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Lentil Croquettes

A fried patty made from lentils, onion, tomatoes, herbs, butter, lemon, eggs, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lentils and tomato work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 463 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Lentil Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lentil base

  1. Soak the lentils overnight.

  2. Boil the lentils, onion, tomatoes, and mixed herbs together until the lentils are soft, using as little water as possible.

  3. Pass the mixture through a sieve and return it to the heat.

  4. Stir constantly until thick, then add the butter and lemon juice, and half of the eggs.

  5. Allow the mixture to cool until it is stiff enough to shape.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape into croquettes, dip in the remaining egg, and coat with breadcrumbs.

  2. Fry in deep oil until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Serve piled around mashed potatoes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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. Lentils + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together463 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Lentils + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,221 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Lentils + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together249 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Lentils
Provide the bulk and body that hold the croquette mixture together when cooked and mashed.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when heated, helping the croquettes hold their shape.
Stewed tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that give the mixture a savoury, tangy flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, improving flavour and softness in the mixture.
Onion
Contributes savoury aroma and sweetness as it softens during boiling.

The step that matters

Stir constantly until thick, then cool until stiff. Stirring prevents the lentil starches and proteins from scorching on the base of the pan. Cooling lets the mixture firm up, so the croquettes keep their shape when shaped and fried.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lentils, tomato, lemon, butter, egg):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lentils, tomato, lemon, butter, egg. 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.

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