Cascade Hop Flan with 2 Row Malted Caramel Sauce – Banquet Scale
The grapefruit essence from the cascade hops is slowly infused into the cream, making this Cascade Hop Flan with 2 Row Malted Caramel Sauce. The beauty of this recipe is how it captures the essences of home brewing. When I served this dessert at the AHA National HomeBrew Conference in San Diego, CA on June 18th, 2011 to 1500 people, I wanted to showcase the last thing we taste when we brew, the wort sample. After a day of brewing, the fruit of our labor are poured into a carboy | conical and left to ferment. We take a sample to see how much sugar we converted from the malted barley. We use a hydrometer to measure the amount of dissolved sugar that is in suspension, in comparison to water as the control, and calculate the temperature of the wort to come up with the Original Gravity or OG. Then we taste the wort sample. This flavor is unique to brewers, as most people only taste the finished beer. That wort sample has a very unique flavor, all to its own.
This was my inspiration for my Beer Cuisine | Cooking with Beer version of flan. The addition of barley malt into the caramel and the hops steeped into the cream base blend together to create this wort sample flavor, while still having the appearance and texture of a classic Mexican flan.
Click here for the full AHA National Homebrew Conference Awards Banquet 2011 Menu, A Taste of Mexico.
Makes: 1450 servings
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 1450 serving | 2 hour |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 40 minute | ~2 hour |
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Cascade Hop Flan with 2 Row Malted Caramel Sauce: A Mexican styled flan with the flavor of barley malt and cascade hop infused cream, coming together to re-create a homebrewers wort sample.
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- 10 gallon sugar, organic
- 6 gallon Dry Malt Extract (DME) from Beer, Beer and More Beer
- 5 1/2 gallon water
- 26 1/2 gallon cream, heavy or whipping preferably organic
- 15 1/4 gallon milk, whole preferably organic
- 2 pound hops, cascade, whole cone, from Beer, Beer and More Beer, placed into a hop sack
- 1 cup salt, kosher
- 60 1/2 dozen eggs, extra large
- 500 each eggs, yolks
- 6 3/4 gallon sugar, organic
- Combine sugar, DME and water in another heavy stock pot. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and cook without stirring until syrup turns deep amber, brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush and swirling pan occasionally, about 10 minutes. Quickly pour caramel into ramekins or custard cups. Using oven mitts as aid, immediately tilt each ramekin to coat sides. Set ramekins into baking pan.
- Combine cream, milk and salt in tilt skillet. Add the hops in a steeping bag and slowly bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and let steep 30 minutes. Taste the mixture and once the desired amount of hop flavor is infused, remove the bag.
- Whisk eggs, egg yolks and sugar until blended. Gradually and gently whisk cream mixture into egg mixture without creating lots of foam. Pour custard through small sieve into prepared ramekins, dividing evenly (mixture will fill ramekins). Pour enough hot water into baking pan, careful not to splash hot water over the ramekins, to come halfway up sides of ramekins. This will preheat the baking cups, give a thermo mass cushon, to help equalize the heat of the oven over each ramekin. This step helps and how the custard cooks or 'poaches' in the hot water bath, never going above 212°F | 100°C.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F | 163°C.
- Carefully transfer the full baking pan into the center of the oven.
- Bake until centers of flans are gently set, have a slight jiggle when shaken, about 40 minutes.
- The internal temperature of the flan for a just set custard is 178°F | 81°C. This is the temperature that all the individual flans should be at before they are removed from the oven. This is a technique trick to making a silky smooth custard that flans are known for.
- Transfer flans to rack and cool. Chill until cold, about 2 hours. Cover and chill overnight. Can be made 2 days ahead.
- To serve, pick up a now cold ramekin and run the blade of a knife, flat against the inside edge of the flan, helping to release it from the container. Now place an upside down dessert plate on top of the ramekin and hold the two together with both hands, in the same direction. Quickly flip over the ramekin, so the flan will drop onto the plate, then remove the ramekin, tilting to one side to let any remaining caramel drain onto the top of the flan, cascading down the sides and making a pool around it. Serve with a spoon and tell a brewing story, to reminisce about the brewing process and how beer is made.
