Put this in a saucepan with about two quarts of water, two onions sliced up, a few potatoes sliced very thin, and about a saltspoonful of thyme.

Let the whole boil gently for four or five hours, till the barley is quite soft and eatable.

Thicken the soup very slightly with a little white roux, season it with pepper and salt.

Before serving the soup, add a tablespoonful of chopped blanched parsley.
N.B .-- When chopped parsley is added to any soup or sauce, such as parsley and butter, it is very important that the parsley be blanched.

To blanch parsley means to throw it for a few seconds into boiling water.