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Salad

German Lentil Salad

A lentil salad with onion, garlic, parsley, chillies, tarragon, chervil, dressed with olive oil and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

German Lentil Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the lentils

  1. Boil the lentils in plenty of water with a pinch of baking soda until soft.

  2. Strain the lentils and let them cool.

Dress the salad

  1. In a deep dish, combine the lentils with chopped onion, garlic, parsley, chillies, tarragon, and chervil.

  2. Pour equal parts of olive oil and vinegar over the mixture and toss gently.

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. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Lentils + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together22 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Parsley + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together774 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Lentils
Form the salad's main body and give it a firm, hearty texture.
Baking soda
Raises the cooking water's pH, helping lentils soften faster.
Olive oil
Adds fat that coats the lentils and carries flavour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows as the salad rests.
Onion
Adds sharp, sweet bite and aroma to the salad.

The step that matters

Boil the lentils until soft. Lentils that are undercooked stay tough and chalky, while overcooked ones turn mushy and break down in the dressing. Checking for a tender bite before draining gives the salad a good texture.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lentils, onion, garlic, parsley, tarragon, chervil, olive):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lentils, onion, garlic, parsley, tarragon, chervil, olive. 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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