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Lentils, Boiled
There are two varieties of lentils, Egyptian or red lentils, and German or green lentils. Both are excellent. When lentils are to be used as a vegetable, proceed as follows. Soak a breakfast-cupful of green lentils overnight in plenty of water; next day, drain and throw them into a quart of boiling water, and boil for half an hour, or till tender without being broken. Drain, and return to the saucepan with a slice of butter, pepper, salt, and a tea-spoonful of vinegar. Shake over the fire till hot, and serve immediately.
A plain vegetable side that still works, with two caveats: the lentil variety and the soaking.
- Breakfast-cupfulA breakfast cup is larger than a teacup, roughly 10 fl oz, so about 1 1/4 cups of dried lentils, in the region of 250 g. Enough for about four side servings.
- Use the green onesThe recipe is written for whole green or brown lentils, which hold their shape. Egyptian or red lentils are sold hulled and usually split; they soften to purée in fifteen to twenty minutes and will not stay "tender without being broken."
- Soaking is optional nowWhole green lentils do not need the overnight soak; unsoaked they take 25-35 minutes. If you do soak, check for tenderness at about 15 minutes, well ahead of the stated half hour.
- Salt and acid at the endNote that the pepper, salt and vinegar all go in after draining. Acid in the cooking water keeps skins firm and lengthens cooking time, so adding the vinegar only at the finish works in the cook's favour, whether or not that was the intention.
- "A slice of butter"Butter was cut from a block, so a slice means roughly 1 to 1 1/2 oz, about 30-40 g. Toss it in off the direct heat so it emulsifies with the residual moisture rather than browning.
- Quart of waterAn imperial quart is 40 fl oz, about 1.1 litres. Lentils this quantity will drink a good deal of it, so keep an eye on the level and top up with boiling water if needed.
- Rinse and pick overEven packaged lentils carry the occasional small stone. Spread them on a tray and check before cooking; it takes a minute and saves a tooth.
Lentils are among the oldest cultivated foods of the Near East, and the two types named here look more like labels from the Victorian import trade than botanical distinctions: "Egyptian" red lentils came through Mediterranean and Levantine shipping, while "German" green lentils were associated with central European growers, Germany being a heavy consumer of dried pulses. Treating lentils as a vegetable in their own right rather than as thickening for soup is worth noting. Late nineteenth-century British cookery writers were pressing pulses on households both as economy and, increasingly, as a meat substitute for the vegetarian movement then gaining ground; lentil purées, cutlets and rissoles crowd the same period's cookbooks. The finishing teaspoonful of vinegar has counterparts in German and Middle Eastern lentil cookery, where a sharp note is used to lift an otherwise heavy, earthy plate.