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Rice and Barley Porridge

A porridge made from rice and Scotch barley, boiled with salt and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and barley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 568 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Rice and Barley Porridge

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Wash the rice and barley thoroughly.

  2. Boil the rice and barley gently for 3 to 4 hours, adding salt to taste.

  3. Strain the mixture.

  4. Boil it again in a little milk for a short time before serving.

  5. For best results, boil the barley for 2 hours before adding the rice.

  6. Serve with milk, cream, sugar, or jam, or enjoy cold with stewed fruit.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Rice + barleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together568 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Barley + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Softens and swells into the soft, thick body of the porridge as its starch gelatinises.
Scotch barley
Adds a chewy texture and releases starch that thickens the porridge during long simmering.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a gentle sweetness when the porridge is boiled again before serving.

The step that matters

Boil the barley for 2 hours before adding the rice. Barley is firmer and takes longer to soften than rice. Starting it first lets both grains finish together, so the rice does not turn mushy while the barley stays hard.

“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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