# It's too late. (Lentils) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377 "2009-03-22T20:46:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/1 "2009-03-22T20:46:36Z")
_It’s too late To get a date with Sharon Tate…_ Here’s what I did: I chopped up half of a large yellow onion and minced a large clove of elephant garlic and sweated them with a little kosher salt in a large saucepan. Meantime, I chopped up a green pepper and a couple/few stalks of celery. (The celery was already cut up into pieces.) I cooked it a little bit while I washed a couple of dishes and cut up 1/4 pound of salt pork and two uncooked boudin sausages, and then added the meat to the pot. Next in went a pound of washed lentils, two bay leaves, some cayenne pepper, black pepper, and eight cups of water. I brought it to the boil, and then covered it and reduced the heat to a simmer. Now that the deed is done, and before I have a chance to taste it, what did I do wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/2 "2009-03-22T21:21:51Z")
I just tasted it. I think I got just the right amount of cayenne pepper in it. The soup isn’t ‘spicy-hot’ at all, but the cayenne is still detectable. I thought it might need a pinch more salt, but then I thought, ‘Not really.’ Not bad at all for ‘Let’s throw it in the pot and see what comes out.’ Still, what would you do differently? ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/3 "2009-03-22T23:44:10Z")
hot sauce 😃 well ok, maybe not for you, but I put hot sauce in damn near everything. Also I like to caramelize my onions. Basically toss em in a pan with a bit of oil and cook em on real low to bring out the natural sugars, makes 'em quite delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/4 "2009-03-22T23:48:03Z")
Personally, I’d use less water and make a stew instead of a soup, and I’d probably use a stronger variety of garlic rather than elephant garlic, but other than that, it sounds like a perfectly good tasty dish. What makes you think there was anything wrong with it? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/5 "2009-03-22T23:51:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What makes you think there was anything wrong with it? Oh, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just that this is the first time I’ve made lentils and ‘what did I do wrong’ was just a way of asking how other people would have made it. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/6 "2009-03-23T02:35:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > _It’s too late > To get a date with Sharon Tate…_ > > Here’s what I did: I chopped up half of a large yellow onion and minced a large clove of elephant garlic and sweated them with a little kosher salt in a large saucepan. Meantime, I chopped up a green pepper and a couple/few stalks of celery. (The celery was already cut up into pieces.) I cooked it a little bit while I washed a couple of dishes and cut up 1/4 pound of salt pork and two uncooked boudin sausages, and then added the meat to the pot. Next in went a pound of washed lentils, two bay leaves, some cayenne pepper, black pepper, and eight cups of water. I brought it to the boil, and then covered it and reduced the heat to a simmer. > > Now that the deed is done, and before I have a chance to taste it, what did I do wrong? The 8 cups of water could easily be augmented or even replaced by some good chicken or vegetable stock with excellent results. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/7 "2009-03-23T02:43:03Z")
I thought I had vegetable stock, but I didn’t. Or actually, I’ve just remembered I have a can or two; but I was looking for a quart carton. (Turns out the carton is tomato soup.) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/8 "2009-03-23T03:27:27Z")
It seems to me you didn’t do anything wrong, but it I were making it, I would have done three more things. I would have added thyme, because I like the aroma. I would have put in some turmeric, to make it golden. Since it’s lentils, I would have tried to use the word _lenticular_ at least once. ---
**Author:** ![Doody\_Pants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@Doody\_Pants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doody_Pants)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/9 "2009-03-23T22:49:59Z")
Yum, it sounds good to me. How was it? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/10 "2009-03-23T23:36:17Z")
Pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. 🙂 I’ll remember **AskNott** ’s suggestions of thyme and tumeric for next time. Though next time will be far in the future, since I have lots of leftovers. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/11 "2009-03-23T23:47:12Z")
Lentils and beans can take anything you throw at them except undercooking. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-late-lentils/490377/12 "2009-03-24T00:23:51Z")
I was saving the lentils for the lamb bones I’ve had in the freezer for a while, but I wanted to use some of the vegetables. Guess I’ll have to buy more lentils and see what kind of mess I can make with the lamb bones!