Barley Boiled
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the barley in cold water.
Combine the barley, cold water, and salt in a small saucepan with a steam pipe in the cover.
Cook and serve
Place this saucepan into another saucepan filled with boiling water.
Boil for 2 hours, ensuring the water remains boiling until the barley is cooked.
Serve with sugar, cream, or milk.
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
What each ingredient does
- Pearl barley
- Provides the grain that softens into a chewy, tender porridge-like texture.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the barley so the grains swell and cook through gently.
- Salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the barley tastes evenly seasoned.
The step that matters
Keep the outer pan boiling for the full 2 hours. Gentle, steady steam heat cooks the barley slowly. If the water in the outer pan stops boiling, the inner pot cools, and the grains may stay firm or cook unevenly.
“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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