This dish is more of an adaptation than a real reconstruction. The original was more of a soup perhaps designed for an invalid but we repackaged it as a starchy side dish.  The Roman Feast we served it at was cooked in a school kitchen that had only ovens and all the dishes had to be devised to be baked or roasted. It was also planned as a dish suitable for a vegetarian diet.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup pearled barley or other grain such as spelt, faro or wheat.

• 2 cups water (or use broth for more flavor)

• 1/4 cup chopped onion

• assorted fresh herbs

• salt and generous portions of pepper

Spread barley in a baking pan or skillet and toast till it starts to show some color, being careful not to burn it.

Combine toasted barley, onions and herbs in baking dish with a cover.

Add half the water. And bake at 350 for 2-2 1/2 hours stirring occasionally, add remaining liquid when barley has absorbed first batch. Add more water if needed. Pull out any large woody stalks of herbs if using whole ones before serving.

Garlic can be substituted for the onion but I recommend roasting it first. Herbs can be any that compliment your main dish. Savory and Dill are used in the original. Rosemary and oregano are a good choice. Broth can be used instead of water and will add more flavor.

Makes about 2 cups.

I have included two translations of barley porridges below.

Tisanam vel sucum ( Velling Translation) 

Barley broth, pap, porridge, gruel

Tisana sive cremore

Crush barley, soaked the day before, well washed, place on the fire to be cooked, when hot add enough oil, a bunch of dill, dry onion, satury and colocasium to be cooked together because better for the juice. Add green coriander and a little salt; bring it to a boiling point, when done take out the bunch and transfer the barley into another kettle to avoid sticking to the bottom and burning, make it liquid, strain into a pot, covering the tops of the colocasia, Next crush sylphium stir it well and add vinegar, reduced must and broth; put it back into the pot, the remaining colocasia finish it on a gentle fire.

 Tisanam sic facies barley soup (John Edwards Translation)

Soak the barley in water for one day, then rinse and hull it, Put {it in a saucepan} on as hot fire, Bring to the boil and add sufficient olive oil, a bouquet garni of anise, dry onion, savory, and a pig’s knuckle to give flavor to the soup. Add green coriander and ground salt. When all had cooked thoroughly, remove the bouquet of anise and transfer the barley into another cooking vessel such that the barley is not scorched by the bottom of the pan. Make the mixture smooth and strain the soup into a saucepan over the pig’s knuckle, Then grind pepper, lovage, a little dried pennyroyal, cumin, and ground silphium. Pour vinegar over {these herbs], [add some] boiled wine and stock, and then pour the whole mixture evenly over the pig’s knuckle. Cook over a slow fire.

For more on our Roman Cena see Candlemas Cena

Other starch dishes

• Colris
• Saffron Millet
• Potaje de Fideos

Other Roman Recipes

• Carrots Apician 
• Hazelnut Saffron Sauce
• Melon Salad
• Minted Cucumber Salad
• Mushroom Patina
• Parsnips Apician
• Roman Sausages with spelt and pine nuts.
• Sauce a la Matius