Why it works: Egg and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,991 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Vol Au Vent
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the shell
Roll out the tart pastry to ⅛ inch thick and cut out a shape the size of the dish bottom.
Place it on a baking sheet lined with paper and brush with egg yolk.
Roll out the puff pastry to 1 inch thick, cut out a shape with the same cutter, and place it on the tart pastry.
Use a smaller cutter to press into the center of the puff pastry without cutting through.
Bake and fill
Brush the top with egg yolk and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 20 minutes until light brown.
Remove the inner pastry from the center, keeping the top intact.
Place the shell on a warm dish and fill with a white fricassée or desired filling. Serve hot.
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.
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Egg + chickentop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,991 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tart paste
- Forms a firm, crisp base that holds the shell's shape and the filling.
- Puff paste
- Rises in the oven into flaky, layered walls around the filling.
- Egg yolk
- Brushed on for a glossy, golden browning on the pastry surface.
The step that matters
Pressing the inner cutout without cutting through. The puff pastry must rise freely while its base stays attached to the tart paste. If the cutter goes through, the walls cannot rise evenly and the filling space may collapse or leak during baking.
“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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