Pearl barley
Used in 2 recipes on RecipeWiki.
Pearl barley is barley with its tough outer husk and bran polished away, leaving small, pale, rounded grains. It cooks to a pleasantly chewy, nutty bite and releases starch as it simmers, thickening any liquid around it. That makes it ideal for soups: it gives body to Mushroom and Barley Soup and to Rassolnik, the Russian pickled cucumber soup. Rinse it before cooking to remove loose starch. If it is going into a soup that will be reheated, remember it keeps absorbing liquid as it stands, so add extra stock when warming it up. It keeps for months in an airtight jar.
Most often cooked with
Bay leaf
Carrot
Dill
Onion
Potato
Soured creamRecipes with pearl barley
Mushroom and Barley Soup
Dried mushrooms soaked and their soaking liquor used as the stock, with pearl barley cooked in it until the pot turns thick.
Polish
Potatoes
Soups
Rassolnik
Barley and pickled cucumber soup, sharpened at the end with the pickle brine itself rather than with vinegar.
Russian