BEAUTIFUL BARLEY
Diana Henry uses this versatile grain in three new comforting recipes
Diana Henry cooks with this versatile grain
Barley was the grain I was most aware of as I was growing up. The aroma as it simmers is very particular, not just nutty, but almost porky. My mother put it into chicken soup and many people add it to Irish stew, even though that already contains potatoes. The smell of malted barley being distilled was also a big part of my childhood; it’s used to make Irish whiskey and there was a distillery across the road from my primary school. A pungent version of the smell from the barley you cook on the hob, it can be summoned just by closing my eyes and imagining myself back in the school playground. It seems a resolutely northern grain, a sturdy cereal to warm you up on bitterly cold days (and provide a drop of the hard stuff in the evenings). Therefore, I wasn’t surprised to find, the last time I visited Iceland, that when they suffered their huge financial crash, one of the crops farmers turned to in an effort to diversify was barley. It had been grown in the past – and is a key ingredient in traditional Icelandic lamb soup – but it’s thought that it became impossible to grow in the Middle Ages due to extreme cold. It’s now an Icelandic staple. I’ve eaten it there with smoked fish, in creamy ‘risottos’, in ‘chowders’ made with fish and mussels and in modern grain-based salads.
Barley isn’t just a northern grain, though. When I realised you could buy barley couscous, I did a bit of reading and discovered that it was one of the first domesticated grains in the Middle East. Barley bread might be made in Finland, but it’s also made in the Caucasus. Barley is simply very adaptable and can be grown in both warm and cooler climates.
The pearled version, which is the type most readily available in the UK, goes soft when cooked, almost gummy on the outside if you overcook it, but retains a little bite in the middle. Pearl barley has had the germ and some of the bran removed, so it’s not strictly a wholegrain, but barley’s fibre isn’t concentrated in its outer grain; it’s found right through the kernel, so even the hulled version is regarded as healthy. It can be used to make barley risottos, though it never becomes as creamy as risotto rice. It’s perfect, cooked and rinsed in cold water, as a salad base but I also really want to sell unprocessed barley – known as ‘pot barley’. It does need to be soaked overnight before cooking but it has a great flavour, similar to that of farro, and is much cheaper. As a salad base it can cope with any ‘big’ ingredients you care to throw at it (miso, chilli, pomegranate molasses, anchovies – it can take them all). I’ve only ever bought it online, but you can find it in health food shops, too. Try it. You’ll no longer think of barley as just a frugal ingredient to add bulk to soup.