Why it works: Fig and raisin work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 737 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Barley Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the barley
Wash the pearl barley with cold water.
Put the barley into ½ pint of boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.
Pour off the water and add 2 quarts of boiling water.
Make the barley water
Boil until reduced to 2 pints, then strain.
For flavored barley water, add figs, raisins, liquorice, and 1 pint of water.
Boil until reduced to 1 quart, then strain.
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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Fig + raisintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together737 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Barley + figtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together48 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Barley + raisintop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together57 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pearl barley
- Starch from the grain thickens the water and gives it body as it simmers.
- Figs
- Add natural sweetness and a mild fruity flavor to the finished drink.
- Raisins
- Contribute sweetness and fruity flavor as they soften in the simmering liquid.
- Liquorice
- Adds a distinct sweet, aromatic flavor to the barley water.
The step that matters
Boil until reduced to 2 pints, then strain. Reducing by simmering concentrates the flavor and starch from the barley. Stopping too early leaves the drink weak and thin, while over-reducing makes it overly strong and sticky.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (barley, fig):
- Vanillafits better
- Pearfits better
- Cherryfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against barley, fig. 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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