Went to a French Bistro in Philly Sat. night and ordered a stuffed veal dish over braised lentils. Ordered it because I enjoy lentils. Horrible dish-like chewing on small stones. Complained to waiter who said we always cook our lentils al dente. Anyone else ever heard of this? I don’t want them cooked to mush, but this was extreme.
Well if they were hard, they weren’t al dente. Al dente is a texture where the item has some chewiness and firmness, but is fully cooked, just. It’s easy to spot in pasta if you try a piece every 30-60 seconds after a few minutes (dried pasta of course). At one point it’s still too hard, then it’s just cooked through, has texture, but isn’t at all hard. After that it starts getting soft.
So, yes, I’ve had lentils cooked al dente under, say, salmon. I like that texture. Yours sound undercooked. I would not like that.
I was once served al dente rice at our City College cooking school, at a dinner that was open to the public. Same transgression. The little kernels of rice were just this side of brittle. Still crunchy.
Apparently, some people do not learn correctly in cooking school what al dente means. They think crunchy.
Made lentils last night. Came out a little “al dente” cause the wife was rushing me. Still edible though.