vol-au-vent

[ vaw-loh-vahn ]

/ vɔ loʊˈvɑ̃ /

a large shell of light, flaky pastry for filling with vegetable, fish, or meat mixtures, usually with a sauce.

Origin of vol-au-vent

1820–30; < French: literally, flight on the wind

voit, voiture, voivode, voix céleste, vojvodina, vol-au-vent, vol., vola, volacious, volans, volant

After the fish came a vol-au-vent; then a roast fowl, a salad, French beans with a Pithiviers lark-pie.

The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume VIII. |Guy de Maupassant
He began to eat his vol-au-vent with the appetite of a boy of fourteen.

The King's Men |Robert Grant, John Boyle O'Reilly, J. S. Dale, and John T. Wheelwright
Make your tartelettes as in the last and fill with peaches dressed as for vol-au-vent (No. 1141).

The Gastronomic Regenerator: |Alexis Soyer
Another day, bake them; the next, put them in a pie or a patty; the third, let them give substance to a vol-au-vent.

The Feasts of Autolycus |Elizabeth Robins Pennell

I didn't envy them that vol-au-vent of yours, Ellen, good as it smelt.

Jill the Reckless |P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse

vol-au-vent

/ (French vɔlovɑ̃) /

a very light puff pastry case filled either with a savoury mixture in a richly flavoured sauce or sometimes with fruit

C19: from French, literally: flight in the wind