A vol-au-vent is a small round case of very light, flaky pastry with a hollow middle, filled with something savoury — chicken in a creamy sauce, mushrooms, prawns, tuna — and eaten in one or two bites. It is party food and buffet food: you see trays of them at weddings, at office Christmas parties, at old-fashioned dinner parties, in the frozen or chilled section of a British or French supermarket.

A vol-au-ventvol-au-vent is a small round case是一種小小圓圓的殼 of very light, flaky pastry用非常輕盈、酥脆的千層皮做成 with a hollow middle中間是空心的, filled with something savoury裡面填鹹的餡料 — chicken in a creamy sauce像奶油醬雞肉, mushrooms蘑菇, prawns蝦, tuna鮪魚 — and eaten in one or two bites通常一兩口就吃完。It is party food and buffet food它是宴會和自助餐點心: you see trays of them你會看到一盤盤的它 at weddings在婚禮, at office Christmas parties辦公室的耶誕派對, at old-fashioned dinner parties老派的晚宴, in the frozen or chilled section of a British or French supermarket也會在英國或法國超市的冷凍或冷藏區看到。

The word is French and keeps its French look, with two hyphens, and English speakers say it roughly "vol-oh-VON", swallowing the final n. The plural is usually written vol-au-vents.

The word is French這個字是法文, and keeps its French look而且保留法文的樣子, with two hyphens中間有兩個連字號, and English speakers say it roughly英語使用者大概唸成 "vol-oh-VON""vol-oh-VON", swallowing the final n最後的n幾乎不發音。The plural is usually written複數通常寫成 vol-au-ventsvol-au-vents。

It carries a slight feeling of the 1970s and 80s in Britain — a bit dated, a bit fancy-in-a-homely-way — so people sometimes name it half-jokingly when they talk about parties of that era. It is much more common in British English than American, where similar things are often just called pastry cups or puff pastry shells.

It carries a slight feeling of the 1970s and 80s in Britain它帶點英國七零、八零年代的味道 — a bit dated有點過時, a bit fancy-in-a-homely-way又帶點居家式的講究 — so people sometimes name it half-jokingly所以大家講到那個年代的派對時, when they talk about parties of that era有時候會半開玩笑地提起它。It is much more common in British English than American它在英式英文裡比美式英文常見得多, where similar things are often just called美式那邊類似的東西常常只叫 pastry cups or puff pastry shellspastry cups或puff pastry shells。

Note that the word names the pastry case; what goes inside can be almost anything, which is why you hear "chicken vol-au-vents", "mushroom vol-au-vents".

Note that注意 the word names the pastry case這個字指的是那個酥皮殼本身; what goes inside can be almost anything裡面放什麼幾乎都可以, which is why you hear所以你會聽到 "chicken vol-au-vents", "mushroom vol-au-vents"「chicken vol-au-vents」、「mushroom vol-au-vents」這種說法。