Can someone tell me about lentils?

[Parisbanana]

I found a nice sounding recipe which asks for puy lentils. Do you get them dried or tinned? If both, does it matter which I get? If I get dried, do I need to hydrate them or anything before I bung them in (its a sausage a nd puy lentil casserole)

Thank you

both, the recipe should tell you which you need.
When I've used them they haven't needed soaking.

I bought them dried, haven't seen them tinned. They need a rinse under the tap but no pre-soaking, you just bung them in. Take about 30 minutes to boil, and keep their shape and texture.

Dried, usually - you can get tins of puy lentils, but they just need reheating and would probably turn to mush if you used them in a recipe that involved more than 5 mins cooking time. Lentils don't need soaking, and puy lentils cook from dry in about 20-25 minutes, I think.

Sorry to be really daft, but do I need to boil them before I then put them in the casserole? The whole thing goes in the oven for an hour or more.

I would cook them first as they produce a sort of scum in the water which you don't want in the casserole. You could then just pop them in the casserole for the last 15 minutes or so. Whatever you do don't use the Merchant Gourmet ones in a sachet - they make casseroles taste really salty and turn in to a mush!

Great, thanks everyone for the help!