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Lentils in the German Way

A lentil stew made by soaking lentils, boiling them in meat stock, then adding butter, flour, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Lentils and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 255 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Lentils in the German Way

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the lentils for 12 hours.

Cook

  1. Put the soaked lentils in a saucepan and cover with meat stock.

  2. Boil for 3 hours.

  3. Add butter, flour, and vinegar to taste.

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 + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together255 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Lentils + vinegartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together162 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Whole lentils
Form the bulk of the dish and set its firm, hearty texture as they cook.
Meat stock
Supplies the liquid that cooks the lentils and adds savory, meaty flavor.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid so the lentils sit in a lightly body-rich sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the earthy flavor of the lentils.

The step that matters

Boil for 3 hours. Lentils that cook too hard or too short can split or stay firm. A steady simmer softens them evenly while the liquid reduces and thickens.

Swap the lentils

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, butter, flour, vinegar):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Walnutfits better
  4. Lentilsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, butter, flour, vinegar. 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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