Meaning & use
patty shell
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small round case of light puff pastry that is baked and then filled with a savory mixture.
Grammar: Countable: use a/an or a plural — a patty shell, three patty shells.
Patterns
- fill a patty shell with something
- a patty shell filled with something
- bake patty shells
Spoon the warm chicken mixture into the patty shells just before serving.
She bought a box of frozen patty shells and filled them with creamed mushrooms.
The patty shells should be golden and puffed before you take them out of the oven.
nouncountable
A small shallow pie crust or pastry base used for holding a sweet or savory filling.
Grammar: Countable and often plural when talking about a batch of them.
Patterns
- line a patty shell with something
- a sweet patty shell
For dessert, bake small patty shells and fill them with lemon curd.
The recipe makes eight sweet patty shells for individual tarts.
Word forms
| plural | patty shells |
|---|
Common combinations
- fill a patty shell
- Fill each patty shell with the cooled seafood salad.
- frozen patty shells
- Frozen patty shells save a lot of time when you are cooking for guests.
- bake patty shells
- Bake the patty shells until they rise and turn light brown.
- a patty shell filled with chicken
- Lunch was a patty shell filled with chicken and peas.
- warm patty shells
- Arrange the warm patty shells on a plate and spoon the sauce over them.
Synonyms and how they differ
- vol-au-vent
- This is the usual British name for a similar puff-pastry case, often larger and served as a main course.
- tartlet
- A tartlet is a small pastry case too, but it is usually open-topped and made with shortcrust rather than puff pastry.
- pastry case
- This is the general term for any baked shell that holds a filling, whether sweet or savory.
Word family
Commonly confused: patty shell or patty pan? patty shell or pie shell?
patty shell vs patty pan
A patty pan is a small shallow pan or a type of summer squash, not a pastry case.
patty shell vs pie shell
A pie shell is a single large pastry base for a whole pie, while a patty shell is a small individual case.
Practice
Which sentence uses "patty shell" correctly?
Choose one answer.
"Fill something with something" is the correct pattern, and "each" takes a singular countable noun, so "each patty shell" is right. Option 2 uses "of" instead of "with", option 3 wrongly makes the noun plural after "each", and option 4 uses an uncountable food name in the plural.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “patty shell”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.