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Dessert

Flan D LA Turqne —

A Turkish-style custard made with rice, milk, butter, sugar, citrus zest, currants, eggs, whipped cream, and folded egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Flan D LA Turqne —

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the rice

  1. Wash the rice in lukewarm water.

  2. Blanch the rice in cold water until boiling, then strain it through a sieve.

Make the filling

  1. Combine the rice, milk, butter, sugar, orange or lemon zest, and salt in a large stewpan.

  2. Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the rice swells but remains whole.

  3. Add the currants, egg yolks, and whipped cream to the mixture until it becomes soft.

  4. If needed, add more cream.

  5. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a prepared crust.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 2.5 hours.

  3. Glaze the flan with a salamander before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Rice + orangetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Carolina rice
Forms the body of the flan, giving it a soft, pudding-like bite once it swells.
Egg yolks
Enrich and set the custard, giving it richness and a firm, sliceable texture.
Egg whites
Whipped foam lightens the filling and helps it rise and set with a delicate crumb.
Milk
Provides the liquid that the rice absorbs and that sets into a creamy custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it brown lightly when glazed.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whites lose their foam if overmixed or deflated, so fold gently to keep air in the filling. That air is what lightens the set custard during baking.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, butter, sugar, orange, egg, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, butter, sugar, orange, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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