Would this recipe work without barley?

[pengillian101]

Substitute new red potatoes?

http://southernfood.about.com/od/cornedbeefandbrisket/r/r070220c.htm

[The empressof all]

1. For taste I think the potatoes would be gtrat

The barley in the recipe as written probably adds some thickness and texture to the soup that you won't get with the potatoes but I think it would taste good

[Warpy]

3. All you'd have to do is remove a few pieces of potato and mash them up

and add them back to the broth to thicken it a bit. It's what I used to do with beef stew that was a little on the runny side, add extra potato (or even use instant potato flakes, one of their only acceptable uses) if I didn't have any rye bread to crumble in.

[Denninmi]

2. You could sub a lot of things.

Rice, quinoa, a small pasta like orzo, potato cubes all would work, IMHO.

[Vinca]

4. Ooh, that soup sounds good! I'm always on the lookout for barley recipes.