Chef Juliette
Carottes Glacées pour Garnitures
Carottes Glacées prove that a garnish can teach a whole sauce lesson: carrots cook in butter, sugar, salt, and water until their own liquor reduces to a brilliant, clinging coat.
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Flan Grillé aux Champignons
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2076, Flan Grillé aux Champignons, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
A hot mushroom flan under a butter-gold lattice, with cream reduced close around barely opened caps and a crisp short-paste base protected by one discipline: cool the filling completely.
Pastries & Cookies
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
40 min
Active Time
45 min cook•2 hr 10 min total
Yield4 servings
Flan Grillé aux Champignons (latticed mushroom flan) teaches one thing before all others: pastry and filling must meet cold. Mushrooms carry water, cream carries more, and warm filling melts the butter in the paste before the oven can set it. Cool the filling completely and the base bakes crisp; rush it, and the pastry goes sodden.
The original formula assumed a pastry station with Fine, Short or Flawn Paste (For Fruit Tarts) (No. 2358) ready in the cold larder, a buttered flawn-mould, and an oven fierce enough to set the bottom at once. It needs neither a saucier nor a stockpot. At home, a 9-inch tart tin, a preheated heavy sheet pan, and half a batch of the referenced paste do the same work for four. The flawn-mould and brigade quantity are scaffolding; the cold filling, cream reduced close around barely opened mushrooms, criss-cross lattice, egg gilding, and very hot bake are the dish. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The finished flan should arrive deeply golden, its lattice crisp under the knife and its mushrooms still plump beneath their ivory coating of cream. Cool the filling until no trace of warmth remains. That is the step that decides the flan.
Flan Grillé aux Champignons belongs to the savoury-pastry repertoire of Parisian grand kitchens and bourgeois dining rooms, rather than to the larder of one French region. Its method carries pâtisserie practice to the hot entrée table, enclosing butter-tossed mushrooms and reduced cream beneath a decorative lattice. In this formula, grillé describes the visible grid of pastry, not mushrooms cooked beneath a grill, and flan means a pastry case rather than necessarily a custard.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Fine, Short or Flawn Paste (For Fruit Tarts)
Quantity
½ batch (about 1 lb 2 oz / 500 g) Fine, Short or Flawn Paste (For Fruit Tarts) (No. 2358)
thoroughly chilled
unsalted butter
Quantity
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (50 ml / 47 g)
divided
very fresh, barely opened English mushrooms, or small closed white button mushrooms
Quantity
8 cups (1¼ lb / 570 g)
cleaned and trimmed
yellow onion
Quantity
⅓ cup (80 ml / 55 g)
finely chopped
heavy cream
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 120 g)
fine salt
Quantity
¾ teaspoon (4 ml / 4.5 g)
finely ground white pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1 ml / 0.6 g)
cold water
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g)
for moistening the pastry rim
large egg
Quantity
1
beaten, for gilding
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Fine, Short or Flawn Paste (For Fruit Tarts)thoroughly chilled | ½ batch (about 1 lb 2 oz / 500 g) Fine, Short or Flawn Paste (For Fruit Tarts) (No. 2358) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (50 ml / 47 g) |
| very fresh, barely opened English mushrooms, or small closed white button mushroomscleaned and trimmed | 8 cups (1¼ lb / 570 g) |
| yellow onionfinely chopped | ⅓ cup (80 ml / 55 g) |
| heavy cream | ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) |
| fine salt | ¾ teaspoon (4 ml / 4.5 g) |
| finely ground white pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1 ml / 0.6 g) |
| cold waterfor moistening the pastry rim | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) |
| large eggbeaten, for gilding | 1 |
Equipment Needed
- •9-inch (23 cm) loose-bottomed fluted tart tin, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep
- •12-inch (30 cm) heavy skillet
- •Heavy rimmed sheet pan
- •Rolling pin
- •Pastry wheel or sharp knife
- •Pastry brush
- •Shallow tray for cooling the filling
Instructions
- 1
Line the flan mould
Butter a 9-inch (23 cm) loose-bottomed fluted tart tin with the reserved teaspoon of butter. Set one oven rack in the lower third, place a heavy sheet pan on it, and heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Divide the chilled Fine, Short or Flawn Paste (For Fruit Tarts) (No. 2358) into two-thirds for the shell and one-third for the lattice. Roll the larger piece to a circle about ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick, line the tin without stretching it, and leave a ½-inch (1 cm) overhang. Refrigerate the lined tin while making the filling.
- 2
Toss the mushrooms
Leave mushrooms no larger than 1 inch (2.5 cm) whole and halve any larger ones. Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in a broad 12-inch (30 cm) skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 1 minute without colouring, then add the mushrooms. Toss them briskly for 5 to 7 minutes, until their surfaces glisten and take the faintest gold while the centres remain firm. Do not crowd a smaller pan; work in two batches if necessary.
If the mushrooms release a puddle, lift them out with a slotted spoon and boil the liquid down before returning them. Ça se rattrape. Leaving that water in the pan would only ask the pastry to absorb it later. - 3
Cohere with cream
Pour in the heavy cream and add the salt and white pepper. Simmer briskly, tossing often, until the cream reduces to a close coating around the mushrooms and no loose liquid runs across the pan when it is tilted, about 3 to 5 minutes. If the mushrooms soften before the cream tightens, remove them and reduce the cream alone, then fold them back in. If the coating becomes pasty, loosen it with 1 tablespoon of cream. Spread the filling in a shallow tray and refrigerate until completely cold, about 35 to 45 minutes. Warm is not close enough.
- 4
Cut the lattice
While the filling cools, roll the remaining Fine, Short or Flawn Paste (For Fruit Tarts) (No. 2358) about ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick and cut it into ½-inch (1 cm) strips. Lay the strips on a parchment-lined plate and refrigerate them for at least 15 minutes. Cold strips lift cleanly and keep their edges; if they soften while you work, return them to the cold for 10 minutes.
- 5
Fill and gild
Spoon the cold mushroom filling into the chilled shell and level it without crushing the caps. Brush the pastry rim lightly with the cold water. Lay half the strips across the filling in one direction, then cross them with the remaining strips to form an open diamond lattice. Press the ends to the moistened rim, trim the overhang neatly, and crimp the edge. Gild the lattice and rim with beaten egg, brushing lightly so egg does not pool between the strips or run down the tin.
- 6
Bake very hot
Set the tart directly on the preheated sheet pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the lattice is a deep butter-gold, the side crust feels firm, and small glossy bubbles of cream appear between the strips. The hot sheet is the home oven's answer to the fierce oven floor assumed by the original formula. If the lattice colours before the base is ready, cover the top loosely with foil and continue baking on the lower rack.
- 7
Serve at once
Let the flan stand in its tin for 5 minutes, just long enough for the pastry to settle, then remove the outer ring and slide it onto a warm platter. Cut with a serrated knife so the lattice stays crisp, and serve immediately while the cream still gleams around the mushrooms. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose small white mushrooms whose caps are closed tightly around the stems. The source calls for barely opened English mushrooms because they remain plump under heat; broad, fully opened caps surrender too much water and lose their shape.
- •Clean the mushrooms with a brush or barely damp cloth and trim only the dry ends. Soaking them gives the skillet extra water to remove, and moisture management is already the whole argument of this flan.
- •Do not blind-bake the shell. The source fills raw paste and sends it into a very hot oven, so the preheated metal sheet supplies the fierce bottom heat a home oven lacks without changing the sequence.
- •Serve the flan as a hot first course with a dry white Burgundy. Refrigerate leftovers for up to 2 days and reheat them on a preheated sheet pan at 400°F (205°C); a microwave softens the lattice.
Advance Preparation
- •The Fine, Short or Flawn Paste (For Fruit Tarts) (No. 2358) may be prepared and chilled up to 2 days ahead. Keep it wrapped closely so its surface does not dry.
- •The mushroom filling may be cooked, spread in a shallow container, covered once cold, and refrigerated for up to 1 day. Use it cold from the refrigerator.
- •The shell and lattice strips may be rolled and refrigerated separately for up to 4 hours. Fill and assemble only when the oven and preheated sheet pan are ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 240g)
Calories
800 calories
Total Fat
58 g
Saturated Fat
36 g
Trans Fat
2 g
Unsaturated Fat
18 g
Cholesterol
245 mg
Sodium
900 mg
Total Carbohydrates
57 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
12 g
Protein
14 g
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