Barley "risotto"

I happened to have some barley soaking. After making the bacon biscuits, I had a pan of bacon grease. In this, I fried about 1 cup of soaked barley. That was pretty bland. Would have been fine with pepper, but no evidence of pepper in VA...

SO.

Also needed some liquid, of a flavorful variety.

I added most of a bottle of good beer, a dash of mustard, some "hard dry cheese" (Parmesan, yes yes, I KNOW it is Mediterranean, but it is the only hard dry cheese I have at the moment), and a teeny bit of cumin and garlic.

This is pretty good! It needs lots of stirring, lots of beer, but it's not bad at all.

One Viking Age side dish, CHECK :)