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Preheat the oven to 350F.
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Place a rectangular cake pan or roasting pan into the oven and pour in enough water to come halfway up the sides of the pan.
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Leave the pan in the oven while it preheats.
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In a mixing bowl, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, water, eggs, salt, and vanilla.
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Mix until everything is well blended.
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This is actually much easier than you think.
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Just make sure you have a nonstick skillet and a heat-proof silicone spatula.
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Place a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, sprinkle the sugar evenly all over it, and cook.
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After about 5 minutes, you will see the sugar begin to melt.
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A few minutes after that, parts of the melted sugar will begin to turn a light brown color.
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If the sugar is melting unevenly, you can use your silicone spatula to stir it around a bit.
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If you do, the sugar will clump up a bit, and that is okay.
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The clumps will eventually melt downjust continue stirring.
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Once all of the sugar has melted (and any clumps have disappeared), pour the caramel into a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, preferably a nonstick one.
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As soon as you pour the caramel into the pan, it will begin to harden, which is okay.
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Give the flan mixture a quick mix and pour it over the prepared caramel in the pan.
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Place the pan in the center of the water bath.
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You may hear some crackling, which is the hardened caramel.
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Bake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester, toothpick, or butter knife inserted in the center of the flan comes out clean.
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The center will still jiggle a bit.
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Remove the loaf pan from the oven and allow to cool for 1 hour.
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If you are going to unmold the flan in the next hour, leave the water bath in the oven.
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(After cooling for 45 minutes, you can cover the flan with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to unmold it.)
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You need your water bath again.
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If you discarded the one used for baking, place enough hot water in a rectangular cake pan or roasting pan to come at least a quarter of the way up the sides of the pan.
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Dip the loaf pan into the hot water and let it sit for a few minutes.
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You will hear cracking again, which is the caramel loosening up.
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Remove the loaf pan from the hot water and run a thin knife blade between the flan and the sides of the pan.
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Invert a serving platter over the loaf pan and flip both over, dislodging the flan from the pan.
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The caramel will drip down onto the platter.
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(A good amount of caramel will have remained in its solid state in the pan, which is expected.)
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Serve and enjoy!
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TECHNIQUES
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Making Caramel
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Forget about what you have heard, caramel is easy to make and easy to clean up.
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You just have to have the right tools: a nonstick pan and a heatproof silicone spatula.
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Using any other material will make for a messy and long clean up.
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Follow the instructions in the recipe and if the sugar clumps up, keep heating it until it melts.
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Creating a Water Bath
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I find the easiest and safest way to create an oven water bath is to place a deep pan in the oven, fill it with water, and allow it to heat up during the oven preheating time.
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Cleaning the Pans
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The nonstick skillet and silicone spatula will clean up quickly after they have been used.
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A little hot soapy water should be enough to get all the hardened caramel off.
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The loaf pan is a different story.
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You will most likely end up with a hardened layer of caramel stuck to your pan.
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Soak the pan in hot soapy water overnight.
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The next day, pour out the water and pour in clean hot water.
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Any remaining caramel should just melt right off.
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ADVANCE PREPARATION
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The flan can be baked and left in its pan, unmolded, in the refrigerator for 2 days.
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After it has been unmolded, it will keep for another 3 days or so.
