Recipe no. 460 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 212.
Ingredients
- Caster sugar, 2 or 3 spoonfuls
- Water
- Whole eggs, 4
- Egg yolks, 8
- Orange flower water
- A litre of milk boiled with 250 grams of sugar
Preparation
- Preparing the caramel for the mouldMelt 2 or 3 spoonfuls of caster sugar with a few drops of water in a saucepan, set it on the heat and let it boil vigorously; when this sugar takes on a yellow tint, pour it into the bottom of a timbale mould.
- Beating and pouring the mixtureSeparately, break into a bowl 4 whole eggs and 8 yolks; add a teaspoon of orange flower water, a litre of milk that you have boiled with 250 grams of sugar; beat it all well together, pass through a fine strainer and pour into the mould.
- Cooking in a bain-marie in the ovenSet the mould into a saucepan with boiling water halfway up its height and put it in the oven where you will leave it 45 minutes without letting it boil; the water must however keep the same temperature.
- Cooking on hot ashesIf you had no oven available you would set the saucepan on hot ashes with a lid bearing embers on top.
- Cooling and unmouldingOnce cooked, let it cool and unmould onto the serving dish when ready to serve.
- Varying the flavours of the flanFlans are made this way flavoured with chocolate, coffee, vanilla, lemon or any other flavouring.
Reboul's text
Melt 2 or 3 spoonfuls of caster sugar with a few drops of water in a saucepan, set it on the heat and let it boil vigorously; when this sugar takes on a yellow tint, pour it into the bottom of a timbale mould.
Separately, break into a bowl 4 whole eggs and 8 yolks; add a teaspoon of orange flower water, a litre of milk that you have boiled with 250 grams of sugar; beat it all well together, pass through a fine strainer and pour into the mould.
Set the mould into a saucepan with boiling water halfway up its height and put it in the oven where you will leave it 45 minutes without letting it boil; the water must however keep the same temperature.
If you had no oven available you would set the saucepan on hot ashes with a lid bearing embers on top.
Once cooked, let it cool and unmould onto the serving dish when ready to serve.
Flans are made this way flavoured with chocolate, coffee, vanilla, lemon or any other flavouring.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| sucre | sugar |
| aigo | water |
| casseirolo | saucepan |
| iòu | eggs |
| arangié | orange |
| four | oven |
| passadouiro | strainer |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 460, page 212. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.