Type | Pastry |
---|---|
Place of origin | France |
Created by | Marie-Antoine Carême |
Main ingredients | Puff pastry |
A vol-au-vent (pronounced [vɔlovɑ̃], French for "windblown", to describe its lightness) is a small hollow case of puff pastry. It was formerly also called a patty case.[1]
A vol-au-vent is typically made by cutting two circles in rolled out puff pastry, cutting a hole in one of them, then stacking the ring-shaped piece on top of the disc-shaped piece.[2] The pastry is cooked, then filled with any of a variety of savory or sweet fillings.
The pastry is sometimes credited to Marie-Antoine Carême.[3] However, an entremet called petits gâteaux vole au vent is mentioned in François Marin's 1739 cookbook Les Dons de Comus, years before Carême's birth.[4]
In France, it is usually served as an appetizer or a small snack, filled with chicken or fish.