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Barley Soup

A hearty soup made with barley, bay leaf, mace, onion, carrots, milk, butter, egg yolk, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Barley Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup base

  1. Combine barley, bay leaf, mace, and cold water in a pot.

  2. Boil slowly for 3 hours.

  3. Remove bay leaf and mace.

Finish the soup

  1. Add onion and diced carrots; cook until tender.

  2. Stir in milk, butter, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in beaten egg yolk and cream.

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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  2. Barley + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together784 recipes

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

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Barley + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,166 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

Barley
Thickens the soup as its starch softens during long simmering, giving body.
Egg yolk
Enriches and thickens the soup when stirred in off the heat, adding richness.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, rounding out the broth.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and soften to give the soup substance.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolk and cream off the heat. Egg yolk thickens by gentle heat; if the soup is boiling when it is added, the yolk can scramble and turn grainy. Removing the pot from heat first keeps the soup smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (barley, onion, carrot, milk, butter, pepper, egg):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against barley, onion, carrot, milk, butter, pepper, egg. 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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