Turkish variants The word
börek 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 above
kol böreği,
su böreği,
talaş böreği or
Sarıyer böreği. There are many variations of börek in Turkish cuisine: •
Alt Üst Böreği: A type of tray börek. The layered filo is laid out in double layers, or about ten small sheets of filo are stacked on top of each other and greased in between. It is also referred to as "Türk böreği" in Ottoman-era cookbooks. •
Bohça Böreği: The layers of filo are stacked on top of each other, folded like a bundle, and then baked. This type of börek dates back to the 17th century. Burek spread from southern Serbia to Bosnia in the 16th century and later, after
Yugoslavia was formed. During the early 20th century it became popular in
Croatia, where it was imported by
Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina and neighboring
Albanians. Traditionally
burek is made of layers of thin, nearly translucent dough, in a circular baking pan. Common fillings are cheese and spinach, meat, and potatoes. There are mainly two categories of Albanian byrek: house byrek
(byrek shtëpie) and triangle byrek (byrek trekendësh), the latter being mostly found as
street food.
Lakror is an pie dish from southern Albania. The pie is sometimes called a type of byrek pastry. Another related dish is
fli, 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. Eaten for any meal of the day, in Bosnia and Herzegovina 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 called
sirnica; with spinach and cheese,
zeljanica, with potatoes,
krompiruša. All of them are generically referred to as
pita.
Eggs are used as a binding agent when making
sirnica and
zeljanica.
Bulgaria The
Bulgarian version of the pastry, locally called (
Cyrillic: ), is typically regarded as a variation of
banitsa (), a similar Bulgarian dish. Bulgarian byurek is a type of
banitsa with
sirene cheese, the difference being that byurek also has eggs added. In Bulgarian,
byurek has also come to be applied to other dishes similarly prepared with cheese and eggs, such as
chushka byurek (), a peeled and roasted pepper filled with cheese, and
tikvichka byurek (), blanched or uncooked bits of
squash with egg filling.
Galaktoboureko is a syrupy phyllo pastry filled with custard, common throughout Greece and Cyprus. In the
Epirus, σκερ-μπουρέκ is a small
rosewater-flavoured
marzipan sweet.
Bougatsa is a Greek variation of a borek which consists of either
semolina custard,
cheese, or
minced meat filling between layers of phyllo, and is said to originate in the city of
Serres, an art of pastry brought with the immigrants from
Constantinople and is most popular in
Thessaloniki, in the
Central Macedonia region of Northern Greece. Serres achieved the record for the largest
puff pastry on 1 June 2008. It weighed , was long, and was made by more than 40 bakers. In
Venetian Corfu, boureki was also called
burriche, and filled with
meat and
leafy greens.
Serbia The recipe for "round" burek was developed in the Serbian town of
Niš. In 1498, it was introduced by a famous Turkish baker, Mehmed Oğlu, from Istanbul. Eventually burek spread from the southeast of Serbia to Macedonia and Bosnia, and later to the rest of Yugoslavia. Niš, the unofficial capital of burek, hosts an annual burek competition and festival called
Buregdžijada. 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.
Slovenia 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 origins in Yugoslavia, and is not universally embraced as part of mainstream Slovenian cuisine.
Moldova and Romania The regional cuisine of the
Moldavian West bank of the
Pruth still yields a type of dumpling-like food called
burechiuşe (sometimes called
burechiţe) which is described as dough in the shape of a ravioli-like square which is filled with mushrooms such as
Boletus edulis, and sealed around its edges and then tossed and subsequently boiled in
borscht like soups or
chorbas. They are traditionally eaten in the last day of fasting at the time of the
Christmas Eve. It is unclear if the
burechiuşe derive their name from the Turco-Greek
börek (which is a distinct possibility given the fact that Moldavia was ruled for many decades by dynasties of Greek
Phanariotes 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 mushroom
Boletus (
burete in its Romanian language rhotacised version, and it meant "mushroom" as well as "sponge") by the pattern of the
ravioli, which were named after the Italian name of the
turnip with which they were once filled. In Romania, the
plăcintă is considered a variation of the phyllo-wrapped pie, with the dough traditionally stuffed with cheese. In
Dobruja, 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.
Other countries Even though borek is very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, especially in
North Africa and throughout Southeast Europe, it originated in
Anatolia. Borek is also part of
Mizrahi and
Sephardic Jewish traditions. They have been adopted by the Ottoman Jewish communities, and have been described—along with
boyos de pan and
bulemas—as forming "the trio of preeminent Ottoman Jewish pastries".
Algeria In
Algeria, this dish is called
bourek, a 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 or
Harira. Other forms include bourek packed with chicken and onions, shrimp and
béchamel sauce, or a
vegetarian alternative usually made of mashed potatoes and spinach. Another Algerian variant of Bourek is called Brik or Brika, a speciality of Algeria's east, notably
Annaba. 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.
Armenia In
Armenia, (
Armenian: ) or (
Armenian: ) consists of dough, or filo dough, folded into triangles and stuffed with spinach, onions,
Armenian cheeses (such as
lori or
motal), or ground beef. The most widespread variants are
panri borek (
Armenian: պանրի բորեկ, "cheese borek"),
msov borek (
Armenian: մսով բորեկ, “meat borek”), and
spanakhov borek (Armenian: սպանախով բորեկ, "spinach borek").
Israel , Jerusalem Burekas () have long been part of
Sephardic Jewish cuisine, ever since the migration of a large portion of that community to the
Ottoman Empire following the
Expulsion of Jews from Spain. The name "burekas" is the plural form of the original Yugoslav dish, as conjugated in
Judaeo-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 in
Modern Hebrew). Burekas were later introduced to Israel by Sephardi immigrants from communities in Turkey and Southeast Europe 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 of
Jewish 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 with
Margarine-based doughs rather than butter-based doughs, in order to make them
Parve - allowing them to be eaten as part of any type of meal. The most popular fillings are salty cheese (primarily
Feta), 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 include
bulemas and
boyoz, which are also popular in the Turkish city of
Izmir.
Libya It is also a popular dish in Libya, where it is known as brik.
Saudi Arabia In Saudi Arabia, Burēk (, ), is usually made in the
Hejaz 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 to
samosas.
Tunisia In Tunisia, there is a variant known as the brik ( ; ) that consists of thin crepe-like pastry around a filling and is commonly
deep fried. The best-known is the egg brik, a whole egg in a triangular pastry pocket with chopped onion, tuna,
harissa and parsley. The Tunisian
brik is also very popular in Israel, due to the large
Tunisian Jewish population there. It is often filled with a raw egg and herbs or tuna, harissa, and olives, and it is sometimes served in a
pita. This is also known as a
boreeka. ==See also==