Flan

This article is about the open pie. Flan may also refer to sweet custard desserts such as crème caramel; see also Flan (disambiguation).

A flan is a tart, a type of pie, with a base of shortcrust pastry. An example is a quiche. In both savoury and sweet flans the filling tends to be based on a thick custard. However there are some types of flans not based on custard, such as the bakewell tart. The British savoury flans may have diverged from the sweeter Spanish flans in the Middle Ages.^{[citation needed]}.

Etymology

This old English word "flan" and the earlier "flawn" come from French flan, from Old French flaon, in turn from Medieval Latin fladonem, derived from the Old Castillian flado, a sort of flat cake, probably from an Indo-European root for "flat" or "broad".

See also

• Flaons