Beef Barley Soup with Okra

When I make a chili, soup, or a stew, I usually just wing it and go by taste, and this is just one of those recipes but I'll post what I used


Making broth step 1

• Beef Trimmings from Full Tenderloin x 2 (browned)
• Turkey Neck
• 8 oz. of Chicken Stock
• 12 OZ of Frozen Beef Stir Fry
• 12 oz. Frozen Beef Gravy

Making Broth step 2 (I was afraid the veggies would become bitter if over cooked so cooked them the second half)

• Baby Carrots recycled from Veggie tray
• Celery
• Onion
• 1 Bay leaf

Step 3

• Diced Celery
• Diced Carrots
• Diced Onion
• Sliced Okra
• Minced Garlic
• Beef Base
• Cubed Beef Tenderloin
• Wine Dry White
• Few tablespoons of Oil

Step 4

• rinse and Cook Barley

Step 5

• Everything in the pot (stove top), add barley, taste and tweak
• Tomato paste
• Worcestershire
• Salt
• Pepper
• teaspoon of Sugar

I had some leftover trimmings from a few Whole Beef Tenderloins that I have been saving to make one of my favorites, Beef Barley Soup. The two bags to be sealed were for the stew.




I decided to drag out the Insta-pot for the soup/stew.




Everything into the pot, then I decided to just do the browned beef trimmings for the first hour, So I removed everything and just added the beef and a few cups of frozen beef broth I had in the freezer, about 8 oz. of leftover chicken stock from an earlier recipe about 12 oz of a failed frozen beef stir fry and 1 bay leaf, Oh yeah, I also tossed in a frozen Turkey neck that I had saved from Thanksgiving.






Ran the Insta-pot for 60 minutes then added the stock veggies, one onion, celery, and old frozen Baby Carrots from a holiday veggie tray.




Everything was strained through a coarse strainer then a fine mesh strainer.
Broth was dumped back in the Insta-pot

Celery, Carrots and Onions are chopped in my Mueller chopper then sauteed in a few tablespoons of oil for 10 minutes, salt, thyme, rosemary are added.




Beef is cubed, browned then coated with flour.






Everything is dumped into the Insta-pot and the pan is deglazed with a dry white wine, a batch of frozen Okra is added to the pot, a tablespoon of Better than Bullion Beef Base, crushed Garlic and some cracked black pepper, then the pot is set for 60 minutes.




While the Insta-pot is cooking I start the Barley

Once the stew is done I skim off some grease, dump everything in a pot on the stove top, add barley, some tomato paste, salt and pepper to taste and a bit of Worcestershire and simmer 20 minutes or so, then taste and tweak if needed.
The only tweak made was to add a teaspoon of sugar and a bit more cracked black pepper.

Quick note on the excess grease, you can refrigerate until the stew is cool then scrape off the grease once it hardens, I had this for dinner and didn't have time to cool and reheat, so I skimmed the grease from the Insta-pot.




Dinner is served.






This is a great way for me to use up leftovers and trimmings, once I accumulate some trimmings, I toss together a soup, stew or chili.
Yeah its a lot of steps but when I got the whole day when I'm just cleaning, watching TV, doing Laundry etc... it's no problem!
The Okra is used for a thickener and adds some body to the stew, but to be honest, you can't tell by looks or taste that there is Okra in this cook, so Don't be afraid to use okra if you have it. The only thing I wish I wouldn't have added was the tomato paste, I don't think it added anything to the soup/stew.

This is definitely one of my comfort foods!

That looks delicious. A great meal for a winters night.

That looks good and props to cooking the okra enough to get rid of the slime and allow it to break apart. I can see the okra seeds in there, just like it is in my gumbo.

I have been making soups with barley this winter and have been adding some okra as well.
TOO much tomato seemed not to go well with the barley but just a little bit is good.
Good old Scotch broth for winter lunches.

The dish looks really good.
Personally I don't care for okra cooked very long.
I like it just cooked and nothing more.
Not to say I'm picky and wont eat it anyway it is put before me.
As for okra slime acid kills it.
As to what acid you use is your choice.
It can be wine, vinegar citrus juice or even a dash of citric acid.
Tomatoes in my opinion aren't acidic enough to get the job done.

I did not plan on growing Okra next year, but I'm reconsidering that after seeing how well it does in a stew. I'm the only one that really eats Okra so most is frozen and saved for soups and stews. I'll probably toss afew plants in just to keep a supply of frozen Okra on hand.
Worth, so far my favorite way of eating Okra is fried okra and cheesy Okra Fritters, I'll see if I can find my recipe on that.


Posted Okra Recipe click here.


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I have an instant pot, but it has remained in the box still, LOL.

I just mostly make stew on the stove top, and add the barley for any soup or stew to the dish it's self instead of cooking it separately unless I want barley water for baking. Just allow enough liquid to offset the barley's take up of fluids.

I precook the barley but not completely before adding to the stew.
How do you use your barley water in baking?
I have just been dumping the water in the garden.

Use it for the water in bread or yeast rolls. Ditto on mashed or boiled potato water.