Streamlining the Consistent Cooking of Lentils with Rational Solutions 

With limited staff, resources, and varying skill levels, utilizing ingredients that require less labor, or deploying solutions to take the guesswork out of cooking are major wins for a commercial kitchen. 

Many operations have combi ovens in their back of house which can streamline Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), resulting in perfect output every time. 

Lentils.org worked with Rational to test out presets for different types of lentils to take the guesswork out of your cooking. Using their iCombi Pro and the iVario Pro, the following guide will take the guesswork out of cooking lentils, resulting in a perfect al dente output every time. 

Whole lentils (red, brown, green) in the Rational iCombi Pro: 

• Cook in a 2 inch hotel pan, uncovered 
• Use 1 ½ pounds dry whole lentils (red, brown green)  
• With 1 ½ quarts water 
• Cooking setting: 
  • Manual steam 
  • Fan speed 3 
  • 1 hour cook time

Lentil Reference Photos:

Whole lentils (red, brown, green) in the Rational iVario Pro: 

• Cooked in iVario 2S model, but with this program any size model will work the same 
• Use 2 pounds dry whole lentils, rinsed 
• Intelligent cooking setting: 
  • Side Dishes / Boil / with Basket / Simmering / 20 Minutes 
  • Result: Perfect cook without having to watch because basket auto drops and lifts 

Lentil Reference Photos:

Split lentils (red, green, yellow) in the Rational iCombi Pro: 

• Cook in a 2 inch hotel pan, uncovered 
• Use 2 pounds dry split lentils (red, green, yellow) 
• With 1 ½ quarts water  
• Cooking setting:  
  • Steam 
  • Fan speed 4 
  • 35 minutes 

Lentil Reference Photos:

Split lentils (red, green, yellow) in the Rational iVario Pro: 

• Cooked in iVario 2S model, but with this program any size model will work the same 
• Use 2 pounds dry whole lentils, rinsed 
• Intelligent cooking setting:  
  • Side Dishes / Boil / with Basket / Simmering / 7 minutes 
  • Result: Perfect cook without having to watch because basket auto drops and lifts 

Lentil Reference Photos:

Download your Lentil x Rational guide here.