Barley meal

“ Bake in muffin pans in a moderate oven 25 minutes.
BARLEY SPOON BREAD
2 tablespoons pork drippings
3 cups boiling water
1 cup barley meal
2 eggs
Heat drippings in saucepan until slightly brown, add water and when boiling, add barley meal, stirring constantly. Cook in a double boiler one-half hour, cool, and add well-beaten yolks. Fold in whites, beaten. Bake in greased dish in moderate oven one-half hour.
[pg 24]
BARLEY PUDDING
5 cups milk
1⁄2 cup barley meal
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon ginger
3⁄4 cup molasses
Scald the milk, pour this on the meal and cook in double boiler one-half hour ”

“ The nutritious nature of barley is amply proved by the effect, and very rapid effect, of its meal, in the fatting of hogs and of poultry of all descriptions. They will fatten quicker upon meal of barley than upon any other thing. The flesh, too, is sweeter than that proceeding from any other food, with the exception of that which proceeds from buck wheat, a grain little used in England. That proceeding from Indian corn is, indeed, still sweeter and finer ”

“ At about five o’clock a pint of hot water with barley was intended to furnish the last meal of the day. Often there was less than a pint of fluid, and most often the barley was entirely absent. But the water had always a dirty blue color; consequently it did not even appeal to one’s æsthetic sense. On Sundays these rations were sometimes supplemented by a pickled herring or a small piece of sausage. I could never bring myself to touch these.
[Pg 135]
Subsistence on the prison food exclusively would have been almost impossible. ”

“ Another way is cheaper still:—Mix barley-meal, pretty thick, with water, which they must constantly have by them, to eat as they choose; in another part of the shed where they are, keep a pan with some boiled oats and water, for them to resort to when they are inclined to change their food. This variety is agreeable to them, and they thrive apace, being so fattened at less expense than in any other manner. ”

“ The Laplanders, who have no corn of their own, make a kind of bread of the inner soft bark of a pine tree, either mixed with the coarsest barley meal, or with dried fish beaten into powder. The bark is collected when the sap is rising, it is afterwards dried in the sun, or over a slow 48fire, and then mixed with the coarsest barley meal, or dried fish beaten into powder. The poorer people grind the chaff, and even some of the straw along with the barley. ”

“ The Lincolnshire dealers do not give any of those rich greasy pellets of barley meal and hot liquor, which always spoil the flavour, to their geese, as they well know that oats is the best feeding for them; barley, besides being more expensive, renders the flesh loose and insipid, and rather chickeny in flavour. ”

“ Barley is more generally used than any other grain, and, reckoned by weight, is cheaper than wheat or oats; but, unless in the form of meal, should not be the only grain given, for fowls do not fatten upon it, as, though possessing a very fair proportion of flesh-forming substances, it contains a lesser amount of fatty matters than other varieties of corn. In Surrey barley is the usual grain given, excepting during the time of incubation, when the sitting hens have oats, as being less heating to the system than the former. ”

“ When taken as a meal, tsamba, or the flour of parched barley, is added, each man mixing his own cupful up into a sort of brose or gruel with his five natural spatulæ. Meat is abundant, but is taken as an extra or embellishment, rather than as a staple of diet. In cookery, the people appear to have none of the genius of their neighbours, either of India or of China. ”

“ There is no country where trees bud or flowers bloom, that I will not cry in before the year goes round. Give me another slice of barley bread to keep me on my journey, and tell me [Pg 22] what present I shall bring you at the twelve-month's end.'
"Scrub would have been angry with his brother for cutting so large a slice, their store of barley-meal being low ”

“ The cuticle, or husk, forms nearly 1/6th of the weight of barley, and between 1/4th and 1/5th in bigg. According to Einhoff, 1000 parts of barley meal contain 720 of starch, 100 of water, 68 of fibrous or ligneous matter, 56 of sugar, 50 of mucilage, 36.6 of gluten, 12.3 of vegetable matter, and 2.5 of phosphate of lime. Hermbstädt gives the following percentages as the mean of ten analyses of barley made by him:—
Great care must be taken when buying for malting, for sometimes .the grain is doctored by kiln-bleaching or dried at too great a heat. ”

“ The natives hold an opinion that rice is very injurious to the sight; but, I believe, whatever injury may arise from its use proceeds entirely from eating it too hot, and in such quantities at one meal, generally about sun-set, as can scarcely fail to injure the stomach. Barley-meal is considered, and with great justice, to be very nourishing, but heating ”

“ They should be fed twice a day, every time clearing away everything and giving quite fresh food. The staple diet must be what is called "dry food," varied, such as dry crust of bread, bread soaked in milk and squeezed dry, barley meal mixed with a very little hot water, oatmeal same way, dry barley or oats. ”

“ Where barley-dust can be obtained it is a far cheaper feeding stuff than the meal. Barley husks should never be given to animals unless in a cooked or fermented state.
Oat Grain is, perhaps, the most valuable of the concentrated foods which are given to fattening stock. When it is cheap it will be found a more economical feeding stuff than linseed-cake, and, unlike that substance, can be used without the fear of adulteration. Oats are equal to wheat in their amount of flesh-forming matters; but their very high proportion of indigestible woody fibre detracts from their nutritive value. ”

“ Each person at table had as much barley-bread as he could eat; swine's-flesh, or some other meat, to eat with it, with which the famous black-sauce [2] (whose composition, without any loss to culinary art, is evidently a mystery for us) was given round, and to close the meal, olives, figs, and cheese. ”

“ Within its clean and airy precincts are manufactured the famous Barley Malt Biscuits (and some thirty other varieties) , rich and wholesome Cakes, air-raised Bread, pure Preserves, a specially prepared Barley Malt Meal, Pale Roasted Coffee, and Stamina Food—this last being the best-balanced food for Infants and Invalids yet produced. In the making of these foods only the very choicest ingredients are employed; the only flour used is a very fine wholemeal ”

“ They have been known to increase at the rate of 31/2 lbs. (live weight) per day, and often at the rate of 2 or 11/2 lbs. Here is some remuneration certainly for extra expense, even if the finishing off be entirely on meal and skim-milk.
"There is only one legitimate way of giving barley and that is in the form of meal made into porridge with lukewarm milk, whey, or water, to which potato-meal may be added or not, as is deemed desirable. ”

“ They have commonly pottage for dinner, composed of cale or cole, leeks, barley or big, and butter; and this is reinforced with bread and cheese, made of skimmed-milk—At night they sup on sowens or flummery of oat-meal—In a scarcity of oats, they use the meal of barley and pease, which is both nourishing and palatable. Some of them have potatoes ”

“ 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. ”

“ The principal of these are wheat, oats, Indian corn, rice, rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, chestnuts, peas, beans, and lentils. They are prepared in various forms.
DIVISION I.—BREAD.
The true idea of bread is that coarse or cracked and unbolted meal, formed into a mass of dough by means of water, and immediately baked in loaves of greater or less thickness, according to the fancy.
Some use bolted meal; most raise bread by fermentation; many use salt; some saleratus, or carbonate of potash; and, in the country, many use milk instead of water to form the paste. ”

“ BARLEY, OATS, RICE AND BUCKWHEAT.
The cereals furnish the cook materials for many of her most valuable articles of food. Wholesome, easily prepared, and inexpensive, their use on the table can not be too strongly commended. Barley is not in general use among Americans, but the pearled barley ought to form an indispensable article in every larder. In soups it is excellent. The stock for barley soup should be made with the greatest care. ”

“ Wash well in cold water a teacupful of pot barley. Put on in clean lined saucepan with plenty of cold water, bring to boil slowly, and if there is the least suspicion of mustiness, drain and cover with clean water. When it comes a boil again, turn into a pudding basin or double boiler, cover and steam for at least six hours. Twelve hours is much better, and it is safest to put on one day, what is wanted for the next. Onions, celery, tomatoes, &c., may be added at discretion. When to be used, this barley should turn out firm enough to chew, and may be eaten with thin dry toast or "Triscuits." ”

“ To sauce, in general, they are strangers: now and then butter is melted, but I dare not always take, lest I should offend by disliking it. Barley broth is a constant dish, and is made well in every house. A stranger, if he is prudent, will secure his share, for it is not certain that he will be able to eat any thing else. ”

“ It will neither lighten the purse nor lie heavy on the stomach. It will furnish you with a pleasant soup, and meat for eight persons.
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, of about ten pounds weight, sawn into four pieces (tell the butcher to do this for you) ; cover it well with cold water; set it on the fire; when it boils, skim it very clean, and put in two onions, of about three ounces weight each; set it by the side of the fire to simmer very gently for about two hours ”

“ You ought to taste the miserable bread made from barley in order to find our bread good—or, I might better say, in order to find it an exquisite dainty even without butter or jam. Barley bread is full of long bristles that stick in the throat; it contains more bran than flour; it is bitter, stodgy, and of a disagreeable odor. Oh, what sorry stuff! And yet many have to be content with it, and are only glad if they can get enough of it.
Barley
“In the greater part of the world wheat, widely distributed by commerce, furnishes bread only for the tables of the rich. ”

“ Robinson's Barley is excellent for making barley water quickly, and the groats are very much to be preferred to the ordinary loose fine oatmeal which inevitably contains a quantity of dust, and through exposure acquires a bitter taste. ”

“ 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. ”

“ BARLEY SOUP. Put in a stew-pan, a knuckle of mutton, or four pounds of the neck, with three quarts of water, boil it gently and keep it well skimmed; a sprig of parsley, a couple of sliced turnips, a carrot, an onion or more, if approved, with a little white pepper and salt, are sufficient seasoning, a breakfast cup full of barley should be scalded and put in the stew-pan with the meat, if when done, the soup is thin and watery, a little prepared barley, mixed smoothly, should be stirred in. ”

“ Starch gives little nourishment, like washed bread. Barley is of a cold nature and detergent: when boiled like a ptisan it humectates; but when toasted, as in polenta, it dries. Polenta in summer, drunk with water before the bath, quenches thirst. Barley-bread is dry and of little nourishment. The pudding (maza) is of more difficult digestion, and more flatulent than barley-bread, and when it receives a little honey is laxative. Oats are heating and of little nourishment. Millet and panic are cold and dry, contain little nourishment, and bind the bowels. ”

“ Only so much water should be added from time to time as to feed the barley and supply the waste of evaporation, lest the strength of the barley should be boiled out. It may be served with milk, or (if the patient can digest them) with preserves, jelly, or butter.
“Macaroni-pudding.—Three ounces of macaroni should be soaked for forty minutes in cold water, then added to a pint of boiling milk. This should be stirred occasionally, while it simmers for half an hour; two eggs are then added, beaten with a dessert-spoonful of sugar; also, if desired, a flavoring of lemon. ”

“ The fish and potatoes are boiled together. This, together with barley bread, may be considered as the general dinner of the peasantry, miners, and fishermen, throughout the year, although, as has been already observed, the same fish in its fresh state, and, also, mackerel and other fishes, and, occasionally, salted pork, take the place of the salted pilchard, as accompaniments to the unfailing potatoe. The same dish, or some variety of the same, especially as to the proportion of the barley bread, composes the supper. The breakfast is, occasionally, similar also ”