Here is how I make beef barley soup, if it's any help.

I take beef shanks or leftover rib roast ribs and meat and boil in a pot of water with an onion pieced with a few cloves, salt, pepper and thyme.

Once the meat is tender, a long time, two hours, sometimes more, I pull it out, discard the onion and add diced carrots and celery. Asfter 15 to 20 minutes I add the barley. And cook until it is done to my liking, with a bit of toothiness. I put the cut up or shredded beef back in and add pureed tomates from a can.

If your grocery store has fancy Italian barley, I recomment it highly. It stays intact and al dente well.

PS Of course I add the ceremonial bay leaves to the stock.

I have started the meat but have not put in the barley, because, oddly enough, WF had no barley last night when I was there?

So what exactly is fancy Italian barley? I was going to look for Bob's Red mIll since that is what i saw when I googled.

PS I just threw in the onion because after reading your method, i realized I want it to basically dissolve. It's the carrots and celery I want to be more al dente.

The brand was Cordero. The following time, they didn't have the same one and I was back to regular barley, which was fine. Bob's Red Mill never dissappoints.

I find when I make a roast in a slow cooker the meat is often very tender and the carrots and potatos aren't quite done. It will probably be fine. When making soup we shred our vegetables before adding, and precook the roast. I do not see the need of a slow cooker.

Funny, I just made beef barley for the first time last week. I ended up using the recipe as a guide because there is no way I'm going to cook my carrots for six hours!

The recipe I used said to add the barley at the beginning, but I cooked it in a separate pan and added it right before serving so that it wouldn't suck up all of my broth.

I made the soup in this order..

Brown meat and simmer in broth until almost tender.

When meat is almost tender add carrots and celery.

After five minutes add potatoes.

When all is nearly done, add remaining veggies.

At the very end, add the barley and serve the soup.

I would follow the directions as written for the first time, so I could assess. I think if the veggies aren't present during most of the cooking, the flavor is likely to be quite different. You could do the separate saute in addition and add afterward, in case you miss that texture

FWIW, IMPE, barley doesn't dissolve or come apart the way rice or pasta does. I add it to soups/stews and it stays whole and chewy no matter how often it's reheated.

No help with the veggies, since I like them to melt in the mouth when cooked in such dishes. I just made a 6 hr pot roast in my crockpot yesterday, with carrots, parsnips, onions, potatoes and fennel and they all came out very soft, which we like - everything stayed whole and didn't dissolve, just became very soft.

P.S. The title of this thread at first made me think it was going to be about some sort of meat substitute 😄

LOL - the tyranny of spell check! Fixed it.

The veggies add flavor to the broth. You can cook them in really large chunks, take them out near the end, and replace them with new ones for the same flavor and less mushiness, though. You might need to put them in a cheesecloth to make it easier.

(Dogs love when people do this type of cooking.)

LOL Iri. Just threw 2 whole carrots in. Clementine says thanks for the idea.

I made a pot of beef vegetable soup yesterday on top of the stove, it is so good. I don't eat grains anymore but I sure was thinking how good the soup would have been with barley. I used to always cook the barley first before adding it to soup. I bought a big bag of it on Amazon during the pandemic, used it once and now I am left over with this bag. Can't donate it to a food bank because it is opened. I am going to enjoy another bowl of soup right now

I don't think I have every hard good quality barely soup. I think I have only had the kind you get in bad cafeterias, back in the day. The NYT pushed it on me,and I took the bait.

I think Iri's comment is a good one. Vegetables in soups and stews can fill two roles - 1) flavor for the broth, and 2) to provide pieces of flavor when eating. A batch added at the beginning won't be much around at the end, and a batch added at the end won't have flavored the broth. Adding in two batches, at the beginning and near the end, is a solution.

I'm not much help on beef barely soup, as I do not care for it LOL. But in regards to a slow cooker, it is possible to not have mushy veggies. For example, when I make a roast in the crock-pot, I put my meat in first and let it cook several hours before adding carrots. Carrots take longer to soften (IME) than the potatoes, so they go in first and potatoes last, placed on top of and around the meat. I have never, ever had veggies that are aren't done.

Beef barley soup has been in regular rotation here forever - I make it the way my grandmother did. Can't see the recipe but I always brown the meat (usually chuck I cut up myself as opposed to stew meat) first. Also I use hulled barley (the name is confusing but it's chewier than pearled barley) and I ALWAYS use dried shitake mushrooms - excellent flavor/umami boost. Soak the mushrooms, cut into tiny pieces (they are not the focus), discard any hard bits that don't soften and be sure to add the liquid they soaked in to the broth.

You can cook your vegetables first and strain off the broth and use that vegetable broth as part of the broth to cook your beef. Save vegetables and add them in at the end. No vegetables wasted unless you want to feed them to the pup. I do this when I make stew.

FWIW here is the recipe:

Slow-Cooker Beef and Barley Soup

By Ali Slagle

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

• 2pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch pieces, or 2 to 3 pounds bone-in beef short ribs (3 to 4); see Tip
• 1quart chicken stock
• 3medium carrots, sliced ½-inch-thick
• 1large yellow onion, chopped
• ½cup pearl barley
• 2fresh thyme sprigs or 2 dried bay leaves
• ½ounce dried porcini, crushed or chopped into small pieces
• Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal) and black pepper
• 2teaspoons apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar or lemon juice, plus more as needed

1. Step 1In a 5-to-8-quart slow cooker, add the beef, stock, carrots, onion, barley, thyme, porcini, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper and 2 cups water. Stir to combine, cover and cook on low until the meat shreds when pulled with two forks, 6 to 8 hours.
2. Step 2If your soup has fat on the surface, skim it with a spoon. (The amount will vary, depending on your cut of meat.) Remove and discard the thyme. If using chuck, shred the meat using two forks right in the pot; if using short ribs, transfer to a cutting board and pull the meat away from the bones. Remove any excess fat and cartilage, then chop and shred the meat and return it to the slow cooker. Stir in the vinegar. If the flavors taste muted, add salt and vinegar. If it’s too mild, add more black pepper.

Thanks for sharing the recipe. Beef barley is one of my favourites. Maybe you already know this trick, but if have the time, cool the soup after cooking and then reheat for eating. I don't quite know how, but this deepens the flavours in a very good way.

ETA: I find it very interesting that they add an acid at the end. I was only recently introduced to this when I started making pho. I wonder if it is historical or if it's a fusioney thing that came about more recently.

Fresh thyme OR dried bay leaves? I think it should be BOTH.

“I find it very interesting that they add an acid at the end.”

It’s something I‘ve done with certain soups for a long time. The “zip“ from a little splash of vinegar can really brighten the flavor. A few days ago I made a big pot of vegetable beef soup and added about a tablespoon of red wine vinegar at the end. Tasty!

Always a bit of acid at the end to brighten things up.

Some of the older soups before the various flavored vinegars, which I include wine vinegars, used to finish soups or more frequently stews with wine sometime within the last half hour of cooking. By older I mean pre 1930s. From experimenting when younger I found that if I added wine or beer to a soup or stew that had fat floating on top it disbursed the fat into smaller more easily digested particles. Since there is a lot of flavor in fat it seemed to enrich the flavor of the whole dish.

I am totally okay with futzing. Not like I am in a rush.

As far as adding acid, I think the last line would work for a lot of dishes, to wit: If the flavors taste muted, add salt and vinegar. If it’s too mild, add more black pepper.

<<As far as adding acid, I think the last line would work for a lot of dishes, to wit: If the flavors taste muted, add salt and vinegar. If it’s too mild, add more black pepper. >>

Yes!!

That does seem like a lot of barley for 2 cups liquid, IMO.

@carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b i think you may have missed a line. It's a qt of broth and 2 cup water.

Oops - I see that now...

I am making a chicken meatball barley vegetable soup today -- since it doesn't need to simmer for 6 hr, I'll just add the barley to the soup. The meatballs are cooked before adding to the soup so it only needs to simmer long enough for the broth to develop.

Barley is such a great grain-- I am trying to use it more frequently but I don't have the fancy stuff. I'll have to look to see if I can find it. @Zalco/bring back Sophie!, can you taste a difference?

We were very pleased with the soup. I added vinegar at the end. I had thrown in a bunch of whole carrots but by the time dinner came, I didn't feel like dicing any carrots so I fished out the cooked ones and sliced them. They were mushy but c'est la vie; we had crusty bread and crunchy salad.

Barley is such an old-fashioned ingredient, don't you think? I have never bought it before. I could not find it in the aisles with grains or with rice/pasta. A young kid asked if he could help me find something. I thought "you won't even know what this is." But his reply was, "what kind of barley? instant or pearled?" Then he led me right to it ... it was next to soup mixes and broths.

Mine was Jackrabbit Pearled Barley. In my soup at least, I can't imagine one could have discerned taste differences among barley.

Funky, there is no difference in taste. The difference is in texture alone.

Glad your soup was a success!

Ive used barley for years -- I never really thought of it as an "old fashioned" lol but only because it wasn't something my grandparents used. In fact, I thought I was kind of "innovative" because I add it to my split pea soup (picked up from California Pizza Kitchen's soup). Today I am using it as I would have used orzo, pastina or acini di pepe. We'll see how it plays. I am pretty sure I'd prefer the pasta. ;)

I don't really use it in side dishes unless it is in a pre-purchased grain blend -- same with oatmeal. I have been seeing barley risotto pop up here and there ... I can't imagine it is anywhere near as good as arborio rice though!

My recent increased use of barley was sparked by learning it is high in fiber (32 g of fiber in a cup). I am always looking for new ways to add water-soluble fiber!

I also put barley in split pea soup - just finished the last batch the other day. I put it in lentil soup as well, and I've mixed it with brown rice - it takes the same amount of time to cook.

I think I have only ever seen barley in Campbell's soup or cafeteria soup. That was what made me think of it as "old-fashioned."

As far as a mix, when WF didn't have any barley, I bought this unusual product:

I love beef barley soup but haven't made it in quite a while because my brother won't eat beef. I used not to eat it myself.

I wonder if I could use chicken or turkey thighs as a substitute, as he will eat those. I don't think chicken barley soup would be nearly as good, but I've seen recipes for it.

I do not have barley on hand, but I do have kasha (which cooks much faster), and so I will probably make chicken kasha soup next, since I have leftover chicken plus some chicken chili sauce (mild in the chili flavor).

I have been buying dehydrated carrots so that I do not have keep fresh carrots on hand, and this can be added at the end of the cooking, as they rehydrate in two minutes. I also have dehydrated cabbage so that I will always have cabbage on hand, and I add that to soups at the end as well. In addition, I have dehydrated red bell pepper, but I also always have fresh red bell pepper on hand, and I add these to grits, which I make often. I buy fresh cabbage fairly often, but it usually ends up in sauerkraut or kimchee, but I often use it to make okonomiyaki.

I plan to get some barley the next time I go to the store, inspired by this thread.

Thanks for starting this!

You can absolutely use chicken in a barley soup -- I'll use little chicken meatballs in today's soup but I am sure leftover chicken would be great too. I think the key is a flavorful broth -- but that's the key to any soup IMO.

I never thought to use dehydrated vegetables-- I almost always have carrots, celery and onion but not a bad idea to have pantry backups.

when making veggie beef soup with barley I do similar to what have others mentioned.

1. Cube and brown the beef from a couple beefy soup bones.
2. Add the cubed beef and the bones to the pot and cover with 50/50 water and broth.
3. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.
4. Add the raw veggies like carrots and potatoes.
5. When beef is near tender add other veggies like corn, beans, etc that don't require much time.
6. Continue to simmer until beef is tender and veggies are tender crisp.
7. Remove the bones and cut off any bits of beef still attached.
8. While #6 is happening, cook the barley and add it to the soup about 10 minutes before serving.

I have to wonder when people stopped using what they have on hand to make soup. Some soups do need the exact ingredients but most started as just something put together from what was available mostly to use up scraps.

I always have fresh celery, onion, red bell pepper, and garlic on hand, but I also keep (and use) garlic powder, especially for use in soups and grits.

Certain vegetables dehydrate and rehydrate well, and cabbage and carrots are two of those, along with kelp, peppers, and galangal. I discovered this when I bought some Japanese soup mix that had a little packet of dehydrated cabbage. It tasted like fresh, crunchy cabbage in that soup, but what I buy is a bit more leafy and therefore less crunchy.

During the pandemic it was nice to have a stash of dried vegetables on hand. I wish I could find dehydrated parsnips, but for now I have to keep buying them fresh.

We shop nearly every day, so we inventory very little. If I plan ahead too much we always change our minds or plans change or the headcount. That said, dehydrated veggies would be useful when i need a small amount for a recipe; thanks for that idea.

I have leftover mascarpone so decided to make this tonight: Roasted carrots with balsamic mascarpone and pistachios. I have had it out but never made it. Yum. It's dessert, really. Almost carrot cake w cream cheese frosting if you think about it!

Step1!

OMG they were good:

Inspired by this thread, I made beef barley soup in the crock pot today. Haven't eaten it yet, but it smells good. Just threw the barley in about an hour before it's finished. Otherwise everything went in the pot this a.m. and let 'er rip.

We had it for dinner...came out really good and tasty!

Yesterday’s NYT had a large insert of just soup recipes. Many of them sound delicious. It’s really cold and damp here, so it‘s a great week for soup.

So glad you enjoyed it! I liked it, the boyz loved loved it. I think because it had 2.5lb of beef in it.

I am making some now- like his searing technique! yet the bare feet and kitchen ’cleaning’ are rather cringey…

Actually, this psot was about beef barley soup --- not about Kenji's stew. : )

Glad you loved the end product— its annoying to spend hours on a recipe that is just so so. Ali Slagle’s usually turn out, and Melissa Clark’s almost always do. But I steer clear of Julia Moskin’s recipes… they are all duds!

My preference is for pearl barley that is cooked to death and split…..yum!

I make it often in my pressure cooker, everything is done in 25 minutes.