lentils-msg – 2/22/08
Period lentil dishes and comments on lentils.
NOTE: See also the files: peas-msg, beans-msg, gourds-msg, beets-msg, lettuce-msg, vegetarian-msg, mushrooms-msg, vegetables-msg, fd-Mid-East-msg.
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Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 18:40:44 -0500
From: dangilsp at intrepid.net (Dan Gillespie)
Subject: SC - re: Lentils
Hello from West Virginia!
Here's a recipe for a lentil dish from the 1607 "Arte de Cozina"
that I'm working with. I thought it was nicely spiced, but the other person
who tried it thought it a bit bland. You can always adjust the seasonings
at the end. Let me know how you like it.
Antoine de Bayonne
Cap xiiij De caldo de lentejas.
Despues de limpias y escogidas las lentejas se echaran a cozer, y despues
que cuezen un poco, se freyra una poca de cebolla, y ajos picados, y se
echara en las lentejas; y toma pan rallado, y echaselo para que espessen con
quatro, o seys maravedis de especias molidas, perexil è yerba buena; y
quando se vuieren de echar en las escudillas, se les echara un poco de
vinagre: es buen caldo, sino que es melancolico, como dize Galeno, cap. 5.
Chap 14 On a broth of lentils
After the lentils are cleaned & sorted, cast them to cook, & after they cook
a little, fry a little onion, chopped garlic, & cast them to the lentils; &
take grated bread, & cast it so that they thicken with 4 or 6 maravedis of
ground spices, parsley & mint; & when you cast it in the bowls, cast a
little vinegar: it is a good broth, except that is melancholic, as Galen
says in chapter 5.
A Dish of Lentils
- -2 C lentils, sorted & rinsed
- -2 med onions, chopped
- -2 Tbsp olive oil
- -4 cloves garlic, minced
- -1/2 tsp pepper
- -1/4 tsp ginger
- -1/2 tsp cumin
- -1/2 tsp coriander
- -pinch of cloves
- -salt to taste
- -1/4 C bread crumbs
- -1 Tbsp mint, finely minced
- -2 Tbsp parsley, finely minced
- -2 Tbsp red vine vinegar
Cover lentils with 2 inches of water & cook til they are soft; the time
depends on which type of lentils you use. Turn heat to low. Saute onions
in oil til soft & clear; add garlic & continue to saute til garlic is
slightly browned. Add this mixture to lentils. Add the spices & herbs &
sitr in the bread crumbs. This made a stew thinner thatn porridge & thicker
than soup. Remove from heat & stir in vinegar. Serve warm
Dan Gillespie
dangilsp at intrepid.net
Dan_Gillespie at usgs.gov
Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 12:03:20 -0700
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] 'A cooked dish of lentils'
>So, in pursuit of Pennsic food we were going to try the Cooked Dish of
>Lentils from the Miscellany. It doesn't say to pre-soak the lentils, which
>confused me. Is this assumed, or do you really start out with dry lentils?
>
>-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
I've never soaked lentils and they've cooked in a reasonable amount
of time, depending on how soft you like them - and i like mine pretty
soft, but i've only made about a quart of cooked lentils at a time.
If you're planning on making a much larger quantity, i guess soaking
it would make cooking time shorter.
Anahita / Subaytila
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 16:20:37 -0400
From: margali <margali at 99main.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] 'A cooked dish of lentils'
> So, in pursuit of Pennsic food we were going to try the Cooked Dish of
> Lentils from the Miscellany. It doesn't say to pre-soak the lentils, which
> confused me. Is this assumed, or do you really start out with dry lentils?
>
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
Lentils are one of the few legumes that you cook starting dry -
they actually cook rather fast [sort of like you can push split
peas into soup form in under an hour if you realllllly need to
;-)
margali
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 08:39:59 -0500
From: Irmgart <irmgart at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] lentils
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
On 1/11/06, Lonnie D. Harvel <ldh at ece.gatech.edu> wrote:
> I have picked up a bag of dried lentils. I have enjoyed them many
> times, but never prepared them. Recipes? Suggestions?
>
> Aoghann
My *favorite* way to do lentils is from Rumpolt:
*Linsen* (Lentils)
Rumpolt
Take lentils/ wash them fine clean/ and soak them. Take also a good
beef-broth/ let simmer/ cut onion and a little garlic into it/ so that it
comes nice and thick/ and when it is cooked/ so put green well-tasting
herbs/ that have been chopped fine/ thereto/ and cooked bacon/ let it simmer
therewith/ so it becomes good and tasty. You can also cook lentils without
onion/ how one likes to eat it/ so it may be prepared.
To be fair, I usually cook the bacon in the pot, take it out, saute the
onions and garlic in it, then add the broth and lentils. For fresh herbs, I
like it best with rosemary, but that's me, :)
This is a favorite in my house when we are broke as broke can be, because
lentils, garlic, onions and stock are cheap, I buy bacon when it goes on
sale and store it in the freezer.
-Irmgart
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 08:12:08 -0800
From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] lentils
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> I have picked up a bag of dried lentils. I have enjoyed them many
> times, but never prepared them. Recipes? Suggestions?
This is a favorite of ours--we've often done it at Pennsic over the
fire.
Cooked Dish of Lentils
al-Andalusi p. C-5 (no. 377) (Good)
Wash lentils and put them to cook in a pot with sweet water, oil,
pepper, coriander and cut onion. When they are cooked throw in salt,
a little saffron and vinegar; break three eggs, leave for a while on
the flame and later retire the pot. Other times cook without onion.
If you wish cook it with Egyptian beans pricked into which have been
given a boil. Or better with dissolved yeast over a gentle fire. When
the lentils begin to thicken add good butter or sweet oil, bit by
bit, alike until it gets absorbed, until they are sufficiently cooked
and have enough oil. Then retire it from the flame and sprinkle with
pepper.
1 1/2 c dried lentils = 10 oz 2 medium onions = 1/2 lb
(Egyptian beans)
2 1/4 c water 3/4 t salt (yeast)
1 1/2 T oil 12 threads saffron 4 T butter (or oil)
3/8 t pepper 2 T vinegar more pepper
1 1/2 t coriander 4 eggs
Slice onions. Put lentils, water, oil, pepper, coriander and onion in
a pot, bring to a boil, and turn down to a bare simmer. Cook covered
50 minutes, stirring periodically. Add butter or oil and cook while
stirring for about 5 minutes. Add salt, saffron (crushed into 1 t
water) and vinegar, and bring back to a boil. Put eggs on top, cover
pot and keep lentils at a simmer; stir cautiously every few minutes
in order to scrape the bottom of the pot without stirring in the
eggs. We find that if the heat is off, the eggs don't cook; if the
heat is up at medium, the eggs cook, but the lentils start to stick
to the pot. A larger quantity might hold enough heat to cook the eggs
without leaving it on the flame. When the eggs are cooked, sprinkle
with a little more pepper and serve. Makes 5 1/4 c.
--
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:20:00 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] My problem cooking lentils
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On Oct 20, 2007, at 1:57 PM, Heleen Greenwald wrote:
> Once again I made a pot of lentils and rice with Indian spicing, and
> once again the lentils didn't cook all the way til soft. I put just
> the lentils and water in a big pot and let them "cook" over low heat
> for about an hour and a half (!). Then I added the spice, turned up
> the heat to medium high and cooked for another half hour. Then I
> added more water and rice. Brought the whole thing to a boil then
> turned it down to medium and let it keep cooking for another hour....
> What is my problem? Other than I should give up cooking entirely!
> You might be able to tell that I am quite annoyed!
> Thanks for any advice.
I don't know how helpful this would be, but sometimes peas, beans,
and lentils will remain sort of hard almost forever if the pH of your
cooking liquid is off. Maybe you've got some kind of strange soft or
acidic water where you are (PA?). Or perhaps tomatoes or lemon are
part of the Indian spicing? The Romans (as well as some 19th-century
English and American cooks) used to solve this by adding a very small
pinch of soda (in their case, cooking or washing soda, in your case,
presumably baking). If you add too much, it will louse up the flavor
of the food, giving it that lovely, distinctive salty-soapy flavor.
As such, I'm not really actively recommending it, but it might be
something you could experiment with.
2.5 hours of ineffective cooking for any lentil that isn't a chick
pea sounds quite extreme -- I doubt the cooking time is an issue
here, per se.
Adamantius
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:27:54 -0400
From: "Saint Phlip" <phlip at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] My problem cooking lentils
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
I was thinking, A, that maybe the easiest way for her to test the
water idea is to get a gallon of distilled water from the store, and
try a batch. Neither lentils nor gallons of bottled water are terribly
expensive, and this might give her an idea. I don't think we ever cook
lentils for longer than an hour, pretty much at a mumbly simmer.
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:29:49 -0400
From: "Nick Sasso" <grizly at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] My problem cooking lentils
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
-----Original Message-----
I was thinking, A, that maybe the easiest way for her to test the
water idea is to get a gallon of distilled water from the store, and
try a batch. Neither lentils nor gallons of bottled water are terribly
expensive, and this might give her an idea. I don't think we ever cook
lentils for longer than an hour, pretty much at a mumbly simmer. > >
> > >
You could also be dealing with some old, stale lentils. Really old legumes
and such will get tough and resist softening, so getting a new supply from a
store that presumably moves stock would give you a surity on that front
while using the distilled water and soda . . . dancing with the ceremonial
head dress and chanting the lentil cooking song.
niccolo difrancesco
(serious about old lentils ,. . . silly about the last part . . . all the
ideas present previous could be very very helpful)
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:10:16 -0400
From: "Nick Sasso" <grizly at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] My problem cooking lentils
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
-----Original Message-----
Thank you for all your good suggestions, folks. I'm thinking.... old
lentils - I do have a tendency to keep storable food *too long*...
But how old is too long? 6 months? a year? I have a sinking feeling
that I've had these lentils over a year. (If you can't remember when
you bought them.....) > > > > > >
Your storage time is really just one factor. How long they've been sitting
in the warehouse and then the grocer's shelf will be probably a bigger
impact. 3 months on your shelf is a small part of the life story of that
tiny protein disk. A year is probably too long since dried beans and
lentils and such are really rather inexpensive. But, airtight, cool storage
of good product from a decent volume vendor could last a year or more. It's
about time and temperature stress as always.
niccolo difrancesco
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:11:55 -0700
From: Lilinah <lilinah at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] My problem cooking lentils
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Odd... i've cooked really old lentils (hanging around my house for
well over a year, maybe even over two, and not tightly sealed) and
I've never had this problem. They were soft enough to eat in... I
think about 45 min or so... and nice and soft after an hour or 1-1/4
hours. It certainly didn't take 3 hours!
Soaking them overnight before you cook them ought to help shorten the
cooking time.
I am assuming you are using the standard lentil in the US, which is
relatively large, has a sort of olive brown skin. The tiny "French
lentils" (much smaller and a different shade of green than the
"usual") have taken much longer to cook in my experience. On the
other hand, the orange lentils often used in Indian cooking cook even
more quickly than the "usual", since they are split and skinned.
The orange lentils would not need to be soaked, while the French
lentils would no doubt cook more quickly if soaked. And i've no idea
how long the tiny and black "caviar lentils" take to cook as i've
only bought them already cooked.
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:47:22 -0400
From: Heleen Greenwald <heleen at ptd.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] My problem cooking lentils
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
I used a yellow lentil. I read some time ago that lentils do not
need to be pre-soaked and only take about 45 minutes to cook. I have
always had a problem cooking lentils until done enough..... I guess I
will have to test for water acidity now....It's really annoying.
Phillipa
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