Chef critique
Spiced Red Lentil Stew with Roasted Squash
A well-structured, easy-to-follow vegetarian recipe that smartly utilizes concurrent cooking, but the lentils require more salt for proper seasoning.
Score: 8/10
Suggested fixes
- Increase the 'Fine table salt' in the ingredient list to 1 1/2 tsp.
- In step 5, increase the salt added to the lentils from 1/4 tsp to 3/4 tsp to properly season the legumes and water.
- Consider increasing the apple cider vinegar to 2 tsp to provide enough acidity to cut through the earthy lentils and sweet squash.
Issues
- medium / flavor: The lentils and 2 cups of water (about 645g total) are seasoned with only 1/4 tsp of fine table salt. This equates to roughly 0.25% salinity, which will leave the lentil stew significantly underseasoned. Legumes generally require closer to 1% salinity.
Strengths
- Excellent use of parallel time by cooking the stovetop lentil stew while the squash roasts.
- Correct and helpful use of a properly formatted bulleted list for the five-spice mixture.
- Preparation tasks are logically grouped in the first step before active cooking begins.
- Ingredient amounts are clearly restated at their first use in the instructions.