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Barley Soup

A creamy barley soup with carrots, onion, butter, milk, egg yolk, and Marmite.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Barley and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 784 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Barley Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the barley in tepid water for a few minutes.

  2. Scrape the carrots.

  3. Peel the onion.

  4. Cut the carrots and onion into small slices.

Make the soup

  1. Melt the butter in a stewpan.

  2. Fry the carrots and onion slightly.

  3. Add 4 cups of water or stock.

  4. Stir in the Marmite until dissolved.

  5. Season to taste.

  6. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil.

  7. Skim off any foam.

  8. Add the soaked barley.

  9. Simmer gently for about 40 minutes.

  10. Strain the soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Return the strained soup to a clean stewpan.

  2. Mix the milk and yolk of egg.

  3. Stir the mixture into the soup.

  4. Reheat gently until thickened, but do not boil.

  5. Serve.

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

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

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  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

Pearl barley
Adds body and thickens the soup as its starch cooks in the liquid.
Egg yolk
Thickens the finished soup and adds richness when gently heated.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a soft, mild sweetness to the soup.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour for frying the carrots and onion.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour to the soup.
Marmite
Adds deep savoury, umami flavour to the broth.

The step that matters

Reheat gently without boiling after adding the egg mixture. Egg yolk proteins set and curdle when overheated, so the soup can turn grainy or split. Gentle heat lets the yolk thicken the milk smoothly.

Swap the carrot

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against barley, onion, butter, milk, cream, 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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