There are soups, after which there are stewps—ones you make when it is zero levels exterior, the sidewalks have became grey slush, and the thought of a salad feels vaguely offensive. This Northern Italian bean and barley soup lives squarely in that second class. It is thick sufficient to face a spoon in, hearty with out being heavy, and satisfying in the way in which solely a pot of simmered legumes and grains could be. It is not fairly soup, not fairly stew, however a stewp, if you’ll—a class Northern Italian cooking has quietly perfected.

It is a easy, affected person pot of meals. The dried cranberry beans are soaked and simmered till tender; barley is added late to thicken with out turning gluey, and simply sufficient aromatics, olive oil, and rendered pancetta spherical out the dish. The payoff comes from treating a number of easy components with care—and understanding precisely when so as to add what.

And whereas it does comprise pancetta, it displays the way in which I have been cooking—and consuming—extra typically recently: much less meat, however not none. I nonetheless love a roast rooster or a great steak, however I’ve discovered (annoyingly, my physician was proper) that leaning into beans, grains, and greens most days has reaped severe well being advantages for me, making me really feel higher and eat extra thoughtfully.

A Friulian Winter Traditional

This soup comes from Friuli–Venezia Giulia, a mountainous area in northeastern Italy, the place barley—orzo, in Italian—is a staple crop because of the cooler local weather and better altitudes. (In Italy, orzo doesn’t imply the barley-shaped pasta People are pondering of; it means precise barley.) In Friuli, barley seems in risotto-like dishes and, famously, on this bean and barley soup, as soon as thought-about peasant meals and now acknowledged as a regional specialty.

You will see this dish referred to as each zuppa di orzo e fagioli and minestra di orzo e fagioli. Whereas there aren’t any agency guidelines about how these phrases have to be used, zuppa tends to discuss with a thicker, extra rustic soup—typically with bread (together with within the soup)—whereas minestra suggests one thing barely looser and extra on a regular basis, although nonetheless substantial. In follow, although, the names can be utilized interchangeably, particularly area to area and family to family. Like many dishes born out of necessity, it resists inflexible classification. What issues greater than the identify is its operate as a warming, filling bowl constructed from humble components. However whereas it is easy on paper, the distinction between a bowl that is surprisingly scrumptious and one which’s simply beige lies virtually solely in method.

Begin With Dried Cranberry Beans, Then Brine Them

Cranberry beans—often known as borlotti—are important right here. They’re thin-skinned, subtly candy, and break down simply sufficient as they prepare dinner to assist thicken the soup with out turning grainy or chalky. Their means to partially collapse is a characteristic. That sluggish breakdown is what provides this soup its physique.

Canned beans can’t ship that very same impact. As a result of they’re totally cooked and pressure-processed, they have a tendency to disintegrate too shortly in long-simmered soups like this one, turning the broth muddy earlier than the barley has an opportunity to prepare dinner totally. Beginning with good-quality dried beans—ideally from a supply with excessive turnover—provides you management over each texture and timing. That management is particularly vital right here, the place erratically cooked or prematurely collapsing beans can throw off the stability of the this thick soup. Previous beans, or beans saved poorly, solely compound the issue, typically refusing to melt in any respect.

The purpose on this soup is deceptively easy: beans which can be creamy and totally tender throughout, with skins that keep intact simply lengthy sufficient to thicken the broth with out sloughing off and turning grainy.

The issue is {that a} simmering soup generally is a hostile setting for dried beans. Lengthy cooking instances, fluctuating warmth, and fixed stirring may cause beans to prepare dinner erratically. Previous or improperly saved beans make this even worse, resulting in the dreaded pot of half-split, half-rock-hard legumes.

The answer is to brine the beans, and never simply with salt. Soaking beans in salted water seasons them all through, however including a small quantity of baking soda modifications how they prepare dinner. Beans comprise pectin, the structural carbohydrate that acts like mobile glue. Over time, calcium and magnesium ions bind to that pectin, reinforcing it and making beans tougher to melt.

Baking soda works right here primarily by altering the pH of the soaking water. By making the setting barely extra alkaline, it helps break down pectin—the structural carbohydrate that acts like mobile glue in beans. In alkaline circumstances, pectin turns into extra soluble, permitting water to penetrate the beans extra evenly and stopping the skins from remaining stubbornly robust whereas the interiors soften.

Mixed with the sodium current in each the salt and the baking soda, this pH shift encourages higher hydration and extra uniform cooking. The result’s beans that flip creamy inside whereas maintaining their skins tender as a substitute of leathery or liable to splitting too early.

Restraint with baking soda is vital, although. Somewhat baking soda goes a great distance, and the beans have to be rinsed totally after soaking to scrub away any residue and keep away from soapy or bitter flavors. Performed appropriately, the payoff is dramatic—particularly on this dish.

Selecting the Proper Barley

Barley isn’t interchangeable on this recipe—change the grain and you’ve got a special soup. My recipe calls particularly for pearl barley, which has had its outer bran eliminated. That processing permits it to prepare dinner evenly and launch starch progressively, thickening the soup with out turning gluey. Hulled, quick-cooking, or pre-steamed barley will not behave the identical means. 

Attempting to swap in one other grain—farro, wheat berries, rice, or something quick-cooking—will throw off each the liquid ratio and the timing. Some grains take up way more water, others launch little to no starch, and most will not tolerate the lengthy, mild simmer that pearl barley handles with ease. The end result might be a soup that is both watery or overly dense.

Past its construction, barley provides a nuttiness and a faint sweetness that deepen because it cooks, giving the soup a toasty taste that pairs particularly nicely with olive oil, bay leaves, and beans. Added after the beans have softened, pearl barley slowly swells, creating that signature Friulian porridge-like consistency that blurs the road between soup and stew.

How Thick Is “Proper”?

Historically, this soup is served very thick—nearer to spoonable porridge than brothy bowl—and that is how I prefer it. But it surely’s additionally forgiving. Add sizzling water if it tightens up an excessive amount of, particularly because it sits.

It is best when completed with parsley, a drizzle of olive oil, and a splash of purple wine vinegar proper earlier than serving. Reheated gently the following day, it is simply pretty much as good. That is humble meals, sure, however I assure it can preserve you heat, well-fed, and really content material by means of the coldest days of winter.