Why it works: Barley and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 185 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
Grains for Breakfast
Ingredients
Directions
Cook oatmeal or barley in a double boiler for several hours the afternoon before.
Turn the cooked grain into a large earthen or china dish.
In the morning, set the dish into a steamer over boiling water to heat through.
Serve with cream, sugar, ripe fruit, whole-wheat bread, and simple relishes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Barley + wheattop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together185 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Wheat + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together209 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Barley + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together201 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Barley + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together755 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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