This popular recipe for deli-style Mushroom Barley Soup with Flanken is easy, savory and comforting. It’s the ideal one pot entree for a chilly afternoon.
As a California native now living in Los Angeles, I consider it the height of absurdity to complain about the weather. We are blessed with seriously mild seasons here, and I actually look forward to that little bit of winter that creeps up on us at this time of year. Just a wisp of cold wind, a smattering of rain– barely enough to justify lighting up the fireplace and putting a pot of soup on the stove. I welcome this bit of dreariness in the middle of our seemingly endless summer. This weekend here we are, a barely-rainstorm drizzling away outside, and I’m craving the comfort of a hot bowl of Mushroom Barley Soup.
I usually make this deli-style soup vegan style, but once in a while my family craves the extra savory heartiness of meat. A few short ribs turn this thick and wintery soup into a rib-sticking meal. Dried mushrooms add an extra infusion of mushroom goodness to the already flavorful broth. I always add lots of black pepper, too. The barley slowly cooks to a thick, almost creamy finish. So much savory goodness in a one-pot meal… just right for an almost-winter weekend. I might even light up the fireplace!
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Mushroom Barley Soup with Flanken
Ingredients
- 8 meaty short ribs (flanken), trimmed about 2 1/2 lbs
- 2 tablespoons olive or grapeseed oil or more as needed
- 6 dried mushrooms
- 1 pound white mushrooms scrubbed and sliced
- 1 cup peeled and chopped carrots about 2-3 medium carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery, including leaves about 3-4 stalks
- 1 whole large onion chopped
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 3 quarts low sodium chicken, beef or mushroom stock
- 1 1/4 cups pearl barley
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt and pepper
NOTES
Instructions
- Rinse short ribs and pat dry. Generously salt and pepper them. With a knife, score the back side along the bone (this allows the meat to absorb more of the cooking liquid).
- In a large stockpot, heat 2 tbsp olive or grapeseed oil over medium high heat. Add shortribs and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes on each side.
- While the meat is browning, place dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with 3 cups of hot water. Allow to soak for 20 minutes.
- Once the meat has finished browning, remove and set aside. Add roughly half of the white mushrooms to the stockpot and brown over medium high heat. Remove and set aside.
- Add remaining half of white mushrooms to the pan and brown, adding additional oil as needed. Add carrots, celery, onion and the rest of the browned mushrooms. Cook until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, then reduce the heat to medium.
- By now the dried mushrooms will have softened. Drain the mushroom soaking water by straining it through a coffee filter or multiple layers of cheesecloth (use a mesh strainer or colander to hold the filter or cheesecloth) directly into the stockpot. Stir, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan as the liquid heats up.Give the soaked, softened mushrooms another quick rinse under running water to remove any remaining residue (wash carefully, grit can be hiding in the gills of the mushrooms). Chop the mushrooms into small pieces and add them to the stock pot.
- Add the chicken, beef or mushroom stock, barley, bay leaves and seared short ribs to the stockpot. Stir to combine all ingredients. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Allow soup to cook, uncovered, for 2 hours or until the barley and short ribs are completely tender and the soup is nicely thickened. Add water during the simmer if the soup becomes overly thick. After cooking, season with salt and pepper to taste. I use about 1 1/2 tsp salt and a heaping 1/4 tsp pepper. Use whatever amount of seasoning tastes best for you.
- Remove all of the short ribs from the soup and shred, then mix the meat back into the soup before serving. Alternatively you may serve whole short ribs on the bone, 1-2 per bowl of soup.
Nutrition
I have been making this soup using the Manischwitz vegetable soup mix and adding great northern beans, parsley, and a potato for maybe 40 years and my Ashkenazi Czechoslovakian-Hungarian Holocaust survivor mother made it before me. I was able to get Flanken this year although because of supply chain/pandemic issues, meat is becoming very expensive and harder to get. After I make it, I freeze portions of it.
My question for you is that I have trouble buying mushrooms (white button) because I can’t shop myself in the pandemic. I am dependent on someone to pick it out for me from the supermarket and by the time I am ready to make the soup, the mushrooms go bad. I was wondering whether I can use canned mushrooms or if there are any other alternatives you can suggest since I can’t look for a package of white mushrooms as I used to. I noticed that you suggested shitake mushrooms in one of the posts and I was wondering what I could ask for from the shopper. For example, would I say one pound of dried shitake mushrooms and do they come in a packet or a container?
Thank you.
Hi Susan! I completely empathize with your shopping challenges, during this past surge we have been very safe at home, and utilizing delivery shopping services. It’s not the same as choosing things yourself! But we do the best we can. 🙂 In this situation, canned mushrooms would probably be your best bet. You can also rehydrate additional dried mushrooms (shitake or porcini would work well), however you must be sure to soak and rinse them very well, as described in the recipe, to remove any residual grit. Once they are prepared, you can chop them up and add them to the soup at the same time you would add the white mushrooms. I hope that is helpful!
Looks yummy. Can you freeze this soup?
It should freeze just fine.
Yesterday I made this in the Slow Cooker and it worked great. I used a piece of boneless shank (1 1/25:lb):and compensated for the lesser amount of beef with 1/3 C dried yellow split peas. I browned the meat, sautéed the onions well,then mushrooms and rest of veggies a bit. Also added some spices with the sautéing veggies like cumin, turmeric, coriander. Added everything to the Slow Cooker and let it cook for 2 1/2 hours on high, then 3 hours on low. This was due to my time constraints and did it to total 8 hours on low. It made a huge amount of soup and was delicious.
excellent directions, steps, timing…the only changes I made/family traditions (Ukraine?) were: white pepper, no salt, Lea & Perrins instead of salt, large white Lima Beans (last 15 minutes if canned), herbs de Provence, and large Russian dried mushrooms (1 #).
My grandmother was from that part of the world (Belarus/Lithuania) and she would only cook with white paper. However, she moved to a crowded and poor part of New York (East Harlem) where my mom was raised, and I think the white pepper story is the same reason she only cooked with golden raisins. Black pepper (if it is coarsely ground) and black raisins have a way of walking across the counter in crowded tenement apartments.
I also added some dill which adds a nice note (especially for dill lovers); it’s a wonderful recipe but I’m puzzled by one thing: what’s the deal with dividing the mushrooms? First you brown half and set aside. Then you brown the other half (adding the mirepoix). Why?
Because if you overcrowd the pan with the mushrooms, they won’t get that nice browning from searing, which adds to the overall flavor. They’ll just become brownish-grey and limp.
Followed this recipe exactly with the only addition of 3/4 cup dried pinto beans. Came out just like my Mom used to make. Everyone loved it.
My Mother always used neck bones. Just enough beef and no fat. Why do we simmer the soup uncovered? I’m not used to that.
It helps to reduce and thicken the soup.
My mother, and I have been making this soup for almost 70 years. The only difference, is we also add marrow bones, because we both love the marrow!
I made the mushroom barley flanken recipe tonight but because of the Coronavirus Virus I was only able to get chuck roast. Also most of the beef broth was sold out too. So I used a combination of chicken, vegetable and beef broth. It was delicious. Thank you so much for this recipe. You brought me back to my childhood. Also my Italian husband loved it too!!! Yummy!
I just sent the mushroom barley soup recipe to my daughter, she’s a vegan.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful recipe. Yesterday was the first time I found you and in all honesty I usually go to Ina’s oxtail barley soup recipe but I really wanted to try something new. I made this and it turned out perfectly. My husband is actually Jewish too with a Sephardic dad an Ashkanazi mom. I myself am Vietnamese but love all kinds of food including what I can find in at local Brent’s Deli. I’m so happy to have found your blog because you have so many great recipes here. Thanks for taking this time to keep this blog going. You really are a lovely cook.
Mai thank you for the very kind comment! I work hard to make sure all of my recipes are spot-on. Glad to hear this one turned out well for you!
We just made a large batch of this soup the other day and LOVED IT. We love it, and our friends love it. I threw away the three other Beef Mushroom Barley recipes I’ve held onto for years as they are no longer needed!
Best mushroom barley soup with flanken ever! My husband thought it was even better than his mother’s! I wasn’t able to get short ribs on the bone, but was able to buy grass-fed boneless short ribs. The soup was amazing! Everyone in my family loved it. Followed the recipe, with the exception of the short rib on the bone, exactly as written. Will definitely be making this recipe again. Big hit!
If I want to make the mushroom barley soup w/o flanken how do I do it?
Hi Lee, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Here’s Tori’s recipe for Mushroom Barley Soup, without flanken:
https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/mushroom-barley-soup/
Made it just as per recipe. Delicious!!
What kind of dried mushrooms do you use?
I usually use a mix of different varieties. If you want to pick one variety, shiitake is always nice.
I love this recipe, it even received high praise from my Jewish mother and my husband’s grandmother. I use better than bouillon instead of chicken stock and add dill and potatoes because that’s what my grandmother used to do. This also comes out really, really well in an instant pot, and cooks in less than an hour, as long as you adjust the amount of liquid and cook time.
I’ve never tried dill in this soup, I’m intrigued!
Can you please share how long you cooked this in the InstantPot, at what setting and if you did a natural release after how long? Thanks so much!
I made this in the instant pot tonight without the dried mushrooms and I used half the chuck roast I had in the fridge! I used 4 cups of stock (half chicken/half beef broth). I pushed the soup button and let it natural release for 10 minutes. Thinned it out with more stock when it was done to get the right consistency. Delicious!
Can I use fresh mushrooms instead of dried?
You can but the flavor won’t be quite as rich as it would with dried mushrooms.
If there were a Soup Oscar you’d be saying your thank you’s right about now. What a marvelous concoction. I will be making this again and again. Thank You.
After scouring through recipes, this was was definitely the most appealing one. I used more dried Porcini and even some dried Shitake mushrooms as well as the (“degritted”) water I soaked them in as well as Porcini bouillon. I also caramelized some of the onions when I was browning the meat. Between the short ribs, and rich mushroom stock, it’s so rich and yummy. Perfect for a snowy Chicago, wintry day:) Thank you! Really quite simple; especially with Trader Joe’s mirepoix.
Labor intensive…but it is a labor of love. I stuck to the recipe (just used homemade stock instead of premade).
Everyone loved it and I received rave reviews. Thank you for such a delicious recipe. This is a keeper.
The most Incredible taste can be achieved if you use Polish dried mushrooms…it adds a taste that brings out all other flavors.. Also use the fresh and dried shitake as well as the whites…