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Patty Cases
Roll puff-paste to the thickness of one-half inch, and shape into circles two and one-half to three inches in diameter, with a cooky-cutter. Remove centers from one-half of these circles, using a smaller cutter. Brush the edges of the uncut circles with water, and fit on to them the rings, forming a little wall and leaving a cavity in the center. Chill thoroughly before baking in a hot oven. These shells may be prepared the day before and reheated when needed. The small centers removed from the puff-paste circles should also be baked and used as lids to the patties when finished.
These are bouchées — small puff-paste shells built from two stamped rounds rather than hollowed from a single block. The method is sound as written; only the oven direction needs translating.
- "A hot oven"Bake at 425–450°F. Puff paste needs that initial blast to turn its water to steam and drive the layers apart; a moderate oven melts the butter out before lift happens and gives you flat, greasy discs.
- Chilling is the hingeThe instruction to chill thoroughly before baking is the one step that decides whether these rise. Fifteen to thirty minutes in the refrigerator, or until the paste is firm to the touch, sets the butter so it stays in sheets.
- Cut cleanly, do not twistPress the cutter straight down and lift straight up. Twisting seals and smears the cut edge, which pins the layers together and makes the walls rise unevenly.
- Water, not egg, on the joinThe original brushes the edges with water for good reason. Egg wash between the base and the ring can glue the layers shut; if you want colour, brush only the top of the ring and keep it off the cut sides.
- Thickness and sizeHalf an inch is thick for puff paste; the depth of the ring cut from the same sheet is what gives the finished wall its height. The recipe specifies a 2.5 to 3 inch outer cutter and only "a smaller cutter" for the center; something in the region of 1.5 to 2 inches leaves a workable wall.
- Reheating the day afterWarm the baked shells through in a 350°F oven for five to eight minutes, uncovered, so they dry rather than steam. Fill them at the table or immediately before serving; a hot filling softens the base within minutes.
- The centersBake the small removed rounds on the same sheet but check them early; being much smaller than the cases, they colour faster.
Patty cases are the domestic descendant of the French vol-au-vent, the tall puff-paste shell generally credited to the pastry cooks of early nineteenth-century Paris; the name is traditionally explained as a reference to the lightness of the paste, though the story is not documented. American cookbooks of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reduced it to individual portions, and the shell became a standard device for serving small amounts of expensive food: creamed chicken, sweetbreads, oysters, mushrooms, or cooked meat bound in a white sauce. Ready-baked shells could be had from bakeries, and by the mid-twentieth century the frozen patty shell had largely displaced the homemade version.