{"id":9199,"date":"2015-03-16T14:25:57","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T13:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/?p=9199"},"modified":"2019-12-09T20:34:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T19:34:59","slug":"dutch-barley-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/en\/dutch-barley-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"Dutch barley soup"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Straight to the recipe<\/small><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Bookshop<\/p>\n

This barley\u00a0soup<\/span>\u00a0is not French haute cuisine as\u00a0Car\u00eame’s<\/a>\u00a0recipe is. It is Dutch and was published in\u00a0Aaltje, de volmaakte en zuinige keukenmeid<\/em>\u00a0(‘Aaltje, the perfect and thrifty cook’), a popular cookery book from the early\u00a0nineteenth century<\/span>\u00a0(1803). In fact it was so popular that in 1887 a teacher of house economics, Odilia Corver, thought to profit from its popularity by presenting her own completely new cookery book as the “seventeenth\u00a0entirely revised<\/strong>\u00a0edition” of ‘Aaltje de volmaakte en zuinige keukenmeid<\/em>‘. But to no avail. The original\u00a0Aaltje<\/em>\u00a0had at least twenty editions. The last edition from 1878 was actually labelled ‘the sixteenth’, but from some editions more than one version existed. Corver’s version of\u00a0Aaltje<\/em>\u00a0never had more than two.<\/p>\n

Although the source of the recipe on this page is\u00a0Aaltje<\/em>, it must be noted that the recipe is practically identical to a recipe for barley soup in\u00a0De nieuwe vaderlandsche kookkunst<\/em>\u00a0(\u2018the new national art of cookery<\/em>\u2018) from 1797.<\/p>\n

The picture on the upper left depicts the bookshop of Pieter Meijer Warnars at the Vijgendam (‘Fig dam’, today the Damrak) in Amsterdam. It was painted in 1820 by Johannes Jelgerhuis (see the website of the\u00a0Rijksmuseum<\/a>). Judging from the austere book spines, the books in this shop are all of a serious nature, but cookery books had the same kind of covers in those days. So maybe\u00a0Aaltje<\/em>\u00a0was present on the shelves.<\/p>\n

More about barley can be read in the introduction to the recipe for\u00a0French barley soup<\/a>.
\nAnd more about Aaltje and her cookery book can be read in the introduction to the recipe for the\u00a0Cook’s Salmon Salad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The original recipe<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0Aaltje<\/em>\u00a0from 1803 was a completely different cookery book from the\u00a0New Aaltje<\/em>\u00a0of Corver’s\u00a0New Aaltje<\/em>. But the second edition of\u00a0Aaltje<\/em>\u00a0from 1804 was also different from that first edition (see the\u00a0recipe for Cook’s Salmon Salad<\/a>). That is why I have included both versions of Aaltje’s recipe below, from the first edition in 1803 (p.10\/11) and the second in 1804 (p.27) respectively. Up until the last edition in 1878 the recipe remained the same.<\/p>\n

Odilia Corver also wrote a recipe for barley soup for the chapter ‘nourishing soups’ (p.42) in her\u00a0New Aaltje<\/em>. That is a completely different recipe however. Her recipe contains stock from ox, veal or chicken and ‘all kinds of vegetables’ like parsley, chervil or endives, some carrots and cauliflower, and just before serving may be eggs may be stirred through the hot soup (like straccialtella).<\/p>\n

Soup van gepelde garst.\u00a0<\/em>(first edition, 1803)
\nMen neemt selderie, snydt dezelve fyn, en wascht ze w\u00e8l, waarnaa men ze met een kleen stukjen boter langzaam gaarsmoort : voords kookt men fyne gepelde garst, in water, gaar,\u00a0en doet alles samen in beste bouillon : laat het dan nog wat kooken, met zout en speceryen naar den smaak, dan hebt gy een aangenaam gerecht.<\/em><\/div>
Soup of pearl barley
\nTake celery, chop it finely, rinse it well, after which you braise it slowly with a small piece of butter. Then boil fine pearl barley in water until done, and put everything together in the best stock. Let it cook a little with salt and spices according to taste, and then you will have a pleasant dish.<\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n
Soup van gepelde garst.\u00a0<\/em>(second edition, 1804)
\nMen neemt, bijvoorbeeld, derdehalf vierdedeel fijne gepelde garst, die men in water gaarkookt ; voords neemt men 1 \u00e0 2 boschjens, fijngesneden, en w\u00e8l gewasschen selderij, die men met een kleen stukjen boter langzaam gaarsmoort ; dit alzoo bereid hebbende, doet men een en ander in kalfs-bouillon, en laat het nog wat kooken, met zout, en specerijen als boven, naar genoegen, zoo heeft men eene zeer aangenaame soup.<\/em><\/div>
Soup of pearl barley
\nTake, for instance, two and a half part of a quarter fine pearl barley that you boil in water. Then take 1 or 2 bunches chopped and well rinsed celery, that you braise slowly with a small piece of butter. Having prepared this, add this and that to veal stock and let it cook some more with salt and spices as [mentioned] above to satisfaction, and then you will have a very pleasant dish.<\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Modern adaptation of the recipe<\/h2>\n

Very important: soup will never be better than the stock you have used to prepare it. If possible, use\u00a0home made stock<\/a>.
\nThe spices mentioned in the recipes appear to be nothing more than nutmeg or mace and salt.
\nThe Dutch phrase “derdehalf vierdedeel” (litt. thirdhalf fourth part) in the second edition was bit of a puzzle to me. A Dutch pound was about 480 gram in those days. A quarter of that would be 120 gram, but what is a ‘thirdhalf’? A sixth part? That would amount to 20 grams of barley, and\u00a0Aaltje<\/em>\u00a0may be\u00a0Thrifty<\/em>, but not to that extent. The large Dutch lexicon\u00a0WNT<\/em><\/a>\u00a0solved the problem:\u00a0derdehalf<\/em>\u00a0is two plus half of the third. which is two and a half. So that would be 300 gram barley, and that is exactly what the sixteenth edition from 1878 calls for (“3 onsen fijn gepelde garst”). However… none of the recipes mention how much\u00a0stock<\/em>\u00a0is needed for the soup. My version calls for one and a half liters of stock and 50 grams of barley (before cooking). If you use 300 grams for one and a half liters of stock, you will not have prepared a soup but a stew. Or you must use a lot of stock, which is probably what\u00a0Aaltje<\/em>\u00a0did.
\nFirst course<\/span>\u00a0for 6 to 8 persons<\/span>;\u00a0preparation in advance <\/em>2 hours<\/span><\/span>;\u00a0preparation <\/em>5 minutes<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"Dutch50 gr (a little less than \u00bd cup) pearl barley<\/span>
\n30 gr celery leaves<\/span>\u00a0(without the stalks), chopped or cut in strips
\n30 gr (2 Tbsp)\u00a0butter<\/span>
\n1,2 liter (5 cups)\u00a0veal stock<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(or\u00a0vegetable stock<\/a>\u00a0for a vegetarian version)
\nsalt to taste (depends on the stock)
\nnutmeg or mace to taste<\/p>\n

Preparation in advance<\/h3>\n

According to the original recipe the pearl barley is to be boiled for two hours in salted water. But you can also boil the barley in stock. The barley will be tastier, but you’ll need more stock.<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/h3>\n

Braise the celery in butter. Add to the veal or vegetable stock, with nutmeg or mace to taste. Sample the soup to determine whether it needs more salt.<\/p>\n

Serveren<\/h3>\n

This “very pleasant soup” is nutritious, but not a meal in itself. Serve it hot as a first course.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/h2>\n

The editions below were used by me. Links refer to available editions.<\/p>\n