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Barley-water

A drink made by boiling barley in water and seasoning with lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Barley-water

Why it works: Pear and barley share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Barley-water

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the barley

  1. Wash the barley in cold water and drain it.

  2. Put the barley into a saucepan with 1 pint of cold water and boil for 15 minutes.

  3. Strain off the water and add 2 quarts of fresh boiling water.

Reduce and flavor

  1. Boil until the liquid is reduced by half.

  2. Strain again and flavor with lemon juice.

  3. For added nourishment, boil with 1 ounce of gum‑arabic.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Pear + barleytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Pear + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together942 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Barley + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together484 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Pearl barley
Provides the starchy body and mild grain flavor that make up the drink.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances any sweetness.
Gum-arabic
Thickens the liquid slightly and gives it a fuller mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Boil until the liquid is reduced by half. Boiling concentrates the barley's flavor and starch. Reducing too little leaves the drink weak, while over-reducing makes it thick and strongly flavored.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Applefits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pear, barley. 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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