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Collection of old barley recipes

Barley has fed folks for thousands of years, and in Scotland, it has sustained working families for centuries. In Scotland, there are old recipes for barley pudding, barley bannocks, barley cakes, barley gruel, barley soups, and stews, and so much more.

Today, we can still make good use of barley as it is budget-friendly, very tasty, wholesome, and easy to cook. For these reasons, it’s always worthwhile to have a few bags of barley in the store cupboard.

The following recipes are old barley recipes from the Georgian, Victorian, and Edwardian eras that I have collected from out-of-print cookery books. Although these recipes were designed for a different era, we can still bring them back to life in our kitchens and adapt them to our preferences.

For useful directions, advice, and measurement conversions that will be handy while baking or cooking old recipes, do have a look at our helpful guide.

Table of Contents

Victorian Barley Recipes from Dr Allinson’s Cookery Book [1858-1918]

BARLEY

The plants Hordeum Distichon and Hordeum Vulgare supply most of the barley used in this country. Barley has been used as a food from time out of mind. We find frequent mention of it in the Bible, and in old Latin and Greek books.

According to Pliny, an ancient Roman writer, the gladiators were called Hordearii, or “barley eaters,” because they were fed on this grain whilst training. These Hordearii were like our pugilists, except that they often fought to the death.

Barley has been used from very ancient days for making an intoxicating drink. In Nubia, the liquor made from barley was called Bouzah, from which we get our English word “booze,” meaning an intoxicating drink. The first intoxicant drink made in this country was ale, and it was made from barley. Hops were not used for beer or ale in those days. Barley is a good food, and was the chief food of our peasantry until the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Barley contains about 7 per cent. of sugar, and its flesh-forming matter is in the form of casin the same as is found in cheese. This casin is not elastic like the gluten of wheat, so that one cannot make a light bread from barley. Here is the chemical composition of barley meal:—

Flesh formers 7.5 Heat and force formers (carbon)[A] 76.0 Mineral matters 2.0 Water 14.5 —– 100.0 =====

[A] There is 2.5 per cent. of fat in barley, and 7 per cent. of sugar.

From this analysis we can judge that barley contains all the constituents of a good food. In it we find casin and albumen for our muscles; starch, sugar, and fat to keep us warm and give force; and there is a fair percentage of mineral matter for our bones and teeth.

Allinson’s prepared barley may be eaten as porridge or pudding (see directions), and is much more nourishing than rice pudding; it is also good for adding to broth or soup, and to vegetable stews, and is most useful for making gruel and barley water.

Barley water contains a great deal of nourishment, more than beef tea, and it can be drunk as a change from tea, coffee, and cocoa. During illness I advise and use barley water and milk, mixed in equal parts, and find this mixture invaluable.

1. BARLEY FOR BABIES

Put 1 teaspoonful of Allinson’s barley into a breakfast cup; mix this perfectly smooth with cold milk and cold water in equal parts, until the cup is full. Pour into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring all the time to prevent it getting lumpy.

2. BARLEY GRUEL

Mix 1 large tablespoonful of Allinson’s barley with a little cold water, add to this 1 pint of boiling milk and water, boil together a few minutes, take from the fire, let cool, then eat. A little nutmeg gives a pleasant flavour.

3. BARLEY FOR INVALIDS AND ADULTS

Use 3 teaspoonfuls of Allinson’s barley to 1/2 pint of milk and water, and prepare as “Barley for Babies.”

4. BARLEY JELLY

Wash, then steep, 6 oz. of pearl barley for 6 hours, pour 31/2 pints of boiling water upon it, stew it quickly in a covered jar in a hot oven till perfectly soft and the water absorbed. When half done, add 6 oz. of sugar and a few drops of essence of lemon. 21/2 hours is the correct time for stewing the barley, and it is then a better colour than if longer in preparation. Pour it into a mould to set.

5. BARLEY PORRIDGE

Take 3 tablespoonfuls of Allinson’s barley, mix smoothly with 1/2 pint of cold water, add 1/2 pint of boiling milk, and boil 5 to 10 minutes. Pour on shallow plates to cool, then eat with Allinson wholemeal bread, biscuits, rusks, or toast, or stewed fruits.

6. PUDDINGS

Take 2 tablespoonfuls of Allinson’s barley, mix smoothly with a little milk, pour upon it the remainder of 1 pint of milk, flavour and sweeten to taste, boil 2 or 3 minutes, then add 2 eggs lightly beaten, pour into a pie-dish, and bake to a golden brown. Eat with stewed, fresh, or dried fruits.

7. BARLEY WATER

Mix smoothly 2 tablespoonfuls of Allinson’s barley with a little cold water, then add it to 1 quart of water in a saucepan, and bring to the boil. Pour into a jug, and when cool add the juice of 1 or 2 oranges or lemons. A little sugar may be added when permissible.

8. BARLEY BANNOCKS

Put 1/2 pint of milk into a saucepan allow it to boil; then sprinkle in barley meal, stirring it constantly to prevent lumps till the mixture is quite thick and almost unstirrable. Turn the mass out on a meal-besprinkled board and leave to cool. When cool enough to knead, work it quite stiff with dry meal, take a portion off, roll it as thin as a wafer, and bake it on a hot girdle; when done on one side, turn and cook on the other. The girdle is to be swept clean after each bannock. Eat hot or cold with butter.

The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]

BARLEY BROTH.

1 carrot, 1 turnip, 4 leeks or 3 small onions, 4 sprigs parsley, 4 sticks celery, 1 tea-cup pearl barley, 3 qts. water. (The celery may be omitted if desired, or, when in season, 1 tea-cup green peas may be substituted.)

Scrub clean (but do not peel) the carrot and turnip. Wash celery, parsley, and barley. Shred all the vegetables finely; put in saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil and slowly simmer for 5 hours. Add the chopped parsley and serve.

CREAM OF BARLEY SOUP.

Make barley broth as in No. 1. [the recipe above]Then strain it through a wire strainer. Squeeze it well, so as to get the soup as thick as possible, but do not rub the barley through. Skin 1/2 lb. tomatoes, break in halves, and cook to a pulp very gently in a closed saucepan (don’t add water). Add to the barley soup, boil up once, and serve.

In cases of illness, especially where the patient is suffering from intestinal trouble, after preparing as above, strain through a fine muslin. It should also be prepared with distilled, or clean boiled rain-water.

Victorian Barley Recipes from Fast Day Cookery or Meals Without Meat by Grace Johnston [1893]

Barley Soup.

Cut up an onion into rings and chop fine, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter a golden brown. Add two quarts of water, three ounces of pearl barley, one carrot cut into slices, a turnip cut into slices, three sticks of celery chopped; boil till the barley is quite tender. Add pepper and salt to taste, a few drops of tarragon vinegar, a few drops of clove vinegar, and a tablespoon of mushroom ketchup. Serve with toast cut into neat pieces.

Victorian Barley Recipes from Cassell’s Vegetarian Cookery, A Manual of Cheap and Wholesome Diet [1891]

Rice and Barley Porridge

Take a quarter of a pound of rice and a quarter of a pound of Scotch barley and wash them very thoroughly. The most perfect way of washing barley and rice is to throw them into boiling water, let them boil for five or ten minutes, and then strain them off. By this means the dirty outside is dissolved. Next boil the rice and barley gently for three or four hours, strain them off, and boil them up again in a little milk for a short time before they are wanted. It will often be found best to boil the barley for a couple of hours and then add the rice. A little cream is a very great improvement. The porridge can be flavoured with pepper and salt, but is very nice with brown sugar, treacle, or jam, and when cold forms an agreeable accompaniment to stewed fruit.

Victorian Barley Recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]

BARLEY GRUEL.

1856. INGREDIENTS.—2 oz. of Scotch or pearl barley, 1/2 pint of port wine, the rind of 1 lemon, 1 quart and 1/2 pint of water, sugar to taste.

Mode.—After well washing the barley, boil it in 1/2 pint of water for 1/4 hour; then pour this water away; put to the barley the quart of fresh boiling water, and let it boil until the liquid is reduced to half; then strain it off. Add the wine, sugar, and lemon-peel; simmer for 5 minutes, and put it away in a clean jug. It can be warmed from time to time, as required.

Time.—To be boiled until reduced to half. Average cost, 1s. 6d.

Sufficient with the wine to make 1-1/2 pint of gruel.

TO MAKE BARLEY-WATER.

1857. INGREDIENTS.—2 oz. of pearl barley, 2 quarts of boiling water, 1 pint of cold water.

Mode.—Wash the barley in cold water; put it into a saucepan with the above proportion of cold water, and when it has boiled for about 1/4 hour, strain off the water, and add the 2 quarts of fresh boiling water. Boil it until the liquid is reduced one half; strain it, and it will be ready for use. It may be flavoured with lemon-peel, after being sweetened, or a small piece may be simmered with the barley. When the invalid may take it, a little lemon-juice gives this pleasant drink in illness a very nice flavour.

Time.—To boil until the liquid is reduced one half.

Sufficient to make 1 quart of barley-water.

Victorian Barley Recipes from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]

How to make Gruel with Pearl Barley. [for illness]

Put four ounces of pearl barley in a saucepan with two quarts of cold water and a small stick of cinnamon, and set the whole to boil very gently by the side of the fire (partly covered with the lid) for two hours; then add the sugar and the wine, boil all together a few minutes longer, and then strain the gruel through a colander into a jug, to be kept in a cool place until required for use; when it can be warmed up in small quantities.

As this kind of gruel is a powerful cordial, it is to be borne in mind that it should never be administered unless ordered by a medical man.

How to make Barley Water.

Boil one ounce of barley in a quart of water for twenty minutes; strain through muslin into a jug containing a bit of orange or lemon peel.

The Lady’s Own Cookery Book, And New Dinner-Table Directory; In which will be found A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, Including not only THE RESULT OF THE AUTHERESS’S MANY YEARS OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE, AND RESEARCH, but also the CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN EXTENSIVE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE: Adapted to the use of PERSONS LIVING IN THE HIGHEST STYLE, as well as those of MODERATE FORTUNE. [1844]

Barley Broth.

Take four or five pounds of the lean end of a neck of mutton, soak it well in cold water for some time, then put it in a saucepan with about four quarts of water and a tea-cupful of fine barley. Just before it boils take it off the fire and skim it extremely well; put in salt and pepper to your taste, and a small bundle of sweet herbs, which take out before the broth is sent up. Then let it boil very gently for some hours afterwards; add turnips, carrots, and onions, cut in small pieces, and continue to boil the broth till the vegetables are quite done and very tender. When nearly done it requires to be stirred frequently lest the barley should adhere.

Another.

Put on whatever bones you have; stew them down well with a little whole pepper, onions, and herbs. When done, strain it off, and next day take off all the fat. Take a little pearl barley, boil it a little and strain it off; put it to the broth, add a coss lettuce, carrot, and turnip, cut small. Boil all together some time, and serve it up.

Barley Cream.

Take half a pint of pearl barley, and two quarts of water. Boil it half away, and then strain it out. Put in some juice of lemons; sweeten it to your taste. Steep two ounces of sweet almonds in rose-water; and blanch, stamp, and strain them through into the barley, till it is as white as milk.

French Barley Cream.

Boil your barley in two or three waters, till it looks white and tender; pour the water clean from the barley, and put as much cream as will make it tolerably thick, and a blade or two of mace, and let it boil. To a pint and a half of cream put two ounces of almonds, blanched and ground with rose-water. Strain them with cold cream; put the cream through the almonds two or three times, wringing it hard. Sweeten to your taste; let it boil; and put it in a broad dish.

THE COOK AND HOUSEKEEPER’S COMPLETE AND UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY; INCLUDING A SYSTEM OF MODERN COOKERY, IN ALL ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES, ADAPTED TO THE USE OF PRIVATE FAMILIES: ALSO A VARIETY OF ORIGINAL AND VALUABLE INFORMATION. BY Mrs. MARY EATON. (1823)

BARLEY BROTH.

Wash three quarters of a pound of Scotch barley in a little cold water, put it in a soup pot with a shin or leg of beef, or a knuckle of veal of about ten pounds weight, sawn into four pieces. Cover it with cold water, and set it on the fire; when it boils skim it very clean, and put in two onions. Set it by the side of the fire to simmer very gently about two hours; then skim off all the fat, put in two heads of celery, and a large turnip cut into small squares. Season it with salt, let it boil an hour and a half longer, and it is done. Take out the meat carefully with a slice, cover it up and keep it warm by the fire, and skim the broth well before it is put into the tureen. This dish is much admired in Scotland, where it is regarded, not only as highly nutricious, but as a necessary article of domestic economy: for besides the excellent soup thus obtained, the meat also becomes an agreeable dish, served up with sauce in the following manner. Reserve a quart of the soup, put about an ounce of flour into a stewpan, pour the liquor to it by degrees, stirring it well together till it boils. Add a glass of port wine or mushroom ketchup, and let it gently boil up; strain the sauce through a sieve over the meat, and add to it some capers, minced gherkins, or walnuts. The flavour may be varied or improved, by the addition of a little curry powder, ragout, or any other store sauces.

BARLEY GRUEL.

Wash four ounces of pearl barley, boil it in two quarts of water and a stick of cinnamon, till reduced to a quart. Strain and return it into the saucepan with some sugar, and three quarters of a pint of port wine. It may be warmed up, and used as wanted.

BARLEY SUGAR.

This well known article of confectionary is made in the following manner. Put some common or clarified syrup into a saucepan with a spout, such as for melting butter, if little is wanted to be made, and boil it till it comes to what is called carimel, carefully taking off whatever scum may arise; and having prepared a marble stone, either with butter or sweet oil, just sufficiently to prevent sticking, pour the syrup gently along the marble, in long sticks of whatever thickness may be desired. While hot, twist it at each end; and let it remain till cold, when it will be fit for immediate use. The rasped rind of lemon, boiled up in the syrup, gives a very agreeable flavour to barley sugar; and indeed the best is commonly so prepared.

BARLEY WATER.

Wash a handful of common barley, then simmer it gently in three pints of water, with a bit of lemon peel. Or boil an ounce of pearl barley a few minutes to cleanse it, and then put on it a quart of water. Simmer it an hour: when half done, put into it a piece of fresh lemon peel, and one bit of sugar. If likely to be thick, add a quarter of a pint of water, and a little lemon juice, if approved. This makes a very pleasant drink for a sick person; but the former is less apt to nauseate.

PEARL BARLEY PUDDING.

Cleanse a pound of pearl barley, and put to it three quarts of milk, half a pound of sugar, and a grated nutmeg. Bake it in a deep pan, take it out of the oven, and beat up six eggs with it. Then butter a dish, pour in the pudding, and bake it again an hour.

SCOTCH BARLEY BROTH.

Cut a leg of beef into pieces, and boil it in three gallons of water, with a sliced carrot and crust of bread, till reduced to half the quantity. Strain it off, and put it again into the pot. Boil it an hour, with half a pound of Scotch barley, a few heads of celery cut small, a sprig of sweet herbs, an onion, a little minced parsley, and a few marigolds. Put in a large fowl, and boil it till the broth is good. Season it with salt, take out the onion and herbs, and serve it up with the fowl in the middle. Broth may be made with a sheep’s head chopped in pieces, or six pounds of thick flank of beef, boiled in six quarts of water. Put the barley in with the meat, and boil it gently for an hour, keeping it clear from scum. The articles before-mentioned may then be added, with sliced turnips and carrots, and boiled together till the broth is good. Season it, take it up, pour the broth into a tureen, with the meat in the middle, and carrots and turnips round the dish.

Georgian Barley Recipes from English Housewifry by Elizabeth Moxon [1764]

To make PEARL BARLEY PUDDING.

Take half a pound of pearl barley, cree it in soft water, and shift it once or twice in the boiling till it be soft; take five eggs, put to them a pint of good cream, and half a pound of powder sugar, grate in half a nutmeg, a little salt, a spoonful or two of rose-water, and half a pound of clarified butter; when your barley is cold mix them altogether, so bake it with a puff-paste round your dish-edge.

Serve it up with a little rose-water, sugar and butter for your sauce.

To make BARLEY-SUGAR.

Boil barley in water, strain it through a hair-sieve, then put the decoction into clarified sugar brought to a candy height, or the last degree of boiling, then take it off the fire, and let the boiling settle, then pour it upon a marble stone rubb’d with the oil of olives, when it cools and begins to grow hard, cut it into pieces, and rub it into lengths as you please.

To make PLUMB GRUEL.

Take half a pound of pearl barley, set it on to cree; put to it three quarts of water; when it has boiled a while, shift it into another fresh water, and put to it three or four blades of mace, a little lemon-peel cut in long pieces, so let it boil whilst the barley be very soft; if it be too thick you may add a little more water; take half a pound of currants, wash them well and plump them, and put to them your barley, half a pound of raisins and stone them; let them boil in the gruel whilst they are plump, when they are enough put to them a little white wine, a little juice of lemon, grate in half a nutmeg, and sweeten it to your taste, so serve them up.

Stuart Era Barley Recipes from The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art & Mystery of Cookery [1685]

Barley Broth.

Chine of Mutton or Veal in Barley Broth, Rack, or any Joynt.

Take a Chine or Knuckle, and joynt it, put it in a Pipkin with some strong broth, and when it boils, scum it, and put in some French Barley, being first boiled in two or three waters, with some large Mace, and a faggot of sweet herbs bound up, and close hard tied, some Raisins, Damask Prunes, and Currants, or no Prunes, and Marigold-flowers; boil it to an indifferent thickness, and serve it on sippets.

Barley Broth otherwise.

Boil the Barley first in two waters, and then put it to a Knuckle of Veal, and to the Broth, Salt, Raisins, sweet Herbs a faggot, large Mace, and the quantity of a fine Manchet [small bread rolls or small circular loafs of bread] slic’t together.

To make a French Barley Pudding.

Boil the barley, & put to one quart of barley, a manchet [small bread roll or a small circular loaf] grated, then beat a pound of almonds, & strain them with cream, then take eight eggs, & but four whites, & beat them with rose-water, season it with nutmeg, mace, salt, and marrow, or beef-suet cut small, mingle all together, then fill the guts and boil them.

French Barley Cream.

Take a porringer full of French perle barley, boil it in eight or nine several waters very tender, then put it in a quart of cream, with some large mace, and whole cinamon, boil it about a quarter of an hour; then have two pound of almonds blanched and beaten fine with rose-water, put to them some sugar, and strain the almonds with some cold cream, then put all over the fire, and stir it till it be half cold, then put to it two spoonfuls of sack or white-wine, and a little salt, and serve it in a dish cold.

To make Almond Milk against a hot Disease.

Boil half a pound of French barley in 3 several waters, keep the last water to make your milk of, then stamp half a pound of almonds with a little of the same water to keep them from oyling; being finely beaten, strain it whith the rest of the barley water, put some hard sugar to it, boil it a little, and give it the party warm.

The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet by Hannah Woolley Stored with all manner of RARE RECEIPTS For Preserving, Candying and Cookery. Very Pleasant and Beneficial to all Ingenious Persons of the FEMALE SEX. [1670] 2nd Edition

To make Furmity.

Take some new Milk or Cream, and boil it with whole Spice, then put in your Wheat or Pearl Barley boiled very tender in several Waters, when it hath boiled a while, thicken it with the yolks of Eggs well beaten, and sweeten it with Sugar, then serve it in with fine Sugar on the Brims of the Dish.

To make Barly Broth.

Take French Barley boiled in several waters, and to a Pound of it, put three quarts of water, boil them together a while with some whole Spice, then put in as many Raisins of the Sun and Currants as you think fit, when it is well boiled, put in Rosewater, Butter and Sugar, and so eat it.

To make Barley Broth with Meat.

Take a Knuckle of Veal, and the Crag-end of a Neck of Mutton, and boil them in water and salt, then put in some Barly, and whole Spice, and boil them very well together, then put in Raisins stoned, and Currans, and a few Dates stoned and sliced thin; when it is almost enough, put in some Cream, and boil it a while, then put in plumped Prunes, and the yolks of Eggs, Rosewater and Sugar, and a little Sack, so serve it in; Garnsh your Dish with some of the Raisins and Prunes and fine Sugar; this is very good and nourishing for sick or weak people.

To make Furmity with Almonds.

Take three Quarts of Cream, and boil it with whole Spice, then put in some pearled Barley first boiled in several waters, and when they have boiled together a while, then put in so many blanched Almonds beaten fine with Rosewater, as you think may be enough, about four Ounces of Barly to this quantity of Cream will be enough, and four Ounces of Almonds, boil them well together, and sweeten it with Sugar, and so serve it in, or eat it by the way, you may put in Saffron if you please.

To make a Pudding of French Barley.

Take French Barley tenderly boiled, then take to one Pint of Barley half a Manchet grated, and four Ounces of sweet Almonds blanched and beeten with Rosewater, half a Pint of Cream, and eight Eggs with half the Whites, season it with Nutmeg, Mace, Sugar and Salt, then put in some Fruit, both Raisins and Currans, and some Marrow, mingle these well together, and fill Hogs Guts with it.

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