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 hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the pastry
Roll out the puff pastry to ½ inch thick.
Cut out a large round piece, about 7 inches in diameter.
Use a smaller cutter, 2 inches smaller, to cut halfway through the center.
Roll out the remaining pastry to ¼ inch thick.
Cut into a 6-inch round.
Place both pieces on a baking sheet.
Pin the large piece with oiled paper about 5 inches deep.
Bake and fill
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.
Brush the top with beaten egg 15 minutes before removing from the oven.
Remove the center and fill with your choice of filling.
Place the smaller piece on top and serve.
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
- Puff pastry
- Its layers puff with steam in the hot oven, forming the hollow, flaky case.
- Egg
- Beaten egg brushed on top browns the surface and gives a glossy finish.
The step that matters
Pinning the large piece with oiled paper. Pinning the center down with oiled paper keeps the pastry from rising in the middle, so the case puffs up at the edges and leaves 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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