When all are cut, brush over the tops with beaten egg, being careful not to moisten the edges; if they are to be filled with sweetmeats, sprinkle sugar over the tops. When baked, take off the marked-out covers, and cut out the centres without defacing the outsides. Keep them in a warm place until just before serving, when they should be filled, and covered with the little crust tops.
In entertaining, it will be found very convenient to purchase patty-cases at the confectioner’s. They can be reheated the last five minutes, and filled with any thing preferred made at home. They are also quite cheap.
Oysters for Vols-au-vent, Scallop-shells, or served on Buttered Toast for Breakfast (No. 1).
Bring a canful or a quart of oysters to the boiling-point in their liquor; then drain them. Put butter the size of half an egg into a saucepan, and when hot add half a small onion (cut very fine) and a tea-spoonful of flour, stirring them well; add then half a tea-cupful of the juice in a can of mushrooms, pepper, salt, a sprig of parsley (cut very fine), half a box of mushrooms (chopped not too fine); then add the oysters. Stir all together over the fire for a minute; add a few drops of lemon-juice. This is a very nice filling for vols-au-vent made as in receipt.
Oysters for Vols-au-vent, Scallop-shells, or Served on Buttered Toast for Breakfast (No. 2).
Put the oysters on the fire in their own liquor, and when they are just beginning to simmer skim them out quickly with a perforated ladle; if there is too much juice in the saucepan, pour out all except what is necessary for making a sauce of creamy thickness for the oysters; skim this well, and make it as thick as rich cream with flour and butter smoothed together (roux). Season it well with salt and Cayenne pepper; some add also a little nutmeg. When cooked enough, take the sauce off the fire, add the yolks of two or three eggs well beaten, and the oysters. Let them merely become hot again on the range without allowing them to boil. Serve immediately. If these preparations are used for scallop-shells, sprinkle some cracker-crumbs over the tops, and brown them quickly with a salamander.
Vols-au-vent of Oysters (No. 3).
Fill the vols-au-vent (made as in preceding article) with oysters prepared as follows: Beard and put them into a stew-pan with a little stock; as soon as they are cooked, cut them in two; add three or four table-spoonfuls of the oyster-liquor to the stock, and add to it a roux of a little butter and flour; add then a very little cayenne, a little nutmeg, and two or three table-spoonfuls of cream. It should be rather thicker than cream. Fill the pastry the last thing before serving, and cover with the tops.
Vols-au-vent of Sweet-breads.
Prepare the sweet-breads as described in receipt for frying them in the sauté pan ([see page 152]), preparing also the same cream-sauce. After the sweet-breads are cooked, cut them into dice, or into rather small pieces; fill the vols-au-vent with them, pouring over them a little of the cream-sauce; cover with the vols-au-vent tops.