Salep or Sa7lab

A precious, endangered ingredient

I spent most of my youth in Beirut, and even though I wasn’t exactly a party girl, I did occasionally stay out late, either with my sisters or with friends; and one ritual we had at the end of our evenings out, which was usually closer to dawn than midnight, was to stop at a sa7lab place in downtown Beirut to have a warming bowl of hot sa7lab dusted with ground cinnamon, together with a croissant.

Sa7lab is usually a winter drink and it is made with sweetened milk thickened with sa7lab (or salep in English). It was once a mysterious ingredient, known to only a few. It is still somewhat mysterious but there are more and more people and chefs familiar with it, mainly because of its use in Levantine ice cream rather than because of the hot drink of the same name which was quite common in 17th century France and later in England too although it was then made with water. This said, most are still not aware that it is salep rather than mastic that gives büza or dondurma its stretchy quality.

Anyhow, you can see what salep looks like in the picture above, both before it is ground, as dried orchis tubers which when ground, produce the slightly greyish, speckled powder (in the bowl), which when boiled with milk will thicken it and give it an unmistakable thick, stretchy consistency when churned into an ice cream. The tubers are found mostly in Turkey and Iran. However, they are now endangered, and as a result it is illegal to export pure salep, at least from Turkey.

I got mine many years ago in Safranbolu, a charming town in the Black sea region with very well preserved Ottoman architecture. I had never seen the dried tubers whole before and couldn’t resist buying some even if it is near impossible to grind them at home because they are so hard. Still, I thought it would be great to show them in my cooking classes when I was demonstrating how to make dondurma or büza. Dondurma is normally made with goat’s milk and Maras is the town that is most famous for it but I had an absolutely wonderful dondurma in Gaziantep from Ozgüler, thanks to my good friend Filiz Hosukoglu, who is my guru for all things Gaziantep and more. The pictures below are of Mr Ozguler next to his shop sign and my pistachio ice cream which I had made with early harvest pistachios from Gaziantep — the young kernels have a much more vibrant colour than those harvested later. Sadly, I finished my stock and I must replenish it when I am next in Turkey.

Here is a recipe for pistachio dondurma made with goat’s milk. I don’t think they use cream in Turkey but I like to add it even if it is not goat’s cream which is not so easy to come by. Also, I doubt that many of you are able to find pure salep, so am suggesting cornstarch as a substitute. It will not give you that wonderful thick, stretchy texture that is so typical of dondurma and büza and that adds to the pleasure of enjoying the ice cream because it takes longer to melt on the tongue. The mastic is used purely for flavour and not texture as many think. In any case, the cornstarch is a perfectly acceptable substitute. Another option is to use the ready-made salep mixture which you can buy in Middle Eastern stores. My wonderful friend, Amy Dencler, who tested my recipes for the last two books and is testing those for the book I am working on now, has used the ready-mix successfully. This said, cornstarch is more readily available, so go with it if you cannot source pure salep.

Makes about 5 cups (1 1/4 ltr) to serve 4 to 6

4 cups (1 litre) goat’s milk

3/4 cup (150 g) golden caster sugar

1 tablespoon salep, or 3 tablespoons cornstarch

just under 1 1/4 cup (300 ml) crème fraîche

3 tablespoons rose water

8 grains mastic, ground with a little sugar to a fine powder to have 1/2 teaspoon

1 cup (150 g) raw pistachio, finely ground

Put the milk and sugar in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Gradually add the salep, in small quantities otherwise the powder will clot in the milk, whisking it in without stopping, and bring the milk to a boil. Keep whisking for another 10 minutes, or so, until the milk has thickened. Remove from the heat. Add the cream and rose water and mix well. Gradually add the mastic, again in small quantities so that it doesn’t clump up and mix well. Add the pistachios and mix again. Let the mixture cool completely before churning in an ice-cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions. Store the ice cream in an ice cream container in the freezer until when you are ready to serve it — I always leave my ice cream uncovered in the freezer for the first half hour before covering it so that the top does form ice crystals.