flan

American  

[flan, flahn, flahn, flahn] / flæn, flɑn, flɑn, flɑ̃ /

noun

plural

flans,

plural

flanes

1. Spanish Cooking. a dessert of sweetened egg custard with a caramel topping.

2. an open, tartlike pastry, the shell of which is baked in a bottomless band of metal flan ring on a baking sheet, removed from the ring and filled with custard, cream, fruit, etc.

3. a piece of metal shaped ready to form a coin, but not yet stamped by the die.

4. the metal of which a coin is made, as distinct from its design.

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flan British  

/ flæn /

noun

1. an open pastry or sponge tart filled with fruit or a savoury mixture

2. a piece of metal ready to receive the die or stamp in the production of coins; shaped blank; planchet

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Etymology

Origin of flan

1840–50; < French; Old French flaon < Late Latin fladōn-, stem of fladō < Germanic; compare Old High German flado ( German Fladen ) flat cake

Explanation

The word flan is used to describe several different foods, most of which involve either pastry or custard. It's also used in the making of coins (not for a type of food). A flan can be a dessert that's custard-baked without any pastry and covered with a caramel topping. It can also be a type of open-topped pie or tart. The pastry shell for this type can be filled with sweet stuff, like cream, custard, and fruit, or savory stuff, like cheese, potatoes, and caramelized onions. In money production, on the other hand, a flan is a blank disk of metal that gets stamped to turn it into a coin.

Example Sentences

Each illustrated chapter is dedicated to individual ingredients from vegetables, fruit, herbs, spices and nuts, to a handful of cooked foods such as waffles, leche flan and lumpia.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 12, 2024

Leche flan is the Filipino version of creme caramel.

From Washington Times • May 31, 2023

The flan is a sturdy round, better for the ring of strawberry sauce that circles it and the passion fruit sauce on top that lends pucker.

From Washington Post • Mar. 24, 2023

The comedians themselves participate in the same high-wire act, navigating precariously through new jokes like a piece of flan teetering on a Filipino sundae.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 25, 2022

Tuti looked at the reservation book and made a face like she’d just witnessed a flan de coco slip off her plate and splatter onto the floor.

From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya

Related Words

• disc
• plate
• platter