Take 1 cup of sugar and place in a saucepan over low heat. Do not stir until the sugar has dissolved around the edges, and once it does, keep the sugar moving so as not to burn it, breaking up any clumps as best you can until fully melted. Upon melting, add 3 tablespoons of water and mix.

It is crucial to not burn the sugar. Overcooking the sugar will result in a hard, visually-unappealing shell with a bitter taste. Take caution and be vigilant: the boundary between perfect caramelization and a burnt disaster is thin and sharply defined. If you allow the transition to take place, you will have to start over again, lest your flan taste scorched.

Beginners at cooking may find this step the most difficult. Like many other things in life, making the perfect top-layer of caramelized sugar for your flan requires precision. How quickly things can spiral out of control! One minute you're perfectly unblemished by the harsh realities of the world--your tabula is most certainly rasa, and every atom of your being is free to explore the possibilities. Then the temperature starts to rise as you're told you have to find something to do, or worse yet, something to be. Suddenly everything seems a little less mobile. You're weighed down--and worse still not by another, but by yourself. The same free-flowing molecules that comprised your being have begun to melt together into a congealed mess. You begin to feel it change you, but what can you do? It's happening more and more quickly. This is unfamiliar. Something completely different. You question yourself--your wants, your needs, your hopes and dreams, what led you to this point and can you turn back? Too many questions, too little time. Stay the course or run away, back where the heat isn't on? Is that even possible? And then before you know it you're boiling. And you'll burn out soon enough if you keep going this way. Can you turn back? Do you want to turn back? Because with flan, it's easy. Rinse your saucepan, get yourself a new cup of sugar, and try again. But this is life--are there really any second chances?

Here's to hoping there are.

If you successfully caramelize the sugar, it should be a beautiful deep amber color. Pour the liquid into your lightly oiled mold. Allow it to sit while preparing the creme custard. By the time you are ready to add the custard, the sugar layer should be completely solidified.

Because at some point, you will surrender to fate.

hahah that was awesome =]
» Jinaiah on 2006-12-24 06:33:23

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