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Dondurma

Salep and mastic make it chewy enough to pull, and it is beaten rather than churned.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (double cream), dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

Method

  1. SALEP AND MASTIC MAKE IT CHEWY ENOUGH TO PULL, AND IT IS BEATEN RATHER THAN CHURNED. These two things together are the whole dish. Salep -- a flour ground from orchid tubers -- is a powerful thickener that makes the mixture stretchy and elastic rather than merely thick. Mastic, a tree resin, adds a further chewiness and the pine-like scent that is half the flavour. The result is an ice cream so firm and elastic that it can be cut with a knife and pulled into ropes, and it resists melting for a remarkably long time. Made without them, with eggs or more cream instead, what results is a good custard ice cream with no stretch at all.
  2. THE SALEP IS WHISKED INTO THE COLD MILK AND NEVER TIPPED INTO HOT. Three teaspoons into the cold litre, whisked until completely dispersed before any heat is applied. Added to hot milk it seizes into lumps on contact and those lumps never dissolve -- they stay as gelatinous beads in the finished ice cream.
  3. IT IS COOKED, NOT JUST WARMED, AND IT MUST THICKEN VISIBLY. Brought to a simmer and held there eight to ten minutes, stirring, until it coats a spoon thickly like a pouring custard. Salep needs real heat to hydrate fully, and an undercooked mixture freezes hard and grainy with none of the stretch.
  4. IT IS BEATEN HARD AS IT FREEZES, IN STAGES, AND NOT CHURNED SMOOTH. Into the freezer, and taken out every forty minutes to be beaten vigorously with a wooden spoon or a stand mixer -- four or five times over about three hours. The beating is not just breaking ice crystals as in ordinary ice cream; it works the salep, as kneading works a dough, and that is what develops the elasticity. An ice cream machine churns gently and continuously and gives a softer, more conventional result.
  5. THE MASTIC IS GROUND WITH SUGAR AND IS ONE TEASPOON. Mastic is sticky and will gum into a lump in a mortar on its own; ground with a spoonful of the sugar it powders readily. And one teaspoon is the limit -- more turns bitter and medicinal.
  6. IT IS SERVED FIRM FROM THE FREEZER AND NOT SOFTENED. It is meant to be stiff. Left to soften on the counter it goes from elastic to merely sticky, which loses the texture it was all for.
  7. The salep whisked thoroughly into the COLD milk until completely dispersed.
  8. The cream and sugar added and brought slowly to a simmer, stirring.
  9. Simmered 8 to 10 MINUTES, stirring, until it THICKLY coats a spoon.
  10. The mastic ground with a spoonful of the sugar and whisked in.
  11. Cooled, then chilled completely, 3 HOURS.
  12. Poured into a shallow freezer container and frozen.
  13. BEATEN HARD with a wooden spoon or mixer EVERY 40 MINUTES, 4 or 5 times over about 3 HOURS.
  14. Frozen solid for a further 4 HOURS.
  15. TESTED: a spoonful lifted should STRETCH and resist, and it should be firm enough to cut. No stretch means the mixture was undercooked or not beaten enough.
  16. Served FIRM, straight from the freezer.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes