Börek
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Börek[1][2] or burek or byrek is a family of pastries or pies made in the Middle East and the Balkans. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with 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 with sesame or nigella seeds, and it can be served hot or cold.
Throughout the Balkan peninsula and in Turkey, it is commonly served with ayran or yogurt. It is a custom of Sephardic Jews to have bourekas for their Shabbat breakfast meal on Saturday mornings.
Origin and names
The English name borek[1][2] comes from Turkish Script error: No such module "Lang". (Turkish pronunciation: [bœˈɾec], Ottoman Script error: No such module "Lang".), while burek is used in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Forms in other languages include: Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx and Script error: No such module "Lang".; and Template:Langx.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
According to lexicographer Sevan Nişanyan, the Turkish word Script error: No such module "Lang". is ultimately originated from Turkic Script error: No such module "Lang"., from böğür (meaning 'kidney').[3] Nişanyan noted that the word is also used in Siberian Turkic languages such as Saqa as börüök.[3] According to another theory, it may have come from the Persian Script error: No such module "lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".), the diminutive form of Script error: No such module "lang". or Script error: No such module "lang". or (Script error: No such module "Lang".), meaning "stew", and refers to any dish made with yufka (filo).Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The Persian word Script error: No such module "lang". goes back to the Middle Persian *bōrak. This word ultimately goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root *bher- which meant "to carve, cut, split".[4] 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-existing Eastern Roman (Byzantine) dish en tyritas plakountas (Byzantine Greek: Script error: No such module "Lang".) "cheesy placenta", itself a descendant of placenta, the classical baked layered dough and cheese dish of Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman and Byzantine cuisine.[6][7][8][9]
Some types of borek could possibly have been prepared in Turkish cuisine, according to this theory, they have been developed in Central Asia before some westward migration to Anatolia 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 of Ottoman 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 the Classical era of the eastern Mediterranean.[6][7][8]
One alternative etymological origin that has been suggested is that the word comes from the Turkic root bur- 'to twist', [14][15] but the sound harmony for this proposal would dictate the suffix "-aq",[16] and Turkic languages in Arabic orthography invariably write Script error: No such module "Lang". with an ك not an ق, which weighs against this origin.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Regional variants
Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Even though borek is very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire,[17] especially in North Africa and throughout the Balkans,[18] it originated in Anatolia. Borek is also part of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish traditions.[19] 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".[20]
Turkish variants
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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:
| 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 a masonry 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 | Yufka is filled with pastırma or kaşar, finely diced tomato and green peppers then rolled and fried in oil, may be eaten as a meze. | |
| Talaş böreği or Nemse 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. | [23] |
| 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. | [24] |
| Sarıyer böreği | Sarıyer pastry | A smaller and a little fattier version of the "Kol böreği", named after Sarıyer, a district of Istanbul. | [25] |
| 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 thriving Tatar community, such as Eskişehir, Polatlı and Konya | [26] |
| Töbörek | Another Tatar variety, similar to a çiğ börek, but baked instead of fried | [27]Template:Better source needed | |
| Laz böreği | Sweet börek filled with muhallebi (Ottoman-style milk pudding or custard) and served sprinkled with powdered sugar | [28]Template:Self-published inline | |
| Kürt Böreği | Similar to Laz böreği, without the custard filling. It is also called sade (plain) börek and served with fine powdered sugar | [29] |
Balkans
In the former Yugoslavia, burek, also known as pita in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is an extremely common dish, made with yufka.[30] This kind of pastry is also popular in Croatia, where it was imported by Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albanians. In Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia, burek is 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.
Zeljanica is a spinach or chard based burek common throughout the Balkans.
Albania and Kosovo
In Albania, this dish is called Script error: No such module "Lang".. 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 (especially gjizë, salted curd 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 of pumpkin, nettles (known as byrek me hithra), or kidney beans (byrek me fasule) which is popular in winter.[31]
There are mainly two categories of Albanian Byrek. The house byrek (byrek shtëpie) and triangle byrek (byrek trekendësh), the latter being mostly used as street food.
Lakror is an Albanian pie dish from southern Albania. The pie is sometimes called a type of byrek pastry.[32][33][34] Lakror is generally filled with a variety of greens or meats.[34] Another related dish is Fli, 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.[31]
Bosnia and Herzegovina
In 2012, Lonely Planet included the Bosnian burek in their "The World's Best Street Food" book.[30][35] 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 called sirnica, with spinach and cheese zeljanica, with potatoes krompiruša, and all of them are generically referred to as pita. Eggs are used as a binding agent when making sirnica and zeljanica.
Bulgaria and North Macedonia
The Bulgarian version of the pastry, locally called Script error: No such module "lang". (Cyrillic: Script error: No such module "Lang".), is typically regarded as a variation of banitsa (Script error: No such module "Lang".), a similar Bulgarian dish. Bulgarian byurek is a type of banitsa with sirene cheese, the difference being that byurek also has eggs added.[36]
In Bulgarian, byurek has also come to be applied to other dishes similarly prepared with cheese and eggs, such as chushka byurek (Script error: No such module "Lang".), a peeled and roasted pepper filled with cheese, and tikvichka byurek (Script error: No such module "Lang".), blanched or uncooked bits of squash with eggs filling.[36]
Greece
In Greece, boureki or bourekaki, and Cyprus poureki (Script error: No such module "Lang"., in the Greek dialects of the island) are small pastries made with phyllo dough or with pastry crust. Pastries in the börek family are also called pita (pie): tiropita, spanakopita, and so on.[37] 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 (Greek 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.[38] Serres achieved the record for the largest puff pastry on 1 June 2008. It weighed Script error: No such module "convert"., was Script error: No such module "convert". long, and was made by more than 40 bakers.[39] In Venetian Corfu, boureki was also called burriche,[40] and filled with meat and leafy greens. The Pontian Greek piroski (πιροσκί) derives its name from borek too.[41] It is almost identical in name and form to pirozhki (Russian: пирожки), which is of Slavic origin, and popular in Russia and further east.
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.[42] 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 called Buregdžijada. In 2005, a 100 kg (220 lbs) burek was made, with a diameter of 2 metres (≈6 ft)[43] and it is considered to have been the world's biggest burek ever made.[44]Template:Better source needed
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 Balkan origins, and is not universally embraced as part of mainstream Slovenian cuisine.[45]
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[46] or chorbas.[47]Template:Bcn They are traditionally eaten in the last day of fasting at the time of the Christmas Eve. It is not clear 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.[48]
In Romania, the plăcintă is considered a variation of the phyllo-wrapped pie, with the dough traditionally stuffed with cheese.[49] 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
Algeria
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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.[50]
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.[51]
Another Algerian variant of Bourek is called Brik or Brika, a speciality of Algeria's east,[52][53] 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.[54]
Armenia
In Armenia, Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) or Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) consists of dough, or filo dough, folded into triangles and stuffed with spinach, onions and feta cheese or ground beef.[55]
Israel
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Burekas (Template:Langx) 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 Balkan 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 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 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.[56]
Libya
It is also a popular dish in Libya, where it is known as brik.[57]
Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, Burēk (Template:Langx, Script error: No such module "IPA".), 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
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In Tunisia, there is a variant known as the brik (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Script error: No such module "Lang".) 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.[58] 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.[59]
See also
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- List of ancient dishes and foods
- List of pastries
References
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- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- ↑ a b Hạsandūst, Muhạmmad. 2014.Hassandust, Mohammad. 2015. The etymological dictionary of Persian Template:Webarchive. 5 Vols. Tehran: Academy of Persian Language and Literature. vol. 1 p.529.(Farhang-i rīšašināḫtī-i zabān-i Fārsī Ǧild 2 Ǧild 1. s.529)
- ↑ Nişanyan – Türkçe Etimolojik Sözlük: börek Template:Webarchive. accessed: 26 April 2021.
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- ↑ a b Speros Vryonis The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor, 1971, p. 482
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- ↑ a b 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, Template:ISBN.
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- ↑ Oxford Companion to Food, s.v.
- ↑ Tietze, Türkisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Band I, Ankara/Wien
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- ↑ Э.В. Севортян, Этимологический Словарь Тюркских Языков, Том Б, Москва 1978
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- ↑ Zane, Eva (1992). Greek Cooking for the Gods. Santa Rosa, California: The Cole Group. Template:ISBN.
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- ↑ İpkoparan, B., & Özkanli, O. (2020). İzmir Sefarad Mutfağının Günümüzdeki Yeri (The Current Situation of Izmir Sephardic). Journal of Tourism and Gastronomy Studies, 8(2), 1527-1541.
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- ↑ Michael and Frances Field, A Quintet of Cuisines, Time-Life, 1970. Template:ISBN
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- Albanian cuisine
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