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Small Vols-au-vents, or Patty-cases

Small puff pastry turnovers filled with meat and white sauce, optionally topped with fried crumbs or sweet fillings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 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 cases

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

  2. Use a larger round cutter to cut out the patties.

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

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

  5. Remove the small rounds of crust from the tops with a sharp knife 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.

  4. Fill with whipped cream, preserve, or boiled custard.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Shrimp + saucetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,423 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Shrimp + creamtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,067 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Light puff pastry
Rises and flakes in the oven to form the hollow, crisp case.
White sauce
Binds the filling and adds moisture so it stays creamy inside the case.
Whipped cream
Adds richness and a light, airy texture to the sweet version.
Preserve
Adds sweetness and fruity flavour to the sweet version.
Boiled custard
Adds creamy sweetness and richness to the sweet version.

The step that matters

Pressing the inner cutter halfway. Pressing only halfway leaves a base for the case; cutting through or pressing too deep can stop the pastry rising evenly, while too shallow leaves no room for the filling.

“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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