Christmas ‘leche flan’

I have always wanted to experience Christmas in a non-Christian country. I have always wanted to experience Christmas in a country without Christmas. Being in Japan and hearing some friends groan about having to work on Dec. 25, I thought I had found the right place. Unfortunately, I hear Christmas carols in Tokyo shopping malls, I see Christmas decor all around town, and now I am told that some Japanese couples go on a date by attending a Christmas service in church even if they are not Christian.

Some Japanese asked me to confirm if it is true that the Philippines celebrates the longest Christmas in the world. I explain that Christmas carols are heard in shopping malls starting in September, the first of the “ber months,” or the months that end with “ber”: September, October, November and December. Piped-in Christmas carols are meant to remind or condition mall goers into spending a lot on Christmas presents.

If we are to follow the Church calendar, the season begins with a period of waiting and expectation (Advent—the four Sundays before Christmas) and ends with the Feast of the Epiphany (better known as the Feast of the Three Kings, traditionally set on Jan. 6 but now moveable and set on the Sunday after Christmas).

So officially, Christmas in the Philippines begins on Sept. 1 and ends on the Feast of the Epiphany between Jan. 2 and 8. However, some people extend this to either the Feast of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo on Jan. 9 or one of the many feasts of the Santo Niño. Officially, the Church’s Feast of the Santo Niño is set on the third Sunday of January, but there is a Feast of the Santo Niño venerated in San Beda College in Manila that is celebrated on the last Sunday of that month. There are also Santo Niño feasts in Cebu, Aklan, and Tondo. In my home, we keep our Christmas decorations until Valentine’s Day and take these down on Feb. 15. Now that’s a really long Christmas.

Times have changed a lot since I was a boy. It used to be cool and dry in December but these days we still have rain or heat. One of the signals of Christmas was puto  bumbong, which you expected starting with the Dec. 16  Misas  de  Gallo, until Via Mare made it available all year round. Our Christmas tables still have the staples—lechon, nilaga,  castañas,  rellenong  bangus,  galantina,  queso  de  bola, ham, fruit salad, etc.—but people are becoming more health-conscious so we have sugar-free desserts and real salads on our Christmas tables now.

One of the things that are available all year but always expect on a Christmas table is leche flan. Reproduced in Felice Santa Maria’s “The Governor-General’s Kitchen” are two early-20th-century recipes for leche flan  that used to be called  flan de  leche. The earlier recipe is in Spanish and found in “La Cocina Filipina” (Manila Imp. Pinpin, 1913) as follows:

“Para  un  cuartillo  de  leche  ocho  yemas  de  huevos  y  una  clara  se  cueca la leche y fria, se sazona de azucar blanca en polvo y una pequita de canela, se cuela muy bien y despues se le echan as yemas muy batidas con su clara; hecha esta composicion se tuestan en una cazuela dos onzas de azucar terciada hasta que tome el color de caramelo, se echa en el molde, se unta todo ien y se le echa la leche preparada, se pone al baño de maria que hierva poco y arriba candela lenta para que cuaje desacio y no se corte. Despues de cuajad se le puede avivar la candela para que cueza bien y se le debera clavar una aguja para saber cuando esta, que sea en saliendo completamante limpia; se pone a enfriar y se coloca sobre una servilleta para servirlo a la mesa.”

The other one, in Tagalog, from Rosendo Ignacio in “Aklat ng Pagluluto” (Manila L. Martinez, 1919) is as follows:

“Magbati ng sampu o walong burok na itlog na may kahalong mga kalahating kilong asukal na repinadong maputi, pagkatapos ay hahaluan ng isang basong gatas na sariwa, kaunting kanela at dayap na kinajas; paghaluing mabuti bago ilagay sa flanera o kundili kaya’y sasalain muna upang masagap o maalis yaong durog na kanela at kinakas na dayap na isinama. Kung makaraang maihanda na ang ganito, ay lulutuin sa baño de Maria at sa ibabaw ng flanera ay lalagyan ng isang takip na latang malinis na may baga. Ang flanera na nabanggit, ay bago lagiyan ng pinaghalo ay pahiran muna o titigmakin ang paligidligid ng loob na mataas na punting arnibal. Upang mapagkilala kung lutu na, ay kinakailangang duruin ng isang malinis at tuyong tinting, na kapag di mabahiran ng niluluto ay tandang mahahangu na.”

Those recipe books list leche flan as made from six to 18 eggs and half a kilo of sugar. My mother’s recipe is much simpler with six to eight eggs (yolks only), white sugar, a can of evaporated milk, a can of condensed milk, vanilla essence, and, if available, grated dayap  or lemon rind. There is no need for the metal llanera or flanera because you can use an oval Pyrex dish. My mother preferred using duck eggs and carabao milk, if available, for a richer flan. Everything was cooked on a stove in a baño maria, meaning the flan  was cooked not over direct heat but set in a basin with boiling water.

Those who want an easier way to have leche flan can buy an instant just-add-water packet of Alsa Flan and get a sense of it, but not quite.

Our Christmas traditions are changing but the tastes and sounds of celebration remain the same. This is why Christmas in the Philippines is like no other.

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