Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Sufiicient, three-quarters of a pound to one pound of puif paste for a good-sized vol-au-vent. VOL-AU-VENT MOULD. Vol-au-vent (a la Financiere).— Prepare a vol-au-vent case according to the instructions already given, bake it, lift off the cover, and dry the inside. Fill it with a financiere ragout, ornament the top with crayfish, cockscombs, and mushrooms ; or, if preferred, simply place the cover on the top of the vol-au-vent, and serve. The ragout may be prepared as follows : — Put into a stewpan equal quantities of sweetbread, forcemeat balls, and mushrooms, aU dressed, with a few sliced truffles and cockscombs if hked. Cover with thick and rich brown sauce made of game, and add a glassful of sherry or madeira. Let them simmer very gently till they are heated throughout, and the ragout will be ready for the vol-auvent. Time, three minutes to heat the ragout. Vol-au-vent (a la Normande). — Make a vol-au-vent case according to the instructions already given, bake it, lift off the cover, and have ready to fill it a Ragout a la Normande. Put on the lid, and serve the vol-au-vent on a dish covered with a napkin. The ragout may be prepared as follows : — Fillet a large sole, put it on a buttered dish, and sprinkle upon it a tea-spoonful of very finely-minced onions which have been previously parboiled. Pour upon it as much milk or light wine as will barely cover it, and bake till done enough. Divide it into neat slices of uniform size, and put these in a stewpan with an equal quantity of oysters which have been plumped in their liquor, mussels which have been shaken over the fire in a stewpan till their shells opened, mushrooms which have been stewed in butter, and pieces of the crumb of bread about the size of a crown piece which have been fried in butter until they were lightly browned. Take as much veloute sauce as will cover the ingredients, put it into a saucepan, and stir in the oyster liquor, the mussel broth, and the gravy from the sole. Let it simmer till very thick. Beat the yolks of two eggs in a basin, mix a spoonful or two of the sauce with them, and add them to the rest. Simmer the sauce for a minute or two without allowing it to boil, and pour it over the fish. Let all heat very gently together for three or four minutes, and the ragout will be ready for the vol-au-vent. Vol-au-vent, Small. — To make small vol-au-vents, prepare the pastry, and make the vol-au-vents according to the instructions already given for making a large vol-au-vent. Roll the pastry out to the thickness of half an inch. Two pastry- cutters will be needed — the smaller one the size of half a crown, the larger one double the size. If these cutters are fluted, so much the better. Bake the vol-au-vents in a moderately-heated oven ; when done enough, lift off the covers, and scoop out the insides as before ; dry the pastry, and fill the cavity with any of the varieties of meat which can be prepared for the purpose. Put on the covers, and serve the vol-au-vents, hot or cold, on a neatly-folded napkin. Time to bake small vol-au-vents, ten to twelve minutes. Vol-au-vent with Cream. — Bake a