Sarshir

Ingredients

Cream

• 2 litreswhole milk, unhomogenised if you can get it, or
• 1 litredouble cream and 500 ml whole milk

To serve

• honey
• hot sangak or barbari bread
• sweet black tea

Directions

1. Pour the milk into a wide, shallow pan — width is everything here, because the cream rises and sets at the surface and a deep pan gives a thick pool with a thin skin.
2. Heat very gently to just below a simmer, around 85°C (185°F), and hold it there for an hour to an hour and a half without stirring at all. Bubbles should barely break the surface.
3. Do not stir. Every time you disturb the surface you break the skin that is forming, and the whole method is about letting that skin build undisturbed into a thick layer.
4. Turn off the heat and leave the pan somewhere cool and completely still for at least eight hours, or overnight. The cream continues to gather and thicken as it cools.
5. Refrigerate for a further four hours. The layer on top should now be thick, wrinkled and firm enough to lift.
6. Run a knife around the edge and lift the whole sheet off with a wide spatula, or roll it up as you lift.
7. Serve cold or at room temperature with honey and hot bread. It keeps three days in the fridge.
8. The milk left underneath is not wasted — use it for cooking, in tea, or for making kashk.

Technique

• Wide pan, low heat, no stirring, long wait. There is nothing else to it and each of those four is a way people go wrong.
• Unhomogenised milk gives far more cream. Homogenised milk has had its fat broken up specifically so it will not rise, which is why the cream-and-milk substitution exists.
• Do not let it boil. A boil gives a thin scorched skin and a scalded taste.

Substitutions

• Double cream mixed with whole milk, which is the reliable supermarket route.
• Buffalo milk, which is what Iraqi geymar uses and which sets far richer.

Variations

• Turkish kaymak and Iraqi geymar are the same preparation.
• Some households add a little cream to the pan at the start to guarantee a thick layer.

History

Breakfast cream sold beside sangak bakeries; the Persian counterpart of Turkish kaymak and Iraqi geymar.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sarshir?

Sarshir is a cheese & dairy from Iran: clotted cream skimmed from milk, eaten with honey and hot bread. Breakfast cream sold beside sangak bakeries; the Persian counterpart of Turkish kaymak and Iraqi geymar.

How long does Sarshir take to make?

Sarshir takes 10 min plus 12 hours setting of preparation and 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 300 g. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Sarshir?

Yes, within limits. Double cream mixed with whole milk, which is the reliable supermarket route. Buffalo milk, which is what Iraqi geymar uses and which sets far richer.

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

Do not stir. Every time you disturb the surface you break the skin that is forming, and the whole method is about letting that skin build undisturbed into a thick layer.