Flan de Coco Yucateco

This is a Yucatecan flan. Not a generic Mexican flan, not a Spanish flan. The Peninsula has its own dessert tradition, shaped by the coconut palms that line its coast from Progreso to Tulum, by the Lebanese pastry influence that arrived with 19th-century immigration to Merida, and by the dulcerias of the Lucas de Galvez market that have been making flan de coco the same way for three generations.

Coconut is not a garnish on this flan. It is the dish. You steep coco rallado in evaporated and coconut milk with a stick of canela, and you let it sit until the coconut has given up everything it has to the dairy. Skip the steeping and you have a flan with coconut in it. Do the steeping and you have flan de coco. There is a difference and the senoras of Merida will tell you so without being asked.

My mother did not make flan de coco. She was from Jalisco and her flan was the napolitano kind, with cream cheese and a pale caramel. I learned this version from a woman named Dona Felipa who sold dulces from a wooden bandeja near the Plaza Grande in Merida. She made me write down the proportions in pencil and told me to take the caramel darker than I thought I should. She was right about the caramel. She was right about most things. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.