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Barley Cream Soub

A veal and barley soup thickened with milk, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and barley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,166 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Barley Cream Soub

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the veal and onion into small pieces.

  2. Combine the veal, onion, and barley with water in a pot.

Make the soup

  1. Boil slowly until the mixture reduces to 2 quarts.

  2. Strain the mixture, rubbing the barley through a sieve.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, then simmer for 3 minutes.

  4. Add 1 cup of boiling milk and stir; do not boil after adding milk.

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. Onion + barleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Barley + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together897 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  5. Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean veal
Provides the meat flavor and body that gives the soup its substance.
Pearl barley
Releases starch as it cooks, thickening the soup and giving it a creamy texture.
Milk
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy finish to the soup.

The step that matters

Add the milk off the boil. Milk can curdle or scorch when boiled, so it should be stirred in hot and kept below a boil to keep the soup smooth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, barley, pepper, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, barley, pepper, milk. 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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