The vol-au-vent (flies in the wind) is a classic of French Cuisine. The flying pastry was the brainchild of legendary chef Antonin Carême… or was it? The flying pastry has bunch of myths and stories surrounding it. Some of them have nugget of truth to them, others are pure fantasy. We’ll be having a look at which ones stand up to historical scrutiny. To the actors… “bon merde”!
Website: www.intaberna.co.uk – click Recipes for the bouchée à la reine recipe!
Bluesky: @intaberna.bsky.social
Instagram: instagram.com/in.taberna.qs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/in_taberna (not really using this anymore)
Sources and literature:
Carême, Marie-Antoine. Le Pâtissier Royal Parisien Ou Traité Élémentaire et Pratique de La Patisserie Ancienne et Moderne, 1828.
Carême, Marie-Antoine. Le Pâtissier Pittoresque, 1828.
Carême, Marie Antonin. Le Maître d’hôtel Français: Ou Parallèle de La Cuisine Ancienne et Moderne, Considérée Sous Le Rapport de l’ordonnance Des Menus Selon Les Quatre Saisons, 1842.
Carême, Marie-Antoine. Le Cuisinier Parisien: Ou l’art de La Cuisine Française Au Dix-Neuvième Siècle, …, 1828.
Menon. La Cuisinière Bourgeoise, 1850.
Marin, François. Suite Des Dons de Comus Ou l’Art de La Cuisine, Réduit En Pratique, 1742.
De La Varenne, François Pierre. Le Cuisinier François … Par Le Sieur de La Varenne …, 1700.
De La Chapelle, Vincent. Le Cuisinier Moderne, Qui Apprend à Donner Toutes Sortes de Repas, En Gras & En Maigre, d’une Manière plus Délicate Que Ce Qui En a Été Écrit Jusqu’à Présent; Divisé En Cinq Volumes, Avec de Nouveaux Modéles de Vaissele … Dedié a Son Altesse Serenissime Monseigneur Le Prince d’Orange et Denassau, &c. Par Le Sieur Vincent La Chapelle, Son Chef de Cuisine … Tome Premier -Cinquieme, 1742.
La Chapelle, Vincent. The Modern Cook, 1733.
Favre, Joseph. Dictionnaire Universel de Cuisine Pratique, 1905.
Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière. Almanach des Gourmands, servant de guide dans les moyens de faire excellente chère ; par un vieil amateur, 7 volumes, 1803-1810
Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière. Manuel des amphitryons, contenant un traité de la dissection des viandes à table, la nomenclature des menus les plus nouveaux et des éléments de politesse, 1808.
Rambourg, Patrick. Histoire de La Cuisine et de La Gastronomie Françaises, 2013.
Rambourg, Patrick. Étonnant Vol-Au-Vent, Historia n°900/Décembre 2021, p95.
De L’Aulnoit, Béatrix. Pour Antonin Carême, pâtisser, c’est du gâteau, Historia N° 935 / Décembre-Janvier 2025, p56-57
https://www.albanyinstitute.org/collection/details/delavan-house-dinner-menu-given-by-the-legislature-of-the-st
Chapters
00:00 – L’ouverture
01:14 – Delicious Liaisons
05:15 – Waiting for Source-ot
10:10 – Caring for Carême
14:10 – We’re cooking
17:17 – jeu, set et match
#foodhistory #frenchgastronomy #volauvent
27 Comments
It's very amusing and at the same time very educational ! Job well done!
Poor beret guy at the end 😂
Another great video by the Slavoj Zizek with a British accent!
I love the old cook book images of vol-au-vents, jellos and such, they look a cross between jewelry and construction drawings. It should be an internet challenge for people trying to re-create the uncanny beautiful dishes.
We only eat simple volovants in Christmas filled with whatever as an hors d'oeuvres in Spain
Another excellent episode. I always both learn a lot from this channel and get a good belly laugh.
Furthermore, it would seem that over here in Belgium we use Bouchee a la reine to designate the pastry, and use vol au vent to designate the sauce
Great episode as always. Somewhat curious though if cracked state might've referred to the candy making stage?
At my parents 50th anniversary we had so many types of vol au vent! After not seeing them for years I love the timing of both eating them a month ago and now this video
A bechamel that’s secretly veloute is hilarious
Great video. We stil love our "vol au vent" in flanders.
Poland mentioned and I live right by the city of Leszno where the family of Marie Leszczyńska came from. I always thought that the queen's bite was named that because she was an absolute glutton, devouring the dish in a single bite. And she was a lucky glutton, too, since she supposedly didn't gain any weight despite all the food she ate. Anyway, gave you a sub.
Careme really was an incredibly talented cook. Maybe the most talented there ever will be. But it is likelye his inventions were things he popularized. Surely he would have invented flight if he could have. Vol au vent is awesome. Little egg and a cheese sauce with some bacon.
This makes me wish I could bake <3
Last time I ate val-au-vent was… Early 90s, there were some savoury (sturgeon, mushrooms – albeit not truffles – and some sweet ones, like melon and papaya) when my former classmate celebrated his marriage at a very posh French coisine restaurant.
Love this channel, thank you for your attention to detail!🎉
I appreciate that you dit not call the 14th of july bastille day but fête nationale!
In France the only place you're sure to eat vol-au-vent regularly are caterers, school and entreprise cafeterias… usually bouchée à la reine. As with industrial pastries and sauce in can it is a really easy meal to make in larger number. I don't think I have ever seen one in a restaurant menus, I'm sure it exist but that certainly means that it is a very oldschool place. Although people do make them at home and you can buy pre cooked vol-au-vent in most supermarché.
I can't describe how much I'm enjoying this video! WOW
1:53 That's not how you pronounce "Leszczyńska" 😉
Is this my new favourite channel?
Love the bowtie action this episode. I'm shocked Talleyrand didn't come up!
Love this! I studied cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu so Careme was a bit of a big deal. Interestingly our head of curriculum really emphasized his engineering skills , or rather his design of molds and other cooking vessels. The tin for the charlotte was kinda considered his greatest innovation!
The Zizek joke caught me so off guard
I only use my subscription feed
It's fun to learn about food stories and have the same food stories get disproved at the same time
Love these videos! They plink my dopamine receptors every time 🙂
If you want a video idea, that can build on your other Italian food videos, I suggest a video on food related bickering between Italians and the Italian diaspora