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Small Vols-au-vents, or Patty-cases

A puff pastry shell filled with savory or sweet filling, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Small Vols-au-vents, or Patty-cases

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the patties

  1. Roll out the puff pastry to ½ inch thickness.

  2. Use a large round cutter to cut out the number of patties needed.

  3. Dip the edge of a smaller cutter in hot water and press it halfway into the center of each patty.

Bake and hollow

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 12 minutes.

  2. Once baked, use a sharp knife to remove the small rounds from the tops and scoop out the crumb inside.

Fill and finish

  1. Fill the patties with your choice of filling prepared with white sauce.

  2. Optionally, top with fried crumbs or replace the tops.

  3. For sweet versions, glaze the pastry and fill with whipped cream, preserve, or boiled custard.

  4. If using custard, return to a very gentle oven until set.

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. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Shrimp + lobstertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together403 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Chicken + pheasanttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together130 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Light puff pastry
Forms the flaky, hollow case that rises and crisps in the oven.
White sauce
Binds the filling and keeps it moist inside the crisp pastry shell.

The step that matters

Dipping the cutter in hot water before pressing the lid mark. Hot water keeps the cutter edge from sticking and tearing the pastry, giving a clean cut line so the lid lifts off neatly after baking and the pastry rises evenly.

“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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