Why it works: Barley and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 629 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Barley Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the pearl barley and steep it in water for 12 hours.
In a large pot, bring 5 quarts of water to a boil.
Make the broth
Add the soaked barley and chopped turnips to the boiling water.
Boil for 1 hour, then stir in the corn-meal.
If the broth is too thick, thin it with more water.
Let it simmer gently for 20 minutes.
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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Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together629 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Barley + corntop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together128 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Turnip + corntop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together208 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pearl barley
- Softens as it cooks, thickening the broth and giving it body and chew.
- Turnips
- Soften during boiling and add mild, slightly sweet flavor to the broth.
- Corn-meal
- Stirred in near the end to thicken the broth further and add a grainy texture.
The step that matters
Stirring in the corn-meal. Corn-meal thickens quickly and can clump if added to fully rolling liquid without stirring. Stir steadily as it goes in so it disperses evenly and the broth thickens smoothly.
Swap the turnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (barley, corn):
- Asparagusfits better
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Turnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against barley, corn. 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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