[F., lit. ‘flight in the wind.’] A kind of raised pie, formed of a light puff paste filled with meat, fish or the like.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, I. xxiv. The … landlady,… regaled him with cold vol-au-vent, and a glass of Curaçoa. Ibid. To think she should serve me so cruelly, after I had eaten so plentifully of the vol-au-vent.
1846. Soyer, Cookery, 24. Serve [the sauce] in a vol-au-vent or wherever directed.
1899. Doyle, Duet (1909), 90/1. Oyster patties or oyster vol-au-vents.
