I would cook the Barley separately and then add as much as you like at the end.

Steve

Mmmm, barley. It's such a great addition to cool weather soups and stews. I make a beef, cabbage and barley soup that makes 8 servings with a 3 1/2 lb. chuck roast, 10 cups of beef stock and 2/3 cup of barley, plus other ingredients.

The non-pre-cooked barley triples in size so I would probably go with 1/2 cup - 2/3 cup of barley and add an extra 3 cups of broth. You could also add 1/4 cup of split peas to give it a nice creamy texture.

I cook a cup of pearl barley in 2 C chicken broth covered for 45 min....there's no liquid not absorbed at the end of the cooking time, just tender moist barley if that helps you at all.

(OT, I 'toast' the dry barley first in a bit of butter in a pan till it barely begins to brown, then add shallots, mushrooms, then the chicken broth and a little salt. Cover and cook 45 min, very good. That brief toast/brown adds a lot of flavor)

Thanks for the tip, morz. Sometimes I 'toast' rice for a pilaf but never thought of doing it with barley.

I'd do a combo of the above suggestions. IMO, barley does not "hold" very well for leftovers. So, if there's any left after your dinner - would you please fill a bowl and float it over my way...should end up about in my yard. DH isn't going to be home for dinner and your soup sounds wonderful!

/t

I love barley! check the pkg to see if it's pre-rinsed, otherwise be sure to rinse well or it can be bitter. I'd think in terms of the 6-8 servings... 1 cup barley is considered 4 servings, so I'd use the whole cup of barley and add it to the meat to cook along with at least 2 additional cups of liquid (beef broth), or more if needed. :p

It depends. There are more than one kind of barley and new barley cooks a little different than old barley.

I think this is a fool-proof way. Use very little liquid and pressure cook (with a small container inside the PC) the barley.

If it comes out too hard, cook again and add more liquid, until you are happy with the result.

dcarch

When you cook barley in a soup or stew, it will swell to about triple its dry size by absorbing liquid. At that point it is fairly soft but still has some texture.

The problem is, as it sits longer (like if the soup is held for service, or later saved as leftovers) it will keep swelling until it absorbs all the liquid, turning into a mushy bloated thing, with none of the chew and texture that you probably wanted. Sort of a barley porridge.

So I agree, cook it separately then add to bowls of the soup or stew as you serve them. You can use stock, bouillon, etc to cook it in, and I'd start at 1 cup barley to 1.5 cups liquid, then add liquid depending on how toothsome you like it.

I'm not sure how different types of barley vary, I do the same thing with whatever type I get from the bulk bins at various stores.

I also love barley, and like it leftover too, even after it has absorbed all the soup liquid and just become barley. I also haven't seen a difference in the way barley cooks, except I get "quick" barley which cooks in minutes, or regular barley which cooks in an hour or so. I like the long cooked barley better, the texture is different.

I do agree that cooking it first and then adding it at the end is a good option if the soup will be "held" for any time, as it will soak up the liquid and may change the texture of the stew. I like stew thick but some others like it brothy, and the barley will definitely affect texture if it's in there too long.

So, I'd go with a cup of barley and a couple of cups of liquid directly in the stew if I'm serving immediately, or some barley cooked separately according to package directions if you add it in before serving.

Annie

Thanks so much, everyone! As it turned out, my day slipped away from me and suddenly it was close to 6:00, I was still working and hadn't thought about cooking, and my parents and guests were waiting from me to deliver dinner. I don't have a PC so obviously beef stew wasn't happening. It was quicker to run out for some boneless skinless thighs and quickly throw together a Mexican-ish meal to serve over rice.

Everyone enjoyed, but now I'm left with all of the stew ingredients. I'll re-read these comments and try it out tomorrow just for us, taking your recommendations into consideration. Since it will now be bound for leftovers, cooking the barley separately might be a good idea. I'll post back after
It's made. Thanks again!