this says about me.
Dingo // May 27, 2009 at 7:54 pm |
Flan is disgusting. BLECH! Yucky! Pe-tewy! I think kids like it because they are used to picking their noses and eating their snot.
M.O.L. // May 28, 2009 at 7:31 am |
I don’t even like the word flan
stealthnerd // May 28, 2009 at 9:49 am |
Waldo: Can I just drink the rum and skip the flan?
Lauren: This was a sensitive issue but SOMEONE had to talk about it.
rs27: I’m not sure either.
Dingo: That should really make the bottom picture appealing then.
M.O.L.: Me either. Either way you say it, I don’t like it. If you say “flaaaahn” you sound pretentious and if you say “flaaan” you sound like you’ve got some bad sinus issues (Nanny Fine ring any bells here?)
Kate // June 4, 2009 at 1:31 pm |
Personally, I’m also disgusted by flan. I’ve had it a few times — including in Spain — and I just don’t like it. I think it’s a texture thing (at least for me).
Mary // June 13, 2009 at 4:26 pm |
I gotta admit, it’s like you found the worst pictures of flan ever.
Plus, if you look at really good, gooey brownies with an unfamiliar eye, they look like shit; but that’s not indicative of their flavor, is it?
Flan is basically a custard. Some like it, and some don’t, like everything else in this world.
psrobert // September 19, 2009 at 4:30 pm |
Are you guys talking about the same kind of flan that I’m thinking of? Flan is pretty amazing to me. Similar to me. Granted between creme brulee and flan the CB is going to win out every time, but a good flan is delicious. It’s not as easy to make as CB though and that may be the problem.
psrobert // September 19, 2009 at 4:32 pm |
Suposed to read “Similar to an upside down creme brulee.”
Mrs.Lopez // October 15, 2009 at 2:42 pm |
psrobert: Totally agree with you, I’m not sure about what they’re talking about. Maybe it was a bad experience. But flan is delicious, one o=f my favorite dessert. Especially the cream cheese flan. There are a great variety of flavors, cream cheese, chocolate, coffee, pumkin, etc etc etc They should try one of them to see the difference…
annie // October 18, 2009 at 6:24 pm |
Flan is like a custard with a caramel sauce on top. We like it. Guess each person is different. It isn’t all that hard to make, and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients.
Rin // October 18, 2009 at 8:38 pm |
I’ve never had flan til tonight and it was delicious. I loved the permeating vanilla tasting, then again I come from a country where gooey slimey stuff is the norm. It looks alright and I don’t know if its an acquired taste because it taste really good. Then again I grew up on escargot.
Angeline // December 26, 2009 at 12:17 am |
I had flan for the first time tonight. Maybe it was the mix or how it was made, but it was so effing disgusting! To me, it tasted like a mixture between soured milk and vomit with a hint of caramel. Heck I thought it was so nasty that I went to google and typed in “flan is gross”.