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Barley Cream for Invalids

A thickened barley porridge made with milk and sweetened with marshmallow or Venus hair syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Barley and milk work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 598 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity. The science ↓

Barley Cream for Invalids

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the barley

  1. Prepare the barley as directed in recipe No. 108.

  2. Replace broth with milk in the preparation.

  3. Cook until well done, then press the liquid through a fine sieve.

Sweeten and serve

  1. Sweeten with syrup of marshmallow or Venus hair to taste.

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. Barley + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  2. Barley + syruptop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together82 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + syruptop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,143 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Barley
Softens when cooked and pressed through a sieve, giving the cream its body and thickness.
Milk
Supplies the liquid base, adding moisture, richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
Syrup of marshmallow or venus hair
Adds sweetness, adjusted to taste.

The step that matters

Cook the barley until well done before sieving. Barley that is not fully softened will not press through a fine sieve smoothly, leaving a grainy texture. Thorough cooking breaks down the starch and fibre so the cream becomes silky.

“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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