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Vol Au Vent of Kidney

A puff pastry case filled with sautéed kidney and a brown gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Vol Au Vent of Kidney

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the case

  1. Roll out the puff paste to 1 inch thick in a round or oval shape.

  2. Place a suitable-sized saucer on top, leaving 1 inch uncovered, and cut a ½ inch deep incision around it.

  3. Brush the pastry with egg wash.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.

  5. Remove the top, scrape out the inside crumb, and return the case to the oven for a few minutes to dry.

Make the kidney filling

  1. Skin the kidneys, remove the core, and soak in tepid water for 5 minutes.

  2. Cut the kidney into small pieces and fry until brown.

  3. In a pan, heat the butter, then stir in the flour until light brown.

  4. Add the water, then the kidney and remaining ingredients, seasoning to taste.

  5. Keep the gravy just below boiling for 30 minutes to avoid toughening the kidney.

Serve

  1. Place the case on a dish, pour in the kidney mixture, and serve hot.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Puff paste
Bakes into a crisp, flaky case that holds the filling.
Kidney
Provides the main meaty body of the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour when frying and starting the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the butter and water into a smooth gravy.

The step that matters

Keep the gravy just below boiling. Simmering gently for 30 minutes keeps the kidney tender; a rolling boil toughens the meat proteins and makes it chewy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, beef, lemon, parsley, thyme, pepper, flour):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, beef, lemon, parsley, thyme, pepper, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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