Name: Purde of Lentils, B LA Brhnoise
Ingredients: 1 cup lentils; 4 cups water; 1 onion, chopped; 2 carrots, chopped; 2 celery stalks, chopped; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 tablespoon vinegar

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Purde of Lentils, B LA Brhnoise

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Rinse the lentils and soak them in water for 1 hour.

Cook the stew

Combine lentils, water, onion, carrots, and celery in a pot.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Stir in butter and vinegar before serving.

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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lentils + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together505 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lentils + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together316 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: Form the body of the stew and thicken it as they break down while simmering.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the finished stew.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the earthy lentils and vegetables.
Carrots: Contribute natural sweetness and body to the stew as they soften.

The step that matters

Simmer until the lentils are tender. Lentils need sustained gentle simmering to soften fully. Stopping early leaves them firm, while a hard boil can break them apart unevenly and cloud the broth.

Swap the lentils

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, carrot, celery, pepper, butter, vinegar):

Beansfits better
Sesamefits about as well
Black-eyed peafits about as well
Lentilsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, carrot, celery, pepper, butter, 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.

Carrot Soup134 recipes

Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes

Celery Stew25 recipes

Celery Croquettes16 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Purde of Lentils, B LA Brhnoise