Ingredients
The base
- 1.5 litresgoat milk
- or whole cow milk
- 300 gsugar
- 3 tablespoonssalep powder
- 1 teaspoonground mastic
- damla sakizi
- a pinch of salt
To serve
- chopped pistachios
- a knife and fork
- or a cone
Directions
- Mix the salep powder with some of the sugar. Pour the milk into a large heavy pot. Add the rest of the sugar to it. Warm it gently over a medium heat.
- Use a pot larger than you think you need. Never walk away from a milk pot on the heat. Sprinkle the salep and sugar mixture in. Whisk it hard as you add it in. Keep whisking until it is all in. It lumps the moment you stop whisking.
- Whisk continuously through this stage. Bring it up to a very bare simmer. Let it cook for about ten minutes. Stir it constantly the whole time. It should coat the back of a spoon. Grind the mastic with a little sugar. Grinding it with sugar keeps it separate.
- Whisk the ground mastic into the pot. Let it cook for two more minutes. Take the pot right off the heat. Let it cool to room temperature. Press film onto the surface as it cools. Film pressed on prevents it entirely. Pour the cold base into an ice cream maker. Stop it if the motor labours badly.
- Pour the churned mixture into a container. Freeze it for about one full hour. Take it out and beat it hard again. Freezing it takes several hours. Return it to the freezer between beatings. Give it at least six hours in total.
- Take it out five minutes before serving. A few minutes softens it enough. Cut it into thick slices with a knife. It is firm enough to hold a slice.
- Press it firmly down into a cone. That is why it suits a hot climate. Scatter chopped pistachios over it. Serve it with a knife and fork. It keeps two weeks in the freezer. Beat it again if it goes grainy.
Technique
- Salep is made from wild orchid tubers, and harvesting the tuber kills the plant; it takes many of them to make a little powder, wild populations are under real documented pressure, and Turkey has banned salep export to protect them, though domestic collection continues and enforcement across a wide range is difficult. Genuine salep is not a sustainable ingredient — that is a straightforward fact and the atlas records it. Much salep sold commercially is starch and flavouring rather than the real thing, and guar gum or konjac gives similar stretch.
- Ordinary ice cream has air churned into it to make it light; this has very little air and is beaten hard as it freezes, which develops the elastic texture and makes it dense, stretchy and slow to melt. That is why it is cut with a knife rather than scooped, and why it suits a hot climate.
- Salep lumps badly in liquid, so mix the powder with some of the sugar first to separate the grains before it goes into the milk, and whisk continuously as it heats, since it thickens the moment it warms and lumps the moment you stop.
Substitutions
- Guar gum or konjac gives similar stretch without the conservation problem.
- Whole cow milk stands in for goat milk, though the result is milder.
Variations
- A domestic freezer cannot reproduce the professional churn, and the home version is softer.
- It is cut into slices with a knife or pressed firmly into a cone.
- Vendors serve it with a long rod and a practised performance.
History
From Kahramanmaras, where wild orchid salep and mastic give it the chew that vendors show off with theatrical serving.
Frequently asked questions
What is Maras dondurmasi?
Maras dondurmasi is a dessert from Turkey: stretchy goat-milk ice cream thickened with salep, cut with a knife. From Kahramanmaras, where wild orchid salep and mastic give it the chew that vendors show off with theatrical serving.
How long does Maras dondurmasi take to make?
Maras dondurmasi takes 30 minutes plus freezing of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Maras dondurmasi?
Yes, within limits. Guar gum or konjac gives similar stretch without the conservation problem. Whole cow milk stands in for goat milk, though the result is milder.
What is the most important thing to get right in Maras dondurmasi?
Use a pot larger than you think you need. Never walk away from a milk pot on the heat. Sprinkle the salep and sugar mixture in. Whisk it hard as you add it in. Keep whisking until it is all in. It lumps the moment you stop whisking.
