SC - Re: A couple questions . . .

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Jessica Tiffin wrote:

> Recognition!  I concocted something very like this for a feast about a year
> ago, basing it on a chicken-barley dish  (purportedly Saxon) I found on the
> Net.  The flavour was wonderful (mushroom, onion, fresh herbs, dash of
> vinegar) but the barley went very glutinous, and the dish was not well
> received.  (Sigh).  What am I doing wrong?  Is that gluey consistency the
> result of overcooking, or the wrong kind of barley?  If it's all cooked
> together in broth, you can't wash it to get rid of excess starch, which is a
> reasonable rice-fixer.
> 
> grateful for imput,
> 
> Melesine

Barley does tend to get sticky unless it is cooked as a pilaf. Period
people probably would have eaten barley dishes more in the form of
thick, chowdery soups, so a certain gumminess wouldn't have been much of
a problem.

A typical pilaf of any grain consists of bringing a certain premeasured
amount of liquid to a boil in a saucepan, sauteeing various vegetables
(onion is a classic) in butter and/or oil, and adding the grain to the
hot fat, sauteeing it until it is lightly toasted and the grains are
separate. Then you add your boiling stock or water to that pan, bring
all back to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer/steam, covered,
until the grain is done and the liquid absorbed. Offhand I don't know
what the proportion of barley to liquid is by volume. For rice it is
generally 2:1, but barley needs more like 3 or 4 :1, and takes about 45
minutes to cook. 

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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