Pour olive oil into an 8-quart pot and heat over medium-to-high flame. Add onion, garlic, and leek and sauté for 10 minutes.

Place flanken slices over the onion, garlic, and leek. Sprinkle with a small amount of salt and pepper. Allow to brown for 7 minutes, then turn over meat pieces and stir the onion mixture. Brown for an additional 7 minutes. (At this point, the onion mixture will have caramelized slightly, adding an intensified flavor to the soup.)

While the meat is browning, prepare all your vegetables. Add them to the pot and sauté about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in water, beans, barley, fresh herbs, sherry, kosher salt, pepper, and onion and garlic powders.

Bring to a rolling boil, then lower heat and simmer for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. Check that beans are tender before removing from heat.