Burek
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Börek are filled savory pastries popular throughout the former Ottoman Empire. They are made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo or yufka, and are filled with salty cheese (often feta), minced meat, potatoes or other vegetables. Borek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. The top of the borek is often sprinkled with sesame seeds.
[edit] Name
Börek originated in Turkish cuisine (cf. Baklava) and is one of its most significant and, in fact, ancient elements, having been developed by the Turks of Central Asia before their westward migration to Anatolia [1] [2]. Börek in Turkish refers to any dish made with "yufka", the Turkish word for phyllo pastry. The Turkish language is unique in having an extensive semantics associated with the word börek. Consequently, most of the time, the word "börek" is accompanied by a descriptive word referring to the shape, ingredients, technique for cooking or a specific region where it is typically prepared, for example, kol böreği, su böreği, talaş böreği, tatar böreği or sarıyer böreği.
Other languages, which have borrowed the word, use it in a specific and narrow sense, where it refers only to dishes prepared with yufka/phyllo. In Turkish, the word has a wider range of meanings, however, and can refer to puff pastry, known as nemse börek in Turkish, and other types where the dough is processed somewhat differently from the standard yufka recipe. Some exaples are su böreği, where the sheets are boiled briefly before layering, and saray böreği (palace börek) where butter is rolled between the sheets [1].
The name comes from the Turkic root bur- 'to twist',[3][4] (similar to Serbian word savijača (from savijati - to twist) which also describes a layered dough dish) or possibly from Persian būrek.[5]
[edit] Börek (Turkey)
Börek is the name used for pastries made with phyllo dough. Su böreği ("water börek") is the most common type. Layers of dough are boiled in large pans, then, between the boiled dough layers, a mixture of cheese, parsley and oil is scattered. Sigara böreği ("cigar börek," named for its shape) is often filled with feta cheese, potato, parsley and sometimes with minced meat or sausage. A variety of vegetables, herbs and spices are used in böreks such as spinach, nettle, leek, potato, eggplant, courgette, ground black pepper, etc.
Kürt böreği ("Kurdish börek") is a fillingless börek, often served with powdered sugar sprinkled on top.
[edit] Boereg (Armenia)
In Armenia, Boeregs are stuffed with cheese. They are also stuffed with other substances such as spinach or ground beef, and the filling is typically spiced.
[edit] Burek (former Yugoslavia)
In the former Yugoslavia, burek is not used in a hyperonymous sense (like pie, cake, etc.), as in Turkish.
Burek is regularly on offer at all bakeries, and usually eaten as "fast food". It is often consumed with yoghurt. Apart from being sold at bakeries, burek is sold in specialized stores selling burek (or pitas) and yogurt exclusively (buregdžinica). Those shops were actually the only type of bakery to exist before the 1800s[citation needed].
[edit] Serbian and Macedonian (round) burek
In Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia, burek is made from thick dough layers, pressed with layers of stuffing and a lot of fat in a circular baking pan and topped with one final big layer. Traditional stuffings are stewed ground meat and cheese. Prazan burek ("empty burek", i.e. without filling) is also made. Additional variants include fillings of apple, sour cherry, mushrooms, and a modern variant of "pizza" burek.
The recipe for modern "round" burek was developed in the Serbian town Niš, where it was introduced by a famous Turkish baker, Mehmed Oglu, from Istanbul in 1498.[6]
"Serbian" burek became popular in Croatia and in Slovenia in the 2nd half of the 20th century.[citation needed] The first burek in Zagreb was made by famous Albanian bakers near the main railway station (Kolodvor) after World War II.[citation needed] There it's known simply as burek, too.
Every year, there is a burek competition (Buregdžijada) in Niš, the hometown of burek. In 2005, a 100 kg/200 lb. burek was made, with a diameter of 2 meters / 6 feet[7]and it's considered to have been the biggest burek ever made.[8]
[edit] Bosnian (rolled) burek
In Bosnia and Herzegovina the word burek refers to pastry dish only when it's filled with meat. Thin dough layers are stuffed and then rolled and cut into spirals (resembling an American cinnamon bun). The same dish with cottage cheese is called sirnica, one with spinach and cheese zeljanica, one with potatoes krompiruša, and all of them are generically referred to as pita (trans. pie). This kind of dough dish is also popular in Croatia, where it was imported by Bosnian Croats, and is usually called rolani burek (= rolled burek).
In Serbian towns Bosnian pastry dishes were imported by war refugees in the 1990s, and are usually called sarajevske pite or bosanske pite (Sarajevo/Bosnian pies). Similar dishes, although somewhat wider and with thinner dough layers are called savijača or just "pita" in Serbia. However, these are usually homemade and not traditionally offered in bakeries.
In Bosnia, burek only refers to one special dough dish filled with meat. There is a tendency in Croatia, to use the word burek only for cheese preparations unless modified by some descriptor. In Serbia, one always specifies the type of stuffing (burek sa mesom - 'burek with meat', for instance).
[edit] Byrek (Albania)
In Albania, this dish is called "Byrek shqiptar me perime" ('Albanian vegetable pie') assuming it contains strictly vegetables. sometimes meat and cheese, also pumpkin (which is sweet); it is also often spelled "burek", especially among Albanians in Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as Albanian-American emigrants from Kosovo.
Albanian byrek are typically savoury, not sweet, and are often served as the main dish of a meal.
[edit] Бюрек, Byurek (Bulgaria)
The Bulgarian version of the pastry, locally called byurek (Cyrillic: бюрек), is typically regarded as a variation of banitsa (баница), a similar Bulgarian dish. Bulgarian byurek is a type of banitsa with cheese (sirene), with the difference being that byurek also has eggs added.[9]
In Bulgarian, the word byurek has also come to be applied to other dishes similarly prepared with cheese and eggs, such as chushka byurek (чушка бюрек), a peeled and roasted pepper filled with cheese, and tikvichka byurek (тиквичка бюрек), blanched or uncooked bits of squash with a cheese and eggs filling.[9]
[edit] Cheburek (Russia)
The Russian version, called "cheburek" (Cyrillic: чебурек) is made from unleavened dough filled with ground lamb, onions and spices, fried in oil. It is a common street food in Russia and other former ex-USSR countries like Ukraine and Georgia.
[edit] Μπουρέκι, Bouréki, or Μπουρεκάκι, Bourekáki (Greece)
In Greece, boureki (μπουρέκι [bur'eki]) or bourekaki (μπουρεκάκι [bure'kaki], the diminutive form of the word), are small pastries made with phyllo dough or with pastry crust. A special type of boureki exists in the local cuisine of Crete and especially in the area of Chania. It is made with sliced zucchini, sliced potatoes, mizithra or feta cheese and spearmint. The mixture can be covered by a thick layer of traditional phyllo (pastry crust), but it is quite common to be left plain as well.
Galaktoboureko is phyllo dough filled with custard.
[edit] Bourekas (Israel)
Bourekas (Hebrew:בורקס) is made out of puff pastry filled with various fillings. Among the most popular fillings are cheese, mashed potato , spinach, eggplant, pizza-flavor, and mushrooms.
Israeli bourekas come in several shapes, which are indicative of their fillings. The laws of kashrut (kosher) require avoiding eating dairy pastries together with ones containing meat, and therefore conventionally there are distinctive shapes to indicate different types of filling of bourekas. Cheese bourekas come in right-angled and isosceles triangles, and have two different sizes. Potato-filled bourekas come in a box shape. Bourekas with a pizza filling resemble a concentric tower, while spinach filled bourekas resemble a pastry knot. There are also the so-called "Turkish bourekas" which form rounded equilateral triangles, and are filled with various fillings, whose type can usually be determined by an additional element on the outside.
[edit] Brik (Tunisia)
Brik is a Tunisian burek, often fried; its best-known variant is composed of a whole egg in a triangular pastry pocket with chopped onion and parsley.
[edit] Burek as a cultural reference
In urban areas of the former SFR Yugoslavia, a common šatrovački variety of burek is called rekbu.
There is also a musical album by the Bosnian pop singer Dino Merlin with this name.
Slovenian hip-hop artist Ali En (now named Dalaj Egol) recorded a song named "Burek" which was a major hit in Slovenia.
Macedonian comedians, known under the name K-15, in their musical group called Duo-Trio, recorded a song called "Burek", and it was all about the dish.
The name of the biggest Internet forum in Serbia is Burek Forum.
Anri Sala, an Albanian video artist, has a work entitled Byrek, featuring an old Albanian woman in Brussels making byreks, mostly in close-ups of her hands. His grandmother had sent him a letter with her recipe but it was far too difficult for him to make himself, so he had to track down someone who could make them.
"Bourekas films" is an Israeli film genre that was popular in Israel during the 60's and the 70's.
To this day in Turkey, one may hear an expression often used by the poor, and even by the middle class, saying, "I am not rich enough to eat baklava and burek every day."
[edit] External Links
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Algar, Ayla Esen (1985), The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking, ISBN 0-710-30334-3
- ^ Perry, Charles. "The Taste for Layered Bread among the Nomadic Turks and the Central Asian Origins of Baklava", in A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East (ed. Sami Zubaida, Richard Tapper), 1994, ISBN 1-86064-603-4.
- ^ Tietze, Türkisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Band I, Ankara/Wien
- ^ Ahmet Toprak (Late 1980s). Eastern European Connection. Articles on Turkish language. Retrieved on 2006-02-14.
- ^ Abdulah Skaljic (1985). Turcizmi u srpskohrvatskom-hrvatskosrpskom jeziku.
- ^ Doderović, M.. "Draži burek nego "Mek"" (HTML), Glas Javnosti, Glas Javnosti, 2004-07-08. Retrieved on 2006-09-06. (Serbian)
- ^ K., D.. "Slistili i burek od 100 kila" (HTML), Glas Javnosti, Glas Javnosti, 2005-09-05. Retrieved on 2006-09-06. (Serbian)
- ^ "U Nišu okupljeni ljubitelji bureka..." (HTML), Revija UNO 129, NIP "Druga kuća". Retrieved on 2006-09-06. (Serbian)
- ^ a b Иванова, Ценка. Кулинарните недоразумения на българско-сръбската езикова граница (Bulgarian). Liternet. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
This article contains information from Frosina.org and it is used with permission.
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