Why it works: Fig and raisin work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 737 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Barley Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the barley
Wash the pearl barley well and boil it in a little water for 10 minutes to clear it.
Drain the barley and add 5 pints of boiling water.
Boil until the liquid is reduced to half.
Strain the barley water for use.
Add flavourings and reduce
In a pot, combine the prepared barley water, liquorice root, figs, raisins, and 1 pint of distilled water.
Boil until the liquid is reduced to 2 pints, then strain for use.
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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Fig + raisintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together737 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Barley + figtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together48 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Barley + raisintop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together57 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pearl barley
- Releases starch into the water, giving the drink its body and light thickness.
- Liquorice root
- Adds a sweet, distinctive aroma and flavour to the liquid.
- Figs
- Add natural sweetness and a soft, fruity flavour as they simmer.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and a deeper fruity flavour as they simmer.
The step that matters
Boil until the liquid is reduced to half. Reducing by simmering concentrates the starch, sugars and flavours from the barley and fruit. Stopping too early leaves the drink weak and thin, while boiling too hard can make it cloudy and bitter.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (barley, fig):
- Vanillafits better
- Pearfits better
- Cherryfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against barley, fig. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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