Notice.

I'm discontinuing this food project. It has been a great source of experimentation and learning for me. I became familiar with many cultural foods, different ingredients and culinary techniques over the 20 years that I've gone off and on. It has been very fun for me and I know my friends and family have enjoyed the food I've shared.

However, this is no longer significant enough for me to spend time on. There are a lot of foods and techniques throughout the world and history that I want to play with, but I need to focus on more immediate and efficient culinary tasks.

I will not be deleting the blog or removing posts, at least not as far as I've planned. But there will be no new recipes or updates to old ones. I will be copying what's here to my primary recipe blog found at wheat-and-honey.blogspot.com.

Barley Scones

In The Long Patrol, they serve this by scooping out the top and filling it with honey.

2 cups white wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups rolled barley
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup milk or nut milk

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line baking sheet with parchment.

Sift flour, barley, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Cut in butter until there is no dry powder. Stir in honey and add enough milk to make a soft dough. Dust the countertop and the top of the dough with flour, and roll out the dough to about 3/4" thickness. Cut out scones with a circle cutter, or another desired shape. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the tops have golden-brown edges.

Makes 10-12 large scones.

Rhubarb Crumble

1 1/2  lbs rhubarb, chopped into 1/2 in pieces
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbls. butter
1 Tbls. cornstarch

For the crumble topping:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or white wheat flour
6 Tbls. butter, cold and diced
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F

Heat the rhubarb in a pan on medium to medium low with the honey, 1 T butter, and cornstarch for about 5 minutes, until the rhubarb is glossy and everything has melted together. Transfer to an 8 1/2" pie tin or square baking dish.

To make the crumble topping, place the flour and brown sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter until it is thoroughly combined, with a texture like soft crumbs.

Spread evenly over the fruit. Bake 35-45 minutes.

Strawberry & Pear Flan

2 cups pears, chopped, with core removed
1 cup strawberries, chopped with leaves removed
2 Tbls butter
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbls honey

Preheat the oven to 325°. Slather the bottom and sides of a large pie tin with 2 Tbls soft butter.

Cook the pears in enough water to cover, over medium heat, until they are soft enough to easily pierce with a fork. Strain the fruit and put in a blender with all the other ingredients. Blend the ingredients very thoroughly, so that it is completely smooth.

Pour it into the pie tin. Bake for 60 minutes. Chill before serving.

Barley Bread

2 cups warm water or barley tea
3 cups whole wheat or white wheat flour
1 cup barley flour
2 tsp dry yeast, or .6 oz fresh yeast
2 tsp molasses (honey or maple syrup are also acceptable)
1 cup rolled barley
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbls. oil


Mix the molasses with 1 cup water/tea in a small bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and let it proof until foamy.

Mix 1 cup water/tea with 1 cup wheat flour, the barley flour, and 3/4 cup rolled barley. When the yeast is foamy, add that in and stir it all up. Let it rise until roughly doubled.

Add in the rest of the flour (2 cups), the salt, and the oil. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, kneading in flour as necessary. Let rise, oiled, in a warm place, until about doubled again (but not for too long!).

Meanwhile, soak the remaining 1/4 cup of rolled barley in 2 Tbls. water or tea.

Form the dough into a loaf. Smooth the wet barley onto the top, encrusting it into the dough. Place in an oiled loaf pan and cut a slit along the top of the loaf.

Spray inside your oven or put a pan of water in there. Put in the dough and set the oven to 350. Bake (including preheat time) for 50-60 minutes.

Vegetable Stock

This is my recipe for vegetable stock. I've tried different methods and this works the best for me.

1. Preparation.
As you are going about your regular cooking and eating schedule, instead of throwing various bits of vegetables away, stick them in a ziploc bag or container of some kind. This is the stuff that you cut off of the vegetables with the intention of not using them--the ends of celery and carrots, the stalks of fennel, the leaves and tails of beets, potato skins, leek greens, mushroom stems, onion skin, garlic skin, tops of tomatoes, pulp from making juice, and so forth. Do it with fruit too--like orange peels, the outside of the pineapple, apple cores, whatever. I even put in used teabags. Stick all that stuff into a container and freeze it.

This is not to say that you can use everything that you don't eat. Check if ingredients are potentially poisonous, like rhubarb leaves. Use your best judgment.

It doesn't have to be  only vegetables. Use bones and trimmings from meat to get more body and flavor.

You can also reserve the water used to boil/steam vegetables, which would normally be drained and dumped, to use as a base instead of using fresh water.


2. Making the stock. 

When you've decided to make the stock, pull out the container of scraps. Put the veg scraps in a pot. Then fill it up with water. Put the pot over high heat. Add oil or seasoning if desired.

When the water starts boiling, turn the heat to low. Let it simmer for a while, at least 10 minutes.

The longer you let it simmer, the darker and more flavorful the stock will be. I tend to wait until the vegetables are mushy--but it's OK to simmer it for less time.

When you've decided it's done, turn off the heat and let the pot sit until it's cool enough to handle.

Use a colander over a large bowl to strain the stock. Throw away the vegetable scraps. Pour the stock into jars and store in the fridge. Freeze into ice cubes for more longevity.

3. Using the stock.

Use the stock as a base for soups and gravies, and for cooking rice or other grains. Use as the liquid for essentially any savory recipe.

Carrot & Turnip Farls

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup grated carrot
3/4 cup grated turnip
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat a skillet over medium-low heat.

Stir together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir in the grated vegetables until they are well mixed and coated in the flour. Stir the buttermilk in to make a dough.

On a floured surface, quickly knead the dough to make it coherent. Divide into 2 pieces and roll each piece into a circle about 1/2" thick. Cut into quarters. Cook the pieces for 6-8 minutes on each side, until golden brown.