Barley is one of the old grains of the Alps, and this soup is where a good deal of it ends up. Its best known form comes from Graubünden, the Swiss canton just upstream of Liechtenstein on the Rhine, where it is called Bündner Gerstensuppe and where, as one cook puts it, every valley seems to have its own version. Liechtenstein has taken it to heart: the principality's tourism board offers its own barley soup as an autumn classic, and kitchens there like to cook with pearl barley from local fields.

The recipe is farmhouse cooking at its most sensible: a handful of grain, whatever roots are in the cellar, a piece of smoked meat for flavor, and enough time on a low flame for the barley to release its starch and thicken the broth. The splash of cream at the end is a later refinement, and a welcome one. Like most soups built on grain, it is better on the second day, which makes it a gift to anyone who plans ahead.

The soup

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (150 g) pearl barley
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) butter
• 4 oz (115 g) smoked bacon
• 1 medium onion
• 1 large leek
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 small piece, about 5 oz (150 g) celery root
• 2 quarts (2 liters) chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 8 oz (225 g) smoked ham
• 1 oz (30 g) Bündnerfleisch or bresaola
• 1 medium waxy potato

Method

1. Put the barley in the sieve and rinse it under cold running water, rubbing it between your fingers, for about 1 minute. Leave it to drain while you prepare the vegetables.
2. Put the pot over medium heat and add the butter and the diced bacon. Cook, stirring now and then, for about 5 minutes, until the bacon has released its fat and is lightly golden but not crisp.
3. Add the onion, leek, carrots and celery root. Stir to coat them in the fat, then cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until the onion and leek are soft. Do not let them brown.
4. Add the drained barley and stir it among the vegetables for 2 minutes. This dries the grains and gives the soup a light, nutty flavor.
5. Pour in the stock, add the bay leaf, the diced ham and the dried beef if using, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, put the lid on slightly ajar and let the soup simmer gently for 50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes and scraping the bottom so the barley does not stick. If you are using the potato, add it for the last 20 minutes.
6. Taste a few grains of barley. They should be tender all the way through with a slight, pleasant chew. If they are still hard in the middle, simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes, adding a splash of hot water if the soup has become too thick to pour easily from a ladle.

Finishing

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream
• to taste salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons chives or parsley

Method

1. Take out the bay leaf. Stir in the cream and warm the soup through over low heat for 2 minutes without letting it boil, which could make the cream separate.
2. Taste the soup. Add pepper and a small pinch of nutmeg, then salt only if it needs it, a little at a time, tasting after each addition.
3. Ladle the soup into warm bowls and scatter the chopped chives or parsley over the top.

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