Salep
A thick, hot Turkish winter drink of milk cooked with orchid root flour until it coats a spoon, dusted heavily with cinnamon.
Photograph credit: Sahlep, a winter drink from Turkey by E4024 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Don't Make These Mistakes
Cold milk at the start, always. This is the only real technique in the drink.
Do not let it boil hard once thickened, or it splits and goes grainy.
It thickens further as it cools, so pull it a shade looser than you want to drink it.
Cooking Salep
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Whisk the salep powder and sugar into the COLD milk until no lumps remain. Added to hot milk it seizes immediately.
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Set over medium-low heat and whisk continuously.
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After 8 to 10 minutes it will begin to thicken, and then thicken quickly. Keep whisking.
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When it coats the back of a spoon and a finger drawn through leaves a clear line, take it off.
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Stir in the rosewater off the heat — boiled, it goes soapy.
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Pour into glasses or cups and dust generously with cinnamon and pistachios.
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Why the Method Works
Real salep flour comes from wild orchid tubers and is now restricted in Turkey, so most of what is sold abroad is a cornflour blend — which works, provided you accept it is a substitute rather than the thing. Whichever you use, it must go into cold milk and be whisked constantly as it heats, because salep thickens all at once and lumps are impossible to whisk out afterwards.
Storage and Reheating
Best fresh. Refrigerates 2 days and sets almost solid; reheat gently with a splash of milk, whisking, and it comes back.
Good With
- A simit, warm
- Turkish delight
- Drunk standing outside in the cold, which is the point
What's in a Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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