Salep

Ingredients

Drink

• 1 litrewhole milk
• 2 tsptrue salep powder, or 3 tbsp cornflour with 1 tsp rice flour
• 80 gcaster sugar
• 1 pinchfine salt
• 1 tsprosewater, optional

To serve

• ground cinnamon, for dusting
• 1 tbspcrushed pistachios or grated coconut, optional

Directions

1. Whisk the salep powder or the cornflour and rice flour into 200 ml of the cold milk until absolutely smooth. Lumps formed now will never disperse later.
2. Heat the remaining 800 ml milk with the sugar and salt in a heavy pan over medium heat, stirring, until it steams at about 70°C (160°F).
3. Pour the slurry into the hot milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly, and keep whisking as it comes up to a bare simmer.
4. Cook 8 to 10 minutes at that bare simmer, still whisking, until the drink thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and pulls in a slight thread when you lift the whisk.
5. Taste for raw starch. It should taste clean and milky; if it is at all chalky, give it another 3 minutes.
6. Stir in the rosewater off the heat, if using, and let it stand 2 minutes so the surface settles.
7. Pour into warmed mugs or small glass cups, filling them right up so a skin does not form on a cold rim.
8. Dust heavily with cinnamon, scatter pistachio if you like, and drink hot with a spoon; it thickens further as it cools.

Technique

• True salep is the dried, ground tuber of wild orchids and contains glucomannan, which gives the drink its distinctive stretchy, faintly elastic body that starch alone cannot copy.
• Wild orchid harvesting has driven several species towards extinction and Turkey bans the export of real salep, so almost everything sold abroad as salep powder is a sugar and starch blend. Read the label.
• Do not boil hard. A rolling boil breaks the thickening down and the drink turns thin and watery in the cup.

Substitutions

• Cornflour with a little rice flour is the honest home substitute, thickening well even if it lacks the elastic pull.
• Konjac powder, a quarter teaspoon per litre, is glucomannan from a different plant and gets closest to the real texture; whisk it in very gradually.

Variations

• In Albania and across the Balkans it is a winter street drink, sold beside boza from the same shops.
• A richer version replaces 200 ml of the milk with single cream and finishes with grated coconut instead of cinnamon.

History

Sold on Albanian winter streets from copper pots, a warming Ottoman inheritance.

Frequently asked questions

What is Salep?

Salep is a drink from Albania: hot milky drink thickened with orchid root, dusted with cinnamon. Sold on Albanian winter streets from copper pots, a warming Ottoman inheritance.

How long does Salep take to make?

Salep takes 5 min of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 mugs. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Salep?

Yes, within limits. Cornflour with a little rice flour is the honest home substitute, thickening well even if it lacks the elastic pull. Konjac powder, a quarter teaspoon per litre, is glucomannan from a different plant and gets closest to the real texture; whisk it in very gradually.

What is the most important thing to get right in Salep?

Whisk the salep powder or the cornflour and rice flour into 200 ml of the cold milk until absolutely smooth. Lumps formed now will never disperse later.