Lentil Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Combine 2 oz. Egyptian lentils, 2 oz. carrots, 2 oz. turnips, 1/2 oz. onion, 1/2 oz. butter, seasoning to taste, and 1 pint water in a saucepan.
Cook the vegetables and lentils in the water until quite tender.
Rub the mixture through a sieve.
Return the strained liquid to the saucepan, add butter and seasoning, and boil up.
Serve
Serve with slices of toast.
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
What each ingredient does
- Lentils (in the method)
- Break down during cooking to thicken the soup and give it body.
- Carrots (in the method)
- Add natural sweetness and body once cooked and pushed through a sieve.
- Turnips (in the method)
- Add body and a mild, slightly sharp flavour to the soup.
- Onion (in the method)
- Adds savoury depth as it softens in the cooking liquid.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Cook until quite tender before sieving. Vegetables and lentils must be fully softened so their starches and fibres break down. Undercooked pieces will not pass smoothly through the sieve and leave the soup grainy and thin.
“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.
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