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Puree of Lentils, Brunoise
Soak a pint dry lentils in cold water for six to eight hours, drain on a sieve, place in a saucepan with four ounces lean, salt pork cut in small pieces, two sliced, peeled, raw potatoes, one sliced carrot, a sliced onion, a sliced leek, a sliced branch celery, one branch parsley, one branch chervil, a sprig of thyme, one bay leaf and a blade of mace. Moisten with three quarts water, season with a teaspoon salt, half teaspoon pepper and add one ounce butter. Cover the pan and let slowly boil for two hours. Take from the fire, press through Chinese strainer into a saucepan and keep hot until required. Cut in exceedingly small square pieces half a carrot, half a medium turnip, one small, white onion, one leek, one branch celery and quarter of a very small cabbage; place these articles in a small saucepan with half an ounce butter, half teaspoon salt, half teaspoon sugar and one gill water, and mix well. Cover the pan, set in oven for thirty-five minutes, remove, add to the soup with two gills milk and boil for five minutes. Pour into a soup tureen and serve.
A two-part soup: a long-simmered lentil base pushed through a fine sieve, plus a separately braised vegetable garnish. The garnish is what makes it "brunoise," so the dice matters more than anything else here.
- Brunoise means 1/8-inch dice"Exceedingly small square pieces" is the classical brunoise, about 3 mm on a side, cut evenly so everything cooks at the same rate. Cut the cabbage quarter into fine shreds rather than trying to dice it.
- A gill and two gillsA gill is half a cup, so the vegetables braise in 1/2 cup water and the finished soup takes 1 cup of milk.
- Chinese strainerA chinois, the conical fine-mesh strainer. A food mill or a regular fine sieve with a ladle to press against it does the same work; a blender followed by a sieve is faster and gives a smoother purée.
- Oven for the garnishNo temperature is given. A moderate oven, around 350F, for 35 minutes covered will suit; the vegetables should be tender and glazed, not browned, and the small amount of sugar with the butter appears to be there to glaze rather than sweeten.
- Soaking modern lentilsModern lentils generally need no soak and will cook through in about 25 to 45 minutes; the long soak here may reflect older, longer-stored stock, though the recipe does not say. If you skip the soak, watch the liquid over the two-hour simmer.
- Salt pork and seasoningFour ounces of lean salt pork adds a good deal of salt on its own. Taste before adding the teaspoon of salt called for, and again after the milk goes in.
- Blade of maceA blade is a piece of the dried aril of nutmeg, sold whole in some spice shops. About 1/4 teaspoon ground mace is a fair substitute, added late so its aroma is not cooked away.
- ChervilRarely stocked fresh. A little flat-leaf parsley with a few fennel or tarragon leaves approximates its anise note; leaving it out costs less than you would think in a soup this heavily aromatic.
- YieldThree quarts of water plus a cup of milk, reduced over two hours, gives roughly 2 to 2.5 quarts — eight to ten first-course servings. Add the milk at the end and hold the soup below a hard boil so it does not catch on the pan.
Purées of dried pulses finished with a separately cooked garnish are a fixture of the classical French repertoire, and the naming convention is the giveaway: the base dish is followed by the name of its garnish, so purée of lentils, brunoise means lentil purée served with a fine dice of braised vegetables. Brunoise itself is simply a knife cut, and the practice of braising it apart in butter, a pinch of sugar and a little water — étuver, to sweat under cover — keeps the vegetables distinct in colour and bite against the flat brown of the lentil. Lentil purées were often associated with Lenten and meatless-day fare, though the four ounces of salt pork here shows this version was not written for fast days. The instruction to press everything through a chinois, rather than serving the vegetables whole, is consistent with a professional-kitchen preference for smooth soups.