I really didn't want to win! But thank you so much. I'm honoured. Now I'll have to try to think of a new ingredient!
The CookingBites Recipe Challenge: Nov 2015-June 2017
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I've noticed quite a few recipes and ideas popping up recently for lentils (some are from or newest members: @vegan93 and @zoribrida). A quick google search reveals that lentils seem to be available in most countries represented on the Forum - so no excuses for not entering 
!
So, the new Recipe Challenge ingredient is lentils. Any sort of lentils. Deadline midday UK time 31st March.
!So, the new Recipe Challenge ingredient is lentils. Any sort of lentils. Deadline midday UK time 31st March.
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Well, thank you @Caribbean girl for voting me winner of the Pumpkin challenge, despite the fact I didn't want to win! The next chosen ingredient is lentils. Any sort of lentils. It will be a challenge in itself for me to try and photograph any recipes I try out.... how do you photograph lentils to make them look sexy!? Deadline is midday UK time on 31st March.
cupcakechef
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I've noticed quite a few recipes and ideas popping up recently for lentils (some are from or newest members: @vegan93 and @zoribrida). A quick google search reveals that lentils seem to be available in most countries represented on the Forum - so no excuses for not entering
So, the new Recipe Challenge ingredient is lentils. Any sort of lentils. Deadline midday UK time 31st March.
I'm looking forward to this one, as lentils are one of those ingredients I'd love to know how to do more with!
winterybella
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Caribbean girl
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Well I suspect that I should have posted the results of the last Cooking Bites Challenge in this forum. Congratulations go out to Morning Glory who won the challenge with her 'Pumpkin and Marrow Tagine.' She has chosen lentils as the next ingredient for the challenge.
You are in good company internationally. Nothing wrong with cooking rice with lentils!
Source: Wklipedia
Does that include sprouts?
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epicuric
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Really loving your photography, what camera/lens are you using? Will give the lentils a miss though
Oh....sad you are not going to make an entry. Don't you like lentils? I've often entered recipes which are not to my taste - for example I never eat anything sweet (except for the plainest of biscuits very occasionally) but it hasn't stopped me cooking such things. There are many different types of lentils and it is surprising what you can do with them. Puy lentils, for example are a gourmet delicacy! Confit duck with Puy lentils, for example?
As for the camera... I have been using a Fuji Finepx S2500HD which came with a fixed lens (18x optical zoom). But I managed to leave it in Saffron Walden when I visited my friend! As he has gone abroad he can't post it back... so I've purloined my partner's camera, which is a much better camera as you can change lenses and it has optional manual operation which I prefer (particularly for focussing). When photographing food its crucial to get the right parts in focus and the auto-focus sometimes gets it wrong! So the camera I've been using in the last week is a Pentax Digital SLR K-x and the lens is a Pentax DA L 18-55 mm. I think the most important thing (apart from composition) is to get the lighting correct. I'm using daylight as much as possible as I think it really does give the best results. I have some little LED lights that I sometimes use to make hi-lights.
One of the main challenges I find is how to make dishes look appetising. There is a tendency for a lot of recipes (particularly some cakes, biscuits, casseroles and stews to look, well, brown! I spend quite a lot of time arranging the food, garnishes and any props carefully. I don't just snap it as it comes out of the oven! In fact, I generally cook something one day and photograph it the next day - so I can catch the best light. This will get easier as the days grow longer. Its very funny though because my family see something I've cooked and now say 'Can I eat that or are you saving it to photograph!'.
epicuric
Legendary Member
Oh....sad you are not going to make an entry. Don't you like lentils? I've often entered recipes which are not to my taste - for example I never eat anything sweet (except for the plainest of biscuits very occasionally) but it hasn't stopped me cooking such things. There are many different types of lentils and it is surprising what you can do with them. Puy lentils, for example are a gourmet delicacy! Confit duck with Puy lentils, for example?
As for the camera... I have been using a Fuji Finepx S2500HD which came with a fixed lens (18x optical zoom). But I managed to leave it in Saffron Walden when I visited my friend! As he has gone abroad he can't post it back... so I've purloined my partner's camera, which is a much better camera as you can change lenses and it has optional manual operation which I prefer (particularly for focussing). When photographing food its crucial to get the right parts in focus and the auto-focus sometimes gets it wrong! So the camera I've been using in the last week is a Pentax Digital SLR K-x and the lens is a Pentax DA L 18-55 mm. I think the most important thing (apart from composition) is to get the lighting correct. I'm using daylight as much as possible as I think it really does give the best results. I have some little LED lights that I sometimes use to make hi-lights.
One of the main challenges I find is how to make dishes look appetising. There is a tendency for a lot of recipes (particularly some cakes, biscuits, casseroles and stews to look, well, brown! I spend quite a lot of time arranging the food, garnishes and any props carefully. I don't just snap it as it comes out of the oven! In fact, I generally cook something one day and photograph it the next day - so I can catch the best light. This will get easier as the days grow longer. Its very funny though because my family see something I've cooked and now say 'Can I eat that or are you saving it to photograph!'.
Fuji cameras very underrated. Bought a Finepix 6500 10 years ago really cheap on eBay to take on safari. Really rugged and versatile piece of kit, turned out some great pics and added bonus of decent video as well. Regret giving it away. Wife's Nikon with bag full of lenses is a fantastic tool but never seem to have the right lens installed. What's the old adage about the best camera in the world is the one you have in your hand at the right moment? Are you professionally into food photography? Serious commitment going on there!
Lentils. Sorry, I need some serious convincing. And with confit duck? Surely a wasted opportunity to eat splendid roast potatoes, cooked under the rack filled with confit duck legs. Confit de canard - France showing the world how to do convenience food properly.
I know exactly what you mean regarding having loads of lenses... the camera in your hand at the right moment is much more important. No I'm not professionally into food photography. I only started doing it a few months back due to this forum! I just wanted to photograph my own recipes to post. But I do have a background in Art and Design and have an MA in Film and TV (from long ago at the Royal College of Art).
I am now determined to convince you (and any other doubters) about how exciting and delicious lentils can be! I agree that duck fat roast potatoes are excellent. But you could have them with the Puy lentil/confit duck. I'm intending to cook this next week so I will include the roast potatoes. I'd serve it with a watercress salad...
The lentil (Lens culinaris) is an edible pulse. It is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about 40 cm (16 in) tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil
&
A legume (/ˈlɛɡjuːm/ or /ˌləˈɡjuːm/) is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for their grain seed called pulse, for livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include alfalfa,clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts and tamarind.
A legume fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a pod, although the term "pod" is also applied to a few other fruit types, such as that of vanilla (a capsule) and of radish (a silique).
Legumes are notable in that most of them have symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in structures called root nodules. For that reason, they play a key role in crop rotation.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume
Saying any type is leaving it wide open
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil
&
A legume (/ˈlɛɡjuːm/ or /ˌləˈɡjuːm/) is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for their grain seed called pulse, for livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include alfalfa,clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts and tamarind.
A legume fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a pod, although the term "pod" is also applied to a few other fruit types, such as that of vanilla (a capsule) and of radish (a silique).
Legumes are notable in that most of them have symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in structures called root nodules. For that reason, they play a key role in crop rotation.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume
Saying any type is leaving it wide open
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We will stick with what are regarded as lentils, (as in the dried, small lens shaped split lentils) such as red, yellow, brown, green, puy lentils, split yellow peas (this one is a name issues and is infact classified as a lentil), mung dal, masoor dal, as per below. Anything fresh is not included nor are what are regarded as peas and beans, dried or otherwise. So no kidney beans, no garden peas, nothing that is large, non-lens shaped etc.
Whilst incomplete, this thread that I started is what we will be going by.
https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/legumes-pulses-beans-peas-and-lentils.5179/
If in doubt ask me first and I will look it up and classify it accordingly.
This is what I meant by 'any type' any type of lentil. Beans and peas aren't lentils....are they? They just belong to the same family of legumes.