The vol-au-vents can be made with larger cutters for starter-sized portions. If you don’t have pastry cutters, the vol-au-vents will also work as squares or rectangles.

If you want to serve your vol-au-vents with a lid on, don’t prick the inner circle with a fork but brush it with egg wash. The inner circle will then rise like the outer ring and can be lifted off carefully and placed on top of the filling.

Vol-au-vents are best known for being filled with a creamy mushroom or salmon filling, but your flavour need not be restricted to the 1980s. Mark Dodson serves Wild mushroom, spinach and goat's cheese vol-au-vents with poached duck egg and pimento and Colin McGurran opts for a simple sausage and marmalade in his vol-au-vents.