Daniel Pfyl, hospitality management lecturer at Otago Polytechnic, shares some professional techniques to make your cooking easier. Today, he shares some winter recipes from his native Switzerland.
This rustic soup comes from Grisons, the easternmost canton in Switzerland. It always reminds Chef Pfyl of winter as they used to make it for skiers at St Moritz, where he served his apprenticeship. It is not dissimilar to Scotch broth, but he prefers the creaminess of the Swiss version.
Traditionally, air-dried beef, offcuts of Parma ham or prosciutto are used, but streaky bacon is a good substitute, he says.
To make a vegetarian version, leave out the bacon and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.
Soup from Grisons (Bündner Gerstensuppe)
Serves 6-8
80g pearl barleyparsley stalks, a bay leaf, a few peppercorns and a clove for a bouquet garni
25g-30g butter
300g finely diced carrots, leeks, onions or shallots and potato
50g streaky bacon, finely diced
3 Tbsp flour
1½ litres reduced salt chicken stock
100ml cream or half milk and half cream
Finely chopped chives to garnish
Method
1) Soak the barley in water for at least 30 minutes, or preferably overnight.
Drain.
2) To prepare the bouquet garni, wrap the parsley stalks, a bay leaf, a clove and a few peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth.
3) Tie up with cotton string, leaving a long end for easy removal.
4) Melt the butter in a large pot and stir in finely diced carrots, leeks, onions and bacon.
Chef Pfyl prefers to add the potato when the soup is boiling.
Sweat the vegetables over low heat, allowing them to soften rather than fry. They should not colour.
5) When the vegetables are soft, sprinkle in the flour and the barley. Stir until you can't see the flour any more.
6) Add most of the stock and stir well to combine.
7) When boiling, add the diced potato and the bouquet garni, tying the string to the pot handle to make it easy to remove later. Simmer slowly for about 45 minutes.
Taste to check seasoning - the bacon is salty so you may not need to add much salt.
Check the barley is cooked. It swells up and absorbs the liquid as rice does, so you may need to add the rest of the stock.
8) When the barley is cooked, stir in the cream. Take care not to let the soup boil vigorously as the cream will split, but a gentle simmer is fine.
You can use other vegetables such as pumpkin, parsnip or kumara to make your own version.
9) Serve sprinkled with finely chopped chives and with rustic bread on the side.
• If you would like to request to a particular technique we haven't already shown, please let us know. Write to Cooking 101, Editorial Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin or email odt.features@odt.co.nz with cooking 101 in the subject line.