Barley
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the barley
Steam the barley with water and salt in a double boiler for four hours the day before.
Finish and serve
In the morning, add boiling water and stir thoroughly.
Reheat and serve.
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
What each ingredient does
- Pearl barley
- Forms the main body of the porridge, softening into a thick, creamy texture as it steams.
- Water
- Hydrates the barley so the grains soften fully during the long steaming.
The step that matters
Long steaming in the double boiler. Gentle, prolonged steaming lets the barley grains absorb water and soften evenly without scorching. Cooking too hot or too briefly leaves grains firm or the bottom sticking, so the porridge turns out uneven.
“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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