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Chef critique

Lemony Lebanese Lentil & Chard Soup

This is a well-structured, comforting lentil and chard soup with smart staggered cooking times, though the soup broth is slightly underseasoned and the ingredient list omits the cooking water.

Score: 8/10

Suggested fixes

  • Increase total fine sea salt to 1 3/4 teaspoons: use 1/2 teaspoon when sweating the onion and chard stems in Step 3, and 1 1/4 teaspoons when adding the lentils and water in Step 5.
  • Add "4 to 4 1/2 cups water" to the ingredient list so all step quantities match the list.
  • Balance Steps 1 and 2 by moving the onion or potato prep, or format the multi-ingredient prep in Step 1 as a bulleted list with blank lines before and after.

Issues

  • medium / flavor: With 25 ounces of vegetables and dry lentils plus 4 cups (32 ounces) of unsalted water, 1 1/4 teaspoons of fine sea salt leaves the broth slightly underseasoned (around 0.45% of total weight, or 1.07% of solids alone before accounting for 4 cups of water). Increasing the total salt to 1 3/4 teaspoons of fine sea salt will better season the broth alongside the 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.
  • low / ingredient_usage: Steps 5 and 6 call for 4 cups plus an optional 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water, which is the primary liquid for the soup, but water is omitted from the ingredient list.
  • low / clarity: Step 1 packs prepping four different ingredients (lentils, potatoes, onion, and chard) into a single dense paragraph, while Step 2 splits out just garlic and lemon. Grouping vegetable prep more evenly or using a properly formatted bulleted list for the initial prep would be easier to read.
  • low / cost: The sum of the listed store item prices is $9.44, making the estimated_cost_dollars of $5 a bit low even when prorating the bulk lentils, onion, and garlic.

Strengths

  • Mise en place is clearly organized at the beginning before heat is applied.
  • Cooking times are thoughtfully staggered so the lentils, potatoes, and chard stems/leaves all finish at the ideal tenderness.
  • Divided salt and all ingredient quantities are accurately tracked across the steps, with smart techniques like mashing a few potatoes to thicken the broth.