Börek

Börekorburekis a family of pastries or pies found inOttoman cuisine. The pastry is made of a thin flakydoughsuch asfilowith a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes. A borek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. They are usually baked but some varieties can be fried. Borek is sometimes sprinkled withsesameornigella seeds, and it can be served hot or cold.
It is commonly served withayranoryogurtinTurkey,Albania,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia,Bulgaria,Kosovo,Serbia,North MacedoniaandRomania. It is a custom ofSephardic Jewsto havebourekasfor theirShabbatbreakfast meal on Saturday mornings.
The English nameborekcomes fromTurkishbörek(Turkish pronunciation:[bœˈɾec]), whileburekis used in the countries of theformer Yugoslavia. Forms in other languages include:Albanian:byrek;Greek:μπουρέκι,romanized:bouréki;Bulgarian:Бюрек,romanized:byurek;Algerian Arabic:بُريك,romanized:bourekandbrick annabi; andTunisian Arabic:brik.
According tolexicographerSevan Nişanyan, the Turkish wordbörekis ultimately originated fromTurkicbögrek, fromböğür(meaning 'kidney').Nişanyan noted that the word is also used inSiberian Turkic languagessuch asSaqaasbörüök.According to another theory, it may have come from thePersianburak(بورک), the diminutive form ofbūraorbuġraor (بوره/بغره), meaning "stew", and refers to any dish made withyufka(filo).The Persian wordburehgoes back to theMiddle Persian*bōrak. This word ultimately goes back to theProto-Indo-Europeanroot*bher-which meant "to carve, cut, split".The name of another pastry,shekarbura, is also borrowed from the same Persian word.Nişanyan noted the possibility of Turkic origin for the Persian word.
Some types of borek could possibly have their origins inTurkish cuisine, having been developed inCentral Asiabefore some westward migration toAnatoliain the late Middle Ages,or by nomadic Turks of central Asia some time before the seventh century.
Another  theory posits that the dish in general is a descendant of the pre-existingEastern Roman (Byzantine)dishen tyritas plakountas(Byzantine Greek: εν τυρίτας πλακούντας) "cheesy placenta", itself a descendant ofplacenta, the classical baked layered dough and cheese dish ofAncient Greek,Ancient RomanandByzantine cuisine.
The dish was a popular element ofOttoman cuisine, and may have been present at the Ottoman court,though there are also indications it was made among Central Asian Turks;other versions may date to theClassical eraof the eastern Mediterranean.
One alternative etymological origin that has been suggested is that the word comes from theTurkicrootbur-'to twist',but the sound harmony for this proposal would dictate the suffix "-aq",and Turkic languages in Arabic orthography invariably writebörekwith an ك not an ق, which weighs against this origin.
Even though borek is very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire,especially inNorth Africaand throughout theBalkans,it originated inAnatolia. Borek is also part ofMizrahiandSephardicJewish traditions.They have been  adopted by the Ottoman Jewish communities, and have been described—along withboyos de panandbulemas—as forming "the trio of preeminent Ottoman Jewish pastries".
The wordbörekin Turkish can be modified by a descriptive word referring to the shape, ingredients of the pastry, or a specific region where it is typically prepared, as in the abovekol böreği,su böreği,talaş böreğiorSarıyer böreği. There are many variations of börek in Turkish cuisine:
In theformer Yugoslavia,burek, also known aspitainBosnia and Herzegovina, is an extremely common dish, made with yufka.This kind of pastry is also popular inCroatia, where it was imported byCroats of Bosnia and HerzegovinaandAlbanians. In Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Slovenia,burekis made from layers of dough, alternating with layers of other fillings in a circular baking pan and then topped with a last layer of dough. Traditionally, it may be baked with no filling (prazan, meaning empty), with stewed minced meat and onions, or with cheese. Modern bakeries offer cheese and spinach, meat, apple, sour cherries, potato, mushroom, and other fillings. It is often eaten along with a plain yoghurt drink.
Zeljanicais a spinach or chard based burek common throughout the Balkans.
In Albania, this dish is calledbyrek. In Kosovo and few other regions, byrek is also known as "pite". Byrek is traditionally made with several layers of dough that have been thinly rolled out by hand. The final form can be small, individual triangles, especially from street vendors called "byrektore" which sell byrek and other traditional pastries and drinks.  It can also be made as one large byrek that is cut into smaller pieces. There are different regional variations of byrek. It can be served cold or hot.
The most common fillings include: cheese (especiallygjizë, saltedcurdcheese), ground meat and onions (ragù-style filling),spinachand eggs, milk and eggs with pre-baked dough layers, it can also be made with tomato and onions, peppers and beans, potato or a sweet filling ofpumpkin,nettles(known asbyrek me hithra), or kidney beans (byrek me fasule) which is popular in winter.
There are mainly two categories of Albanian Byrek. The house byrek(byrek shtëpie)and triangle byrek (byrek trekendësh), the latter being mostly used asstreet food.
Lakroris an Albanian pie dish from southern Albania. The pie is sometimes called a type of byrek pastry.Lakror is generally filled with a variety of greens or meats.Another related dish isFli, typical from the North of Albania and Kosovo. It is made up of layers of a flour and water batter, cream and butter. Traditionally, it is baked on embers like lakror.
In 2012,Lonely Planetincluded the Bosnian burek in their "The World's BestStreet Food" book.Eaten for any meal of the day, in Bosnia and Herzegovina the burek is a meat-filled pastry, traditionally rolled in a spiral and cut into sections for serving. The same spiral filled with cottage cheese is calledsirnica, with spinach and cheesezeljanica, with potatoeskrompiruša, and all of them are generically referred to aspita.Eggsare used as a binding agent when makingsirnicaandzeljanica.
TheBulgarianversion of the pastry, locally calledbyurek(Cyrillic:бюрек), is typically regarded as a variation ofbanitsa(баница), a similar Bulgarian dish. Bulgarian byurek is a type ofbanitsawithsirenecheese, the difference being that byurek also has eggs added.
In Bulgarian,byurekhas also come to be applied to other dishes similarly prepared with cheese and eggs, such aschushka byurek(чушка бюрек), a peeled and roasted pepper filled with cheese, andtikvichka byurek(тиквичка бюрек), blanched or uncooked bits ofsquashwith eggs filling.
InGreece,bourekiorbourekaki, andCypruspoureki(πουρέκι, in the Greek dialects of the island) are small pastries made withphyllodough or with pastry crust. Pastries in the börek family are also calledpita(pie):tiropita,spanakopita, and so on.Galaktobourekois a syrupy phyllo pastry filled with custard, common throughout Greece and Cyprus. In theEpirus, σκερ-μπουρέκ is a smallrosewater-flavouredmarzipansweet. Bougatsa (Greekis a Greek variation of a borek which consists of eithersemolinacustard,cheese, orminced meatfilling between layers of phyllo, and is said to originate in the city ofSerres, an art of pastry brought with the immigrants fromConstantinopleand is most popular inThessaloniki, in theCentral Macedoniaregion of Northern Greece.Serres achieved the record for the largestpuff pastryon 1 June 2008. It weighed 182.2 kg, was 20 metres long, and was made by more than 40 bakers.InVenetianCorfu, boureki was also calledburriche,and filled withmeatandleafy greens. ThePontian Greekpiroski(πιροσκί) derives its name from borek too.It is almost identical in name and form to pirozhki (Russian: пирожки), which is of Slavic origin, and popular in Russia and further east.
The recipe for "round" burek was developed in the Serbian town ofNiš. In 1498, it was introduced by a famous Turkish baker, Mehmed Oğlu, from Istanbul.Eventually burek spread from the southeast (southern Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia) to the rest of Yugoslavia. Niš hosts an annual burek competition and festival calledBuregdžijada. In 2005, a 100 kg (220 lbs) burek was made, with a diameter of 2 metres (≈6 ft)and it is considered to have been the world's biggest burek ever made.
In Slovenia, burek is one of the most popular fast-food dishes, but at least one researcher found that it is viewed negatively by Slovenes due to their prejudices towards immigrants, especially those from other countries of former Yugoslavia.A publication of adiploma thesison this at the Faculty of Social Sciences of theUniversity of Ljubljanain 2010 stirred controversy regarding the appropriateness of the topic.The mentor of the student that had written the thesis described the topic as legitimate and burek as denoting primitive behaviour in Slovenia in spite of it being by his account "sophisticated food". He explained the controversy as a good example of the conclusions of the student.In 2008, an employee of the Scientific Research Centre of theSlovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts(SRC SASA) had attained his PhD degree with a thesis on meta-burek at theUniversity of Nova Gorica.
The regional cuisine of theMoldavianWest bank of thePruthstill yields a type of dumpling-like food calledburechiuşe(sometimes calledburechiţe) which is described as dough in the shape of a ravioli-like square which is filled with mushrooms such asBoletus edulis, and sealed around its edges and then tossed and subsequently boiled inborschtlike soupsorchorbas.They are traditionally eaten in the last day of fasting at the time of theChristmas Eve. It is not clear if theburechiuşederive their name from the Turco-Greekbörek(which is a distinct possibility given the fact that Moldavia was ruled for many decades by dynasties of GreekPhanariotesand that encouraged Greek colonists to settle in the area), so at the receiving end of cultural and culinary influences coming from them, or it takes its name from that of the mushroomBoletus(buretein its Romanian language rhotacised version, and it meant "mushroom" as well as "sponge") by the pattern of theravioli, which were named after the Italian name of theturnipwith which they were once filled.
In Romania, theplăcintăis considered a variation of the phyllo-wrapped pie, with the dough traditionally stuffed with cheese.InDobruja, an eastern territory that used to be a Turkish province, one can find both the Turkish influence—plăcintă dobrogeană either filled with cheese or with minced meat and served with sheep yoghurt or the Tatar street food Suberek—a deep-fried half-moon cheese-filled dough.
InAlgeria, this dish is calledbourek, a delicious roll of pastry sheet stuffed with meat, onions, and spice, is one of the main appetizers of Algerian cuisine.
It is a starter served when receiving guests and especially during Ramadan evenings during the round meal of the holy month, usually accompanied by Algerian Chorba orHarira. Other forms include bourek packed with chicken and onions, shrimp andbéchamel sauce, or avegetarianalternative usually made of mashed potatoes and spinach.
Another Algerian variant of Bourek is called Brik or Brika, a speciality of Algeria's east,notablyAnnaba. It is a savory entree made from brik leaf, stuffed with mashed potatoes and a mixture of minced meat, onions, cheese and parsley. The whole is topped with a seasoned raw egg which cooks once the sheet of brik has been folded and soaked in boiling oil.
In Armenia,byorek(բյորեկ) or borek (բորեկ) consists of dough, or filo dough, folded into triangles and stuffed with spinach, onions and feta cheese or ground beef.
Burekas (Hebrew:בורקס) have long been part ofSephardic cuisinewere introduced to Israel bySephardic Jewswho settled there. Burekas can be filled with various fillings, although meat is less common in Israel because of the Jewish dietary restrictions. Most burekas in Israel are made with margarine-based doughs rather than butter-based doughs so that (at least the non-cheese–filled varieties) can be eaten along with either milk meals or meat meals in accordance with thekosherprohibition against mixing milk and meat at the same meal. The most popular fillings are salty cheese, spinach, eggplant, and mashed potato, with other fillings including mushrooms,sweet potato, chickpeas, olives,mallows,swiss chard, and pizza flavor.
Other related pastries traditionally consumed by Sephardic Jews includebulemasandboyoz, which are also popular in the Turkish city ofIzmir.
It is also a popular dish in Libya, where it is known as brik.
In Saudi Arabia, Burēk (Arabic:بُريك,Hejazi Arabic pronunciation:[bʊˈre̞ːk]), is usually made in theHejazregion of western Saudi Arabia, it mostly resembles the Bosnian rolled burek but can also come in other variants, and it is stuffed with minced meat or with salty cheese and dill. It is usually served during the month of Ramadan, same goes tosamosas.
In Tunisia, there is a variant known as the brik (/briːk/BREEK;بريك) that consists of thin crepe-like pastry around a filling and is commonlydeep fried. The best-known is the egg brik, a whole egg in a triangular pastry pocket with chopped onion, tuna,harissaand parsley.The Tunisianbrikis also very popular in Israel, due to the largeTunisian Jewishpopulation there. It is often filled with a raw egg and herbs or tuna, harissa, and olives, and it is sometimes served in apita. This is also known as aboreeka.