Beef Barley Soup

This hearty, classic soup has a deep beefy flavor and features chucks of tender beef with carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms and barley. Can be enjoyed as a total meal when you add some good bread on the side.

well hi there food friends it’s Kevin
yeah there’s Kevin hi I’m Ralph I’m
behind the camera what we got going
today well welcome to cavalcada food
everybody so today Ralph we’re making
soup yum uh and we are going to make a
beef barley soup okay one a favorite
around here um so of course you can’t
make a beef barley soup without beef
without beef so here we go um now you
could use you got a lot of options when
you’re making a a beef soup uh in terms
of the kinds of beef you could use Ralph
uh this is a chuck
roast uh very commonly used say we use
this is what we use when I make a pot
roast this is what I use okay okay um
but you could use uh stewing beef which
is basically this cut of meat already
chopped up into little cubes
um and so this was on sale and I got
this at a really super good price so
which is I bought I bought the chuck
roast this is about 2 and 1/4 lbs you
could use oxtails you could use um uh
beef shank uh you could definitely use
uh a piece of beef still on a bone if
you wanted to again look at your Market
see what’s on sale see what makes you
know a good a good we like a good
bargain mhm don’t we yeah we do and um
the cut of meat is um you know just
whatever’s good for you yeah so this is
a this like I said this is a chuck roast
uh you could use an English Cut which is
another variety what I’m going to do is
I’m going to trim it a little bit okay
I’m going to first see this little piece
of fat now if I was making pot roast I
would just leave that on but I’m going
to I’m going to trim this this fat off
here you’re going fatify it yeah
um because what we’re going to do first
is we’re going to sear the the meat but
what we got to do is we kind of got to
get it kind of ready here so you sear
the meat to give it you know lock in the
flavors and give it a nice Browning and
it also um it’s visually good too
because I’ve seen in the past before I
learned this that uh if I just throw
meat in a soup or stew it comes out kind
of gray gray nobody want any most things
that are gray are just not appetizing
yeah okay and you just got back from
England and they people often talk about
how the English over cook or um boil
their food but you said the food was
actually really was wonderful really
good there yeah in England so um okay
I’ve got I’ve got about as much fat as I
want trimmed off so here’s what I’m
going to do first we’re going to just
I’m just going to cut this whole roast
in half then I’m going to cut it in half
this way okay so a good sharp knife is
important yes you want a good sharp
knife and then um this will kind of give
me two little thinner slices okay here
we go to cut into the chunks now I’m
going to cube these pieces of meat okay
so here we go so I’m just going to do
like this you want to maybe cut it
in you know half in 3/4 in cubes like
that they’re going to shrink a little
bit so they’re not going to be quite
this big when they’re in the soup uh you
know I mean cut it as small as you want
but this is kind of the size that I’m
going for so what I’m going to do is let
me kind of get this whole thing cut up
put my meat cubes in here this this the
kind of soup that’s almost like a stew
too where it cooks for a long time and
then the meat will soften and get even
more tender as it Cooks absolutely and
this is why you know we don’t we don’t
use a real expensive cut of meat uh for
soup or stew or pot roast for that
matter because these are things that
cook for a long period of time and it
tenderizes the meat it breaks down all
those connective tissues that make the
beef the texture seem tough and soup by
its nature really was always a way to
kind of use up odds and ends right and
things that you had right so you know in
this case we’re going to have our beef
which I we’re making a big pot of soup
so I got like I said about 2 and 1/4 lbs
of beef you could certainly have cut
this whole recipe in half and use less
then I got two cups of carrots two cups
celery two cups onion couple of cloves
of garlic we’ll get to the seasonings
later uh and of
course what is that that is pearl barley
oh not Pearl Bailey not no not Pearl
Bailey pearl
barley and of course yes I know that
Ralph is always so great with the music
but you didn’t hear it quite right it’s
pearl barley oh okay okay anyways I’m
going I’m going to keep cutting up my my
uh chuck roast here and then we’ll come
on back when I’m done and we’ll we’ll go
from there all
right making Pearl Bailey soup
so I got my big let see uh Dutch oven or
you can use a stock pot a Soup pot
whatever uh I’m going to put a little
olive oil in here okay and this is what
we’re going to brazor Brown the meat
with mhm so that’s good few tablespoons
enough to coat it thoroughly yeah just
to put a real small little coating on
the bottom of the pan uh and then I
don’t I think I’m going to probably do
this in b matches uh cuz I you know you
don’t want to kind of want crowd it you
want to be able to really Brown the meat
oh there I’m smelling the olive oil
let’s
see you got to make sure it gets hot
enough yeah you want to get a Sizzle
yeah want a little Sizzle I do smell
that olive oil though that does smell
good it’s always you know fragrant um so
what we’re going to do is we’re going to
get these beef cubes in here you can
kind of see how I how I cut
them
there we go hear that I’m hearing the
scissors okay
so um we’re going to Brown them up in a
couple of
batches that’s it I notice you’re
putting them in pretty much you know one
or two at a time cuz if you were to just
throw that whole thing in there we’d
have a a splatter burn right
exactly so I’m just kind of dropping
them in here like I said I’m going to
I’ll do half and then I’ll come back and
put the other half in cuz you want who
you want to be able to and I’m going to
put an apron on oh so there we go with
electricity okay all
right we’ll come back and check on the
status of things here there that’s good
right there get this browned up you’ll
notice too one thing to know about when
you’re Browning meat like
this it’s even in the oil it’s sort of
stuck to the pan as soon as it has a
nice little sear on it you’ll the meat
will you’ll be able to tlip it over it
will release okay but when it initially
hits that hot pan it does stick but
you’ll know when it’s ready and you can
actually turn it over okay see look at
that see how nice that is yeah nice
Brown getting a nice uh nice sear yeah
and here’s what else it’s going to do
it’s going to leave some really great
flavor on the bottom of this pan
right yeah the um bond is that what they
call it yeah so uh anyways we’re just
going to keep uh let me get a plate so
that when this is brown we’re not going
to cook it all the way through but we’re
just going to put a nice sear on both
sides so just kind of power cook it yeah
exactly cuz it’ll it’ll cook and it will
render out a lot of flavor uh in the
soup but we’re going to get a get a nice
get a nice Brown Put on it and I’m
actually you know what even going to
take this opportunity to just season it
up a little bit with a little salt and
pepper oh wow okay so I am have browned
all of our beef cubes and see they have
a nice sear on them yeah and you weren’t
kidding about that grav it makes but
look at how dark the bottom of the pan
is right we just started with olive oil
right okay now you see some pepper in
there but that right there is
concentrated
beefy goodness beef juice and that’s
called a frond fond oh fond okay now
what I’m going to do is we’ve got our
beef I’m just going to it’s just going
to hold right there we’re going to put
in our onions so I got about two cups of
diced onions here I got the same amount
of chopped
celery and carrots okay so what I’m
going to do is let me get a spoon here
don’t you glaze it or something I’m
going to but I I really want oh you want
to cook it with the I want these the the
veggies here to just sort of soften and
kind of soak up they’re so Forest
they’re going to soak up all that
yumminess yeah and uh you know
vegetables are largely water so what’s
going to happen is these vegetables as
they cook are going to release some of
their liquid and that’s going to help
sort of deblaze the pan but take a look
at the bot of the pan you see how it’s
deg glazing oh yeah okay from the veg so
but what I want to do is I want to put a
these vegetables are going to be cooked
I mean we’re making soup so they’re
going to be cooking in um you know a
liquid for a couple of hours so I know
they’re going to cook but I just want to
do this to sort of soften them
especially the onions maybe get them a
little translucent put a little
softness on the on the on the celery and
the carrots right we like Browning the
meat yeah so we’re going to kind of do
the same thing with the veg okay yeah I
like the uh the colors and boy it’s
doesn’t it smell great it smells great
it looks great and you can tell it’s
going to be a very hearty soup or stew
more of a stoop so um what what I’m
going to do is the last thing that’s
going to go into the soup is the barley
because this is quick barley they make
two different kinds they make reg and
they make quick you know like oatmeal
right we have like oldfashioned and then
there’s quick or 1 minute or whatever
and rice ex same thing Minute Rice and
regular rice so this actually only takes
maybe 10 or 15 minutes to actually cook
in the soup and I don’t want it to get
too soft and mushy so I’m going to put
this in last now if you’re using regular
Barley if you can’t find the quick goad
ahead and cook a cup of it however it
says on the directions go ahead and cook
it drain it and just keep it aside and
then kind of maybe 15 minutes before
you’re ready to serve the soup put the
cooked barley in okay and do it that way
this is actually going to cook in the
soup but I’m not going to put it in for
a while okay and I look downstairs and I
looked in Kevin’s archives he’s got a
lot of Pearl Bailey records I love Pearl
Bailey she was quite a looker and then
she was uh she was a sassy one and then
she was Touched by an angel food cake or
two and her later years but no we we
love her and um enjoying her music to
accompany our pearled barley we have
Pearl failey music yeah well I’m I’m
kind of liking where this is going I’m
going to let these fetch cook another
maybe 2 or 3 minutes so that they get
kind of a total sauté time of maybe 8 to
10 minutes and then we’re going to come
back and we’re going to put it our other
ingredients in here’s what I’ve got I’ve
got again we’re making a big batch so
you could cut this in
half this each one of these is about 4
cups and I use a reduced sodium chicken
broth only because I like to control the
salt we watch our sodium right we don’t
want to overdo it so I’m using um I got
about 8 cups here of
broth I could if I had fresh mushrooms I
would have chopped them and put them in
here darn if I didn’t forget to buy them
but I got a big can of canned mushrooms
I’m going to put these in there juice
and all juice and all wow and then uh
I’ve got and you know what I’m going to
put this in right now this is about two
cloves of um minced garlic minc garlic
and I I don’t usually put the garlic in
right away because I don’t want it to uh
to burn uh but I’ll put it in now for
the couple minutes garlic Cooks quicker
and these heavier vegetables um that are
thicker will cook slower and then for
seasoning we’re going to have a little
salt a little pepper I got a couple
three bay leaves here and about a half a
teaspoon of th th is a wonderful herb to
accompany beef always uh time really
goes well with it so would you say time
is of the
essence time will be in a scent an
essential ingredient here in the soup so
we’ll come on back get the rest we’ll
put the rest in the pot and then you
know what we’ll go about our life for a
little while
while I wanted to mention too you know
what um soups are great ways to use up
odds and ends that you have on hand and
you know you could let me put put those
shrooms in there juice and all juice and
all um yeah cuz you know that liquid
that or that liquor they call it that
the mushrooms are in has got great
flavor why would we waste that right
mushroomy flavor put that in the soup
and beef and mushrooms of course goes
beautifully together um then actually
let me put this in now so I don’t make a
big splash it all everything yumy you
want all that the liquid that drained on
the plate cuz that is that’s big flavor
right there okay you’re starting to say
something about the different uh
oh you could yeah you could um you know
you could put uh whatever you happen to
have up uh peas would be okay in here
too would be good um cuz sometimes you
know uh when we think of like a
vegetable
soup uh we think of beef vegetable and
so that’s a great way to use up you know
whatever vegetables you might have on
hand left over frozen vegetables work
works really well all right so I’m
putting two of these cartons
now uh some people make their own beef
stock which is awesome they they keep
the beef bones and they put in the the
aromatics and they let it simmer for 8
hours and they do all that if you have
your own beef stock that you’ve made
please use it I don’t have time to do
that so you know what this is my
substitute all right we’re going to put
in our thyme we’re going to put in our
Bailey leaves I’m going to just kind of
stir this up what I want to do is I want
to bring this up to a
boil then I’m going to take it down to a
simmer and then we’re really just going
to let it
cook uh for
probably two 2 and 1/2 hours we’re going
to I’m going to let it simmer okay the
last half hour or so I will throw in our
Pearl
barley and now now you got me saying
pear Bailey pear pear barley but today I
think we’ll have it for dinner with some
nice bread it’ll be perfect today would
be a good soup day yeah because it’s uh
actually snowing here in Michigan which
they always say if you don’t like the
weather stick around it’ll change it’s
um early April it’s just like beginning
of April and Prince said sometimes it
snows in April and it did it snowed the
last the begin the first day of April we
thought it was an April Fool’s joke
Prince was right and uh soup is good for
a Cold Spring day Cold Spring day and um
you know we had a very mild winter in
Michigan
relatively um and I think a lot of other
people if you’re in the midwest you know
what I mean it was a fairly mild winter
um and then here a the first weekend in
April and we get snow so go figure and
listen to what Pearl singing with satcho
Baby It’s Cold Outside perfect we’ll be
back with our Pearl Bailey pearled
barley hey this just in from our
Corrections Department that was not
Satchmo singing with pearl Bailey that
was uh hot lips page oh okay and um I
was getting know I was getting Del re
mixed up with pearl Bailey when I
mentioned uh Touched by an Angel well
you know they’re all kind of the same
generation yeah um and weren’t they both
kind of um Del and Pearl Bailey were
both uh actresses they were both
actresses they both did a lot of kind of
nightclub
singing okay look at our beautiful soup
uh it’s been simmering away now for an
hour and a half almost 2 hours Ralph
what I’m going to do first of all is
what happens is you kind of get this
film along the side do you see this
stuff camera’s not picking it up too
well but I I here I’ll yeah I’m using a
slotted spoon and you know some people
call this soup scum yeah kind of it’s
really it’s fat okay see it more when
you put it in the bowl yeah and and you
tend to get more of this um if you are
cooking especially with pieces of meat
that have bones in it so what I’m going
to do is I’m just using a slotted spoon
to sort of it’s kind of along the side
of
the uh pot here I’m just going to use a
slotted spoon to sort of skim this out
and you would really see it if it was to
cool off right yeah but but this works
just this works just as good there I got
a bunch of right there I mean it won’t
you won’t get it all but as long as you
get the majority of it it won’t make
your Su grey it will kill you you just
don’t want greasy yeah you just don’t
want and so this sort of just sort of
takes some of this off the top that’s
all it’s all we’re
saying
okay there that’s good all right now
what I’m going to
do is we’re going to put in our barley
oh first I’m going to give this a tap
M good is it getting there it’s oh
definitely has a beefy
flavor um I might put another little
pinch of thme in there um you
know some people like their soups to
have a really strong kind of
beefy flavor to it I’ll put another
little so what you time you might add a
buan cube or something you could add a
bullon Cube the thing about bullion you
have to be careful because bullion is
very
salty
um I think it’s pretty good how it is um
if you wanted the deeper again we Ed
beef broth if you Ed a beef stock you
might have a more intense beef flavor or
I found this in the cupboard here this
is a a soup base and some people like to
use this instead of
bullan um
and this is really just kind of
concentrated uh beef flavor you know
what I mean it’s sort of in a powder and
you could add something like that to it
if you wanted to as well if you want if
it was not uh if the beef flavor was not
amped up enough for you okay so let me
just stir this look but look at look at
the beautiful color of it yeah now when
I put the barley in it’s going to
thicken it up too a little bit because
the barley is you you know kind of is a
you know starchy a little bit it’s a
grain here it is it’s a grain take a
look at it it uh it almost looks like
oatmeal doesn’t ites yeah so I’m going
to put in a cup
and about a quarter I’m just eyeballing
it here of barley again this is the
quick barley so this will cook just in
the soup okay I’m going to stir that in
and of course it will expand as it Cooks
uh just like any kind of dried grain as
well as thickening it and yes so what
I’m going to do is I’m going to bring
this up back to a simmer I’m going to
put the lid on it and we will come back
oh in maybe about 30 minutes or so and
this baby should be good to
[Music]
go okay Ralph I just took it off the eat
mhm look at that oh is that beautiful
yeah see how it’s thickened up looks
very hearty yeah so that’s the barley
nice and soft so here’s how we’re
serving it we got some nice uh beautiful
snowflake rolls here from the bakery
well it smells good and it’s yeah it
just smells so good you know I stepped
outside to take something out and when I
when I walked up to the front porch I
could smell the soup good Sunday smells
right absolutely so here’s a nice there
just just like so look at that we put a
nice roll
here now you know what that is a if that
isn’t a
meal right there that’s what they call
stick to your ribs but we’ve got our
mushrooms celery that beautiful barley
big chunks carrots big chunks of beef
and nice yeah nice good size chunks of
beef and it’s going to be still very hot
but I’m going to take a little taste
test oh hitting all the right notes
that’s good good oh well you know we’re
going to have soup for a few days I
think but you know what it’s okay it’s
hard to make a small amount of soup um
it’s like making spaghetti sauce you
know you can’t you don’t were you going
to make a ladle fall no right but
anyways here it is folks
homemade
Rich hearty beef barley soup we had a
wonderful time putting this together
hope you had a great time being with us
hope you have fun making your own I hope
you exactly make it your own put in your
favorite vegetables however you like you
find a nice cut a beef on sale at the
market make a beautiful pot of soup with
it thank you Pearl Bailey wherever you
are for the music yeah and you know what
we’ll see you next time right here on
Cal food bye
everybody