andrejthechef
SloveniaStewDinnerDairy-free

Ričet s prekajenim mesom

The Styrian farmhouse stew: pearl barley and beans cooked with root vegetables and smoked pork until thick and spoonable. One pot, deeply savory.

prep
20 min
cook
1 h 40 min
total
2 h
serves
6
level
easy
Thick Slovenian ričet barley and bean stew with vegetables and smoked pork

Ričet is the barley and bean stew of Štajerska, cooked with smoked pork bones or ribs and a few root vegetables until the barley swells and thickens everything around it. It turns up in every Slovenian grandmother’s repertoire.

Smoked meat does the seasoning. Garlic fried in lard and stirred in at the end lifts the pot and gives it that unmistakable farmhouse smell.

Ričet s prekajenim mesom is one of the twenty most famous Slovenian foods.

method

  1. Drain the soaked beans and simmer them with the smoked meat, onion and bay leaves in the water for 1 hour.

  2. Add the barley, carrots and celeriac. Simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the barley is tender and the stew thick. Add water if it becomes too dry.

  3. Remove the meat, pull it off the bone, and return it to the pot.

  4. Fry the garlic in the lard for 30 seconds and stir it into the stew with the marjoram.

  5. Season with salt and pepper and rest 10 minutes before serving.

chef's tips

  • Barley keeps absorbing liquid as it sits; loosen with hot water when reheating.
  • Smoked ribs give the most flavor; a smoked ham hock is the easy-to-find alternative.
  • Do not salt until the end: the smoked meat is already salty.