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| Alternative names | Burek, börek, bourekas, boreg, byrek |
|---|---|
| Type | Savoury pie |
| Course | Tea pastry |
| Main ingredients | Flaky pastry (usually filo), various fillings |
| Variations | Meat, potatoes, leafy greens, cheese, eggplant, mushrooms |
Börek[1][2] orburek orbyrek is a family of pastries or pies made in the Middle East and the Balkans. The pastry is made of a thin flakydough such asfilo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes. A börek 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. Börek is sometimes sprinkled withsesame ornigella seeds, and it can be served hot or cold.
Throughout the Balkan peninsula and in Turkey, it is commonly served withayran oryogurt. It is a custom ofSephardic Jews to havebourekas for theirShabbat breakfast meal on Saturday mornings.
The English namebörek[1][2] comes fromTurkishbörek (Turkish pronunciation:[bœˈɾec],Ottomanبورك), whileburek is 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: bourek andbrick annabi; andTunisian Arabic:brik.[citation needed]
According tolexicographerSevan Nişanyan, the Turkish wordbörek is ultimately originated fromTurkicbögrek, fromböğür (meaning 'kidney').[3] Nişanyan noted that the word is also used inSiberian Turkic languages such asSaqa asbörüök.[3] According to another theory, it may have come from thePersianburak (بورک), the diminutive form ofbūra orbuġra or (بوره/بغره), meaning "stew", and refers to any dish made withyufka (filo).[citation needed] The Persian wordbureh goes back to theMiddle Persian *bōrak.[citation needed] This word ultimately goes back to theProto-Indo-European root*bher- which meant "to carve, cut, split".[4][better source needed] The name of another pastry,shekarbura, is also borrowed from the same Persian word.[4] Nişanyan noted the possibility of Turkic origin for the Persian word.[5]
One 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 Roman andByzantine cuisine.[6][7][8][9]
Some types of borek could possibly have been prepared inTurkish cuisine, according to this theory, they have been developed inCentral Asia before some westward migration toAnatolia in the late Middle Ages,[10][11] or by nomadic Turks of Central Asia some time before the seventh century.[12]
The dish was a popular element ofOttoman cuisine, and may have been present at the Ottoman court,[13][10] though there are also indications it was made among Central Asian Turks;[11] other versions may date to theClassical era of the eastern Mediterranean.[6][7][8]
One alternative etymological origin that has been suggested is that the word comes from theTurkic rootbur- 'to twist',[14][15] but the sound harmony for this proposal would dictate the suffix "-aq",[16] and Turkic languages in Arabic orthography invariably writebörek with an ك not an ق, which weighs against this origin.[citation needed]
Even though borek is very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire,[17] especially inNorth Africa and throughout theBalkans,[18] it originated inAnatolia. Borek is also part ofMizrahi andSephardic Jewish traditions.[19] They have been adopted by the Ottoman Jewish communities, and have been described—along withboyos de pan andbulemas—as forming "the trio of preeminent Ottoman Jewish pastries".[20]
The wordbörek in 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 böreği orSarıyer böreği. There are many variations of börek in Turkish cuisine:
| Name | English name | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Su böreği | Boiled börek; lit. water börek | Sheets of dough are boiled briefly in large pans, then a mixture of feta cheese and greens, or other börek filling. The whole thing is brushed with butter and baked in amasonry oven. | [21] |
| Sigara böreği | Filo rolls, lit. 'cigarette börek' | Feta cheese, wiener, potato or other filling wrapped in yufka filo and deep-fried | [22] |
| Paçanga böreği | Pachanga pastry | Paçanga böreği is made withyufka filled with cheese,pastirma, tomato, parsley and pepper. Each material is chopped into thin or small pieces, and rolled in the dough as in sigara böreği, but larger. The pastries are fried and served hot. It is a specialty of Anatolia. | [23] |
| Talaş böreği orNemse böreği | Lit. sawdust pastry | Small square börek mostly filled with lamb cubes and green peas, that has starchier yufka sheets, making it puffy and crispy. | [24] |
| Kol böreği | Lit. 'arm börek' | prepared in long rolls, either rounded or lined, and filled with either minced meat, feta cheese, spinach or potato and baked at a low temperature. | [25] |
| Sarıyer böreği | Sarıyer pastry | A smaller and a little fattier version of the "Kol böreği", named after Sarıyer, a district ofIstanbul. | [26] |
| Gül böreği | Rose börek, round börek, spiral börek | rolled into small spirals | |
| Çiğ börek | Chebureki | Half-moon shaped börek, filled with a very thin layer of raw minced meat and onion filling and fried in oil, very popular in places with a thrivingTatar community, such asEskişehir,Polatlı andKonya | [27] |
| Töbörek | Another Tatar variety, similar to açiğ börek, but baked instead of fried | [28][better source needed] | |
| Laz böreği | Sweet börek filled withmuhallebi (Ottoman-style milk pudding orcustard) and served sprinkled with powdered sugar | [29][self-published source?] | |
| Kürt Böreği | Similar to Laz böreği, without thecustard filling. It is also calledsade (plain) börek and served with fine powdered sugar | [30] |
In theformer Yugoslavia,burek is an extremely common dish, made with yufka.[31] Burek spread from southern Serbia to Bosnia in the 16th century and later, after Yugoslavia was formed, throughout the rest of the northern Balkan peninsula. During the early 20th century it became popular inCroatia, where it was imported byCroats of Bosnia and Herzegovina andAlbanians.
Traditionallyburek is made of layers of thin, nearly translucent dough, in a circular baking pan.[32] Common fillings are cheese and spinach, meat, and potatoes.[32] It is often eaten along with a plain yoghurt drink.
Zeljanica is 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, saltedcurd cheese), ground meat and onions (ragù-style filling),spinach and 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.[33]
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.
Lakror is an Albanian pie dish from southern Albania. The pie is sometimes called a type of byrek pastry.[34][35][36] Lakror is generally filled with a variety of greens or meats.[36] 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.[33]
In 2012,Lonely Planet included the Bosnian burek in their "The World's BestStreet Food" book.[31][37] 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.Eggs are used as a binding agent when makingsirnica andzeljanica.
TheBulgarian version of the pastry, locally calledbyurek (Cyrillic:бюрек), is typically regarded as a variation ofbanitsa (баница), a similar Bulgarian dish. Bulgarian byurek is a type ofbanitsa withsirene cheese, the difference being that byurek also has eggs added.[38]
In Bulgarian,byurek has 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 ofsquash with eggs filling.[38]
InGreece,boureki orbourekaki, andCypruspoureki (πουρέκι, in the Greek dialects of the island) are small pastries made withphyllo dough or with pastry crust. Pastries in the börek family are also calledpita (pie):tiropita,spanakopita, and so on.[39]Galaktoboureko is a syrupy phyllo pastry filled with custard, common throughout Greece and Cyprus. In theEpirus, σκερ-μπουρέκ is a smallrosewater-flavouredmarzipan sweet. Bougatsa is a Greek variation of a borek which consists of eithersemolinacustard,cheese, orminced meat filling between layers of phyllo, and is said to originate in the city ofSerres, an art of pastry brought with the immigrants fromConstantinople and is most popular inThessaloniki, in theCentral Macedonia region of Northern Greece.[40] Serres achieved the record for the largestpuff pastry on 1 June 2008. It weighed 182.2 kg (402 lb), was 20 metres (66 ft) long, and was made by more than 40 bakers.[41] InVenetianCorfu, boureki was also calledburriche,[42] and filled withmeat andleafy greens.
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.[43] Eventually burek spread from the southeast of Serbia to Macedonia and Bosnia, and later to the rest of Yugoslavia. Niš, the in official capital of burek, 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)[44] and it is considered to have been the world's biggest burek ever made.[45][better source needed]
In Slovenia, burek is a recognizable and widely available fast food, particularly among students and in urban nightlife settings. While it enjoys popularity in certain contexts, it also carries complex cultural associations linked to its Balkan origins, and is not universally embraced as part of mainstream Slovenian cuisine.[46]
The regional cuisine of theMoldavian West bank of thePruth still 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 inborscht like soups[47] orchorbas.[48][better source needed] They are traditionally eaten in the last day of fasting at the time of theChristmas Eve. It is unclear if theburechiuşe derive their name from the Turco-Greekbörek (which is a distinct possibility given the fact that Moldavia was ruled for many decades by dynasties of GreekPhanariotes and 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 (burete in 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 theturnip with which they were once filled.[49]
In Romania, theplăcintă is considered a variation of the phyllo-wrapped pie, with the dough traditionally stuffed with cheese.[50] 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 roll of pastry sheet stuffed with meat, onions, and spice, is one of the main appetizers of Algerian cuisine.[51]
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 avegetarian alternative usually made of mashed potatoes and spinach.[52]
Another Algerian variant of Bourek is called Brik or Brika, a speciality of Algeria's east,[53][54] 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.[55]
In Armenia,byorek (բյորեկ) orborek (բորեկ) consists of dough, or filo dough, folded into triangles and stuffed with spinach, onions and feta cheese or ground beef.[56]
Burekas (Hebrew:בורקס) have long been part ofSephardic Jewish cuisine, ever since the migration of a large portion of that community to theOttoman Empire following theExpulsion of Jews from Spain. The name "burekas" is the plural form of the original Balkan dish, as conjugated inJudaeo-Spanish. The name refers both to larger varieties (palm-sized or larger) and smaller varieties (originally called "Burekitas" by contrast, though the word has fallen out of use inModern Hebrew). Burekas were later introduced to Israel by Sephardi immigrants from communities in Turkey and the Balkans during Ottoman rule. They are now sold commonly in bakeries, as well as dedicated market stalls, throughout the country.
Israeli Burkeas may be prepared with a variety of different fillings; although meat is less-commonly used because ofJewish dietary laws - specifically the prohibition against mixing milk and meat. Many types of burekas prepared and sold in Israel (particularly those that do not contain cheese) are made withMargarine-based doughs rather than butter-based doughs, in order to make themParve - allowing them to be eaten as part of any type of meal. The most popular fillings are salty cheese (primarilyFeta), spinach, eggplant and mashed potato. Other fillings include mushrooms,sweet potato, chickpeas, olives,mallows,swiss chard, and tomato sauce (known as "burekas pizza"). Burekas are traditionally offered as snacks during large gatherings and even office meetings. Multiple locally-made brands and varieties of pre-made, frozen burekas (for quick baking or frying) are commonly sold in grocery stores.
Other related pastries traditionally consumed by Sephardic Jews includebulemas andboyoz, which are also popular in the Turkish city ofIzmir.[57]
It is also a popular dish in Libya, where it is known as brik.[58]
In Saudi Arabia, Burēk (Arabic:بُريك,Hejazi Arabic pronunciation:[bʊˈre̞ːk]), is usually made in theHejaz region 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,harissa and parsley.[59] The Tunisianbrik is also very popular in Israel, due to the largeTunisian Jewish population 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.[60]
