I think the only beef and barley soup I’ve ever had was actually Campbells’s, though it’s one of my favorites. Not that I tried to duplicate theirs here, just saying.

Some days I hew closer to recipes than others. This wasn’t one of them. Saute the beef, add some barley, cook for a while and throw some carrot in at the end. How hard could that be?

The challenge here is that I wanted the beef tender, the barley soft but not too mushy, and the carrots (and any other vegetables that might show up) firm but not crunchy. Maybe some tomato for richness.  Having never cooked with barley didn’t seem like to much of a handicap. Continue reading →

Kojo Nnamdi: Soups for All Seasons
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2011 at 1:06 p.m.

listen here

UPDATE: I got on the show as the first caller. Hey, for me it was a big deal. I asked if the pros had any suggestions for alternatives to making stock from scratch, since I’m making a gallon of soup every week…and they knocked the idea that any base could compete with fresh stock. Haunt the butcher for bones, they said. I also asked about shipping soup, which threw Kojo for a minute, but besides sending it FedEx, they didn’t have much to say…well, so much for my two minutes of soup fame… Continue reading →