Name: Lentils, Curried, with Rice and Barley
Ingredients: ½ pound lentils; 2 ounces rice; 2 ounces pearl barley; ⅓ cup tinned tomatoes; ⅓ cup chopped vegetables (carrot, onion, celery, etc.); 1 tablespoon oil or butter; seasoning (to taste)

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 ↓

Lentils, Curried, with Rice and Barley

Oven, in the book's wordsA very gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Fry the onion until brown with a bunch of herbs.

Bake

Place the fried onion in a baking dish with the lentils, vegetables, rice, and barley, all washed and soaked.
Add the oil or butter.
Cover with cold water.
Set in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C).
Cook for 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally.
Add salt about half an hour 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).
Rice + barleytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together568 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together57 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lentils + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together505 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 main body and substance of the dish as they soften during long cooking.
Rice: Adds starch that thickens the liquid and gives a softer, creamier texture.
Pearl barley: Adds chewy texture and starch that helps thicken the dish during slow cooking.
Tinned tomatoes: Add acidity and moisture that bring depth and balance to the dish.

The step that matters

Cook for 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally. A gentle, low oven heat and long cooking time are needed for the lentils, rice and barley to soften fully. Stirring helps prevent sticking and scorching on the base of the dish as liquid evaporates.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lentils, rice, barley, tomato, carrot, celery, butter):

Leekfits better
Turnipfits better
Parsnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lentils, rice, barley, tomato, carrot, celery, butter. 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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Lentils, Curried, with Rice and Barley