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Lentil Soup

A lentil soup with potatoes, onions, celery, tomatoes, butter, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lentil Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the onion up roughly.

  2. Fry the onion in the butter until beginning to brown.

  3. Pick the lentils. Wash the lentils.

  4. Set the lentils over the fire with 2 quarts of water or vegetable stock, adding the fried onion.

  5. Peel the potatoes. Wash the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into pieces.

  6. Prepare the celery. Cut the celery into small pieces.

Cook and strain

  1. Add the celery to the lentils.

  2. Add the tomatoes when the lentils are nearly soft.

  3. Rub all the ingredients through a sieve.

  4. Return the soup to the saucepan.

Season and serve

  1. Add pepper.

  2. Add salt.

  3. Add more water if the soup is too thick.

  4. Serve with sippets of toast.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

78Calories
3 gProtein
0 gFat
18 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By T. R. Allinson. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lentils (in the method)
Form the body of the soup and thicken it as they break down during cooking.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and sweetness when fried until beginning to brown.
Tinned tomatoes
Add acidity and colour, and body once rubbed through the sieve.
Celery
Contributes aromatic flavour and moisture to the soup base.
Potatoes (in the method)
Add starch that thickens the soup and gives it a smooth, creamy texture.

The step that matters

Rubbing the soup through a sieve. Pushing the cooked ingredients through a sieve only works well when they are soft; if the lentils are not nearly soft, the purée will be grainy and the soup will be unevenly thick.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, celery, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More lentil soup recipes

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