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Lentils, Potted

A savory lentil paste mixed with butter, spices, and optional cheese and rice, served in small pots or as a sandwich spread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lentils, Potted

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil lentils in water or stock until soft enough to sieve.

  2. Mix the lentil pulp with butter, salt, pepper, and seasoning to taste.

Mix and pot

  1. Add cheese and rice if desired, then pound the mixture well.

  2. Press into small pots or use for sandwiches.

Store

  1. Brush the surface with oil and cover with paper if consuming soon.

  2. For longer storage, pour clarified butter over the top.

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. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Lentils + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together316 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Celery + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Lentils + ricetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together256 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 main bulk and, once sieved, a smooth pulp that gives the potted texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the mixture hold together and feel moist.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury flavour and extra fat, and helps bind the mixture.
Cooked rice
Adds body and bulk, softening the texture of the pounded mixture.

The step that matters

Cook the lentils until fully soft. Lentils must be cooked until they break down easily. Fully softened lentils sieve into a smooth pulp, while undercooked ones stay grainy and resist sieving.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lentils, butter, pepper, mushroom, celery, cheese, rice):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lentils, butter, pepper, mushroom, celery, cheese, rice. 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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