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Vol-au-vents, Green Gooseberry

A pastry case filled with a sweet and tart gooseberry compote.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Vol-au-vents, Green Gooseberry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the shells

  1. Prepare and bake small vol-au-vents as usual.

  2. Remove the covers from the vol-au-vents.

  3. Scoop out the insides of the vol-au-vents.

  4. Let the vol-au-vents cool.

Make the gooseberry compote

  1. Top and tail the gooseberries.

  2. Blanch the gooseberries in boiling water for 2 minutes.

  3. Transfer the gooseberries to cold water mixed with vinegar to restore their color.

  4. Boil the sugar in water for 10 minutes.

  5. Add the gooseberries to the boiling sugar water.

  6. Simmer gently until the gooseberries are tender but unbroken.

  7. Strain the gooseberries.

  8. Boil the syrup until thick.

  9. Pour the thick syrup over the fruit.

Assemble

  1. Once the compote is cold, fill the vol-au-vents with it.

  2. Replace the covers or add whipped cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Green gooseberries
Provide the tart fruit that forms the main filling and flavor of the compote.
Refined sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, boiled into syrup, thickens the liquid around the gooseberries.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the cold water bath that helps the gooseberries keep their green color.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until the gooseberries are tender but unbroken. Boiling hard or stirring roughly splits the skins and turns the fruit mushy, so the compote loses its shape and clarity. A gentle simmer lets the fruit soften while holding together.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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