Skip to main content
Main

Patties, Tartlets, Or, Small Vols-au-vents

Small puff pastry shells filled with savory or sweet fillings, topped with optional fried crumbs or whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Patties, Tartlets, Or, Small Vols-au-vents

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 pastry

  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.

Bake and fill

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

  2. Remove the small rounds of crust from the tops with a sharp knife and scoop out the insides.

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

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

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

  6. If using boiled custard, return to a 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
Its layers puff and separate in the oven, forming the light, flaky shell.
White sauce
Binds the filling together and keeps it moist inside the crisp pastry case.
Whipped cream
Adds richness and a light, airy texture to the sweet version's filling.
Boiled custard
Thickened egg mixture that sets when gently heated, giving the sweet filling body.

The step that matters

Pressing the inner cutter halfway. Cutting the centre too deep or too shallow changes the rim height and can seal the pastry shut. Dipping the cutter in hot water helps it cut cleanly through the layers so they rise 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.

You might also like

Chicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesLobster SauceLobster Sauce174 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesLobster CroquettesLobster Croquettes99 recipes