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Lentil Rissoles

A savory patty made from lentils, breadcrumbs, onions, and eggs, fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Lentil Rissoles

Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lentil Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the lentils

  1. Pick and wash the lentils.

  2. Boil the lentils in enough water to cover.

  3. When the water is absorbed, add the tomatoes.

  4. Add a little more water if needed to prevent burning.

  5. Fry the onion in 1½ oz of butter.

  6. Mix the fried onion with the lentils as they stew, adding pepper and salt to taste.

  7. Cook until the lentils are soft and resemble a purée, about 1 to 1½ hours.

  8. Set the lentils aside to cool.

Form the rissoles

  1. Mix the lentils with the breadcrumbs.

  2. Beat one egg and add it to the mixture, combining well.

  3. If the mixture is too dry, add just enough milk to hold it together.

  4. Form the mixture into rissoles.

Coat and fry

  1. Beat the second egg.

  2. Coat the rissoles in egg and breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry the rissoles in boiling butter or oil until golden brown.

  4. Drain the rissoles and serve.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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
Form the bulk of the rissoles and, once puréed, give them a soft, binding body.
Eggs
Bind the lentil mixture together and create a crisp golden coating when fried.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and add body to the mixture, and form the crisp outer coating.
Onion
Adds savoury sweetness and aroma when softened in butter before mixing.
Tinned tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity, helping the lentils cook into a purée.

The step that matters

Cook the lentils until they form a purée. Lentils must be soft enough to mash and bind; undercooked lentils stay gritty and crumble when formed and fried. Adding water only as needed prevents scorching while the mixture thickens.

Swap the lentils

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Lentilsthe original

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

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