17 ways with vol au vents

No longer a ‘naff snack’, the pastry cases are very much back. Their versatility is boundless, whether you prefer smoked trout, sausage, seafood or strawberries and cream

The humble vol-au-vent, a canapé long compromised by memories of Abigail’s Party and the three-day week, is staging a bold comeback this Christmas: sales are up 25% year-on-year at Waitrose, with stocks of their party packs of 12 running low. This resurgent interest in what the Sun describes as “the naff snack” has been attributed to a nostalgic obsession with bygone foodstuffs triggered by the pandemic, but the revival could have just as much to do with the emergence of an entire generation for whom vol-au-vents hold no unpleasant associations, because they’ve never eaten any and barely know what they are.

Here’s what they are: small pastry cases loaded with a variety of savoury fillings – ham, chicken and mushroom being among the most common. The vol-au-vent originated in France around the start of the 19th century as a larger, pie-like affair; the bite-size cocktail party version is more properly known as a bouchée. By the 1990s, they were tragically unfashionable and remained so for decades, although classy, updated vol-au-vents started appearing in smart restaurants a year or two before the pandemic erupted. Now it’s the retro hors d’oeuvre of the season, and the shops have been picked clean.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3GVEjKr