Instructions: If you love silky, unctuous white food - mashed potatoes, tapioca, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream - chances are you adore flan as much as I do.

Technically, flan is a true custard, a baked mixture of whole, fresh milk and sugar, with beaten eggs to thicken the mixture. In Mexico, most flans are made with canned condensed milk, which makes a more solid custard.

The secret to a wonderfully textured, quivering flan? Slow, gentle heat and a watchful eye. If you overcook your custard, it will break into weeping curds.

You can spot an overcooked custard by the clear liquid that will ooze out when you dip in your spoon.

Thats why flans must be baked in a hot water bath called a bain-marie, which translates to Marys bath. You put hot water in a shallow baking pan that is large enough so that you can set a smaller baking dish in it with lots of room to spare. The custard will bake gently and consistently, never burning or cooking too fast from intense heat. It may seem like a hassle, but without a bath, a delicate flan becomes a curdled mass with tough edges that cook faster than the center.

The other characteristic of a true flan is its thin layer of caramel. Though that layer is on the bottom of the baking dish, once the flan is cooked and turned out for serving, it ends up on top. Its just a hint of flavor. Flan is at its delicate best served room temperature, but it can be made the day before and be served chilled.

I learned to make flan when I worked as a dessert chef at the Denali Park Hotel in Denali State Park in Alaska.

I made individual flans in non-stick muffin tins. I melted granulated sugar in the largest saute pan you have ever seen (it couldnt be lifted with one arm) to make caramel discs, dropping tablespoonfuls of the scalding hot syrup onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. The discs hardened like candy once they had cooled, and were then peeled off the parchment and stored in a plastic bag.

When it was time to make the custard, one translucent disc of burnt sugar was placed in the bottom of each mold and the cup was filled with custard. The caramel melts perfectly during baking. I made 200 servings of custard every other day. And every one was eaten.

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