I'm really glad I can post about these because they are a great love of mine and have tremendous sentimental value. My Indian friends would make them with spices in the consistency of a porridge with chopped tomatoes and scrambled eggs. Ruth loves lentils cooked with spices and I made them for her often.
Lentils have a natural delicious and deeply satisfying quality that is extremely easy to bring out. When I graduated culinary school I didn't have the slightest clue how to cook them. I feel they are often neglected. It is a unique quality to both add to and benefit from the liquid in which they are cooked - you can create a stock and an delicious product both at the same time, which is not the case for meat and animal protein. I think a good bean broth rivals chicken stock and is no comparison to vegetable stock for a non-meat alternative.
Because this technique is really economical, its easier to use less efficient techniques like gelatin clarification which can easily yield as little as 50%. A bean/lentil consomme is an amazing medium for poaching and braising. We braised salt cod in curry-lentil consomme which turned out very nice. I've also used lentil stock as a cooking liquid for lentils which yields great results.
At Daniel I was taught a standard way of cooking dried beans and legumes.
Soak overnight, or as needed.
Place in a pot and cover with cold water
Bring to a boil
Skim off any scum and strain liquid
place in a pot again and add cold water, this time with a sachet of standard mirepoix herbs and spices
simmer until tender
remove and discard sachet
strain liquid and discard
allow the beans to cool
This was really the first exposure I had to a proper technique of bean cookery. I'm not quite sure if there is any value to the blanching process. I later learned the value of smoked pork and salt in addition to the mirepoix. The bean/lentil soaks up more water as is comes close to being cooked so the liquid must be well seasoned. If not you have a lentil that tastes like tap water.
At Lucias restaurant in Minneapolis they have a standard preparation for braised white beans.
2-3# dried beans
1 tomato, halved
1/2 bu. thyme
1/4c. olive oil
5 garlic cloves
2-3T salt
the beans are brought to a boil and allowed to rest for 1 hour. Then they are simmered until tender.
The "hot soak" is not desirable and the method is definitely a regression from the aforementioned but it includes the tomato which completely dissolves into the water in the time it takes to cook the beans. It also includes oil which is of questionable value.
At The Fat Duck, the lentils are placed in a vacuum sealed bag with de-ionized water, mirepoix containing leek and garlic and cooked at 90C for 5 hours. This method is perfect. Using filtered water gives you more control over the water. I'm not sure if the process controls the pH, but I know that affects the texture and the way they cook. The vegetables create an acidic environment and probably add to the cooking time.
In his book titled Molecular Gastronomy, Herve This states "...the percentage of lentils that burst open during cooking increases exponentially as a function of time as the temperature rises above 80C...above 86C, the proportion of lentils that fall apart exceeds the proportion of lentils that become soft while retaining their form..lentils should be cooked at a temperature lower than 80C." I suspect my experience with the higher cooking temperature is designed to reduce the cooking time.
Here's how I cook them:
1 1/2 cup lentils
1/4 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 whole tomato, peeled and chopped
1T curry spice blend
1 tsp corriander, ground
dash cinnamon, ground
1/4 tsp cumin, ground
1/8 tsp cayenne, ground
salt and water
cook the onions in oil until golden, add the garlic 5 min. Add spices and cook 1 minute. Add the tomato and cook until it starts to fall apart. Add lentils and cook 30 seconds. Add water - the amount depends on what you want as a finished result. I usually add about 2 cups of water and let most of it cook off. The cooking liquid should taste fairly salty. Simmer until the lentils are tender.
