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LENTILS (a la Provencale)
Boil some lentils (see LENTILS, BOILED) until three-parts done. Drain, and when cold put them in a stewpan with some good oil to keep them moist; shake the pan now and then. Make a good seasoning of chopped parsley, a shredded onion, and some thyme and other herbs, and add this to the lentils. Shortly before serving add a dash of lemon-juice, and beat in the yolk of an egg to every half a pound of lentils, which must not boil thereafter.
A plain braise of lentils finished with oil, herbs and an egg-yolk liaison. The instruction that matters is the last one: once the yolk goes in, the pan must not boil.
- The hinge: the yolk liaisonBeat the yolk with a spoonful of the hot cooking liquid or lemon juice first, then stir it through off the heat. Returned to a boil it will scramble and the sauce will break into grains rather than thickening to a gloss.
- Which lentilsThe recipe names no variety, but a small brown or green lentil that holds its shape suits the method. Puy or brown lentils work; red split lentils collapse to puree and will not survive the second cooking.
- "Three-parts done"About 15-18 minutes for brown or green lentils, so they are still firm at the centre. They finish in the oiled pan, and overcooked lentils at this stage turn to mush when shaken.
- Cooling them firstThe direction to drain and cool is not fussiness -- hot drained lentils keep steaming and soften further. Spreading them on a tray stops the cooking and lets the oil coat rather than be absorbed.
- "Some good oil"Read this as olive oil, added only in the quantity needed to keep the lentils moist, as the recipe says. The a la provencale tag generally points to olive oil rather than butter.
- "Other herbs"Thyme and parsley are named; bay, savory or a little rosemary suit the region. Use them sparingly and add the parsley late so it stays green.
- The onion"Shredded" here means finely sliced or chopped raw. It goes in with the lentils and softens in the oil over gentle heat rather than being browned first.
- YieldThe recipe scales by the yolk, one to every half pound of lentils; whether that half pound is dry or cooked weight is not stated.
Lentils appear in English cookery books of the later nineteenth century largely as a vegetarian and Lenten food, and Cassell's New Dictionary of Cookery carries more than one lentil entry -- this recipe itself cross-refers to LENTILS, BOILED -- at a time when pulses were being promoted by food reformers as cheap substitutes for meat. The a la provencale tag signals olive oil and herbs in place of the butter and stock an English kitchen would otherwise reach for. The final beaten yolk is a standard French liaison, the same technique that finishes a blanquette or a velouté, used here to bind what would otherwise be a dry dish of pulses.