[Sca-cooks] My problem cooking lentils
Gwen Barclay
gwenb at cvtv.net
Mon Oct 22 13:31:11 PDT 2007
In my area of the U.S.(Texas) we occasionally have trouble with beans of all
sorts that are "old" and refuse to become tender. I am very careful to
purchase beans from retail stores which move lots of product. Wholesale
purchases, usually in 20 lb. quantities must be used promptly too - within
about a year or you may have the same problem since you don't know how long
they have been on a warehouse shelf.
I have never had the problem with lentils staying hard as I usually use the
French green type, especially for salads, and they cook tender in a
relatively short time, about 1 to 1 1/4 hours - but never mushy.. They work
well in soup or Middle Eastern stews. For a smoother soup or soft vegetable
puree, the yellow, red or brown lentils are appropriate as they will become
soft and mushy, but still leave some whole for a pleasing texture which I
prefer.
I hope this is useful information because unless you have had it happen
more than once, it probably would not occur to you that the problem is with
the beans, not the cook
Hmmm - I think I will make some lentil soup tonight since the first "blue
norther" (one that comes with rain) just rolled into Texas this morning and
it is a shock from yesterday's 90 degrees.
Gwen
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