Börek
or burek are a family of pastries or pies found in the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
,
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
and
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...
. The pastry is made of a thin flaky
dough such as
filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach or potatoes. Boreks are mainly associated with Anatolia, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
,
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...
, and also with the former
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, including the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
and the
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
,
Eastern European
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
and
Central European countries,
Northern Africa and
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...
. 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
Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus '' Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is c ...
or
nigella seed
''Nigella sativa'' (black caraway, also known as black cumin, nigella, kalonji or siyahdaneh) is an annual flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to eastern Europe (Bulgaria and Romania) and Western Asia (Cyprus, Turkey, Iran and Ir ...
s, and it can be served hot or cold.
It is a custom of
Sephardic Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
to have ''bourekas'' for their
Shabbat breakfast meal on Saturday mornings. In Bosnia and Herzegovina it has become commonplace to have borek as a breakfast food with coffee. It is commonly served with afternoon tea in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is commonly served with a yogurt drink in Serbia and North Macedonia.
Origin and names
The English name borek
comes from
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
(
Turkish pronunciation: ">œˈɾec, while burek is the form used in the countries of the
former Yugoslavia. Other variants include byrek, in
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...
; boureki in Greece; byurek ( bg, Бюрек) in Bulgaria;
brik in
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
; and
burekas in Israel.
According to
Sevan Nişanyan
Sevan Nişanyan ( hyw, Սեւան Նշանեան; born 21 December 1956) is a Turkish-Armenian writer and linguist. An author of a number of books ("The Wrong Republic", "The Etymological Dictionary" and others), Nişanyan was awarded the Ayşe Nu ...
, the Turkish word may have come in turn from the
Persian (), the diminutive form of or or (), meaning "stew", and refers to any dish made with ''
yufka'' (filo).
[Nişanyan – Türkçe Etimolojik Sözlük]
börek
. accessed: 26 April 2021. The Persian word ''bureh'' goes back to the
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
*bōrak. This word ultimately goes back to the
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
roo
*bher-which meant "to carve, cut, split".
[Hạsandūst, Muhạmmad. 2014.Hassandust, Mohammad. 2015]
The etymological dictionary of Persian
. 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) 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.
Borek may have its origins in Persian or
Turkish cuisine
Turkish cuisine () is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. It is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern Eu ...
and may be one of its most significant and, in fact, ancient elements of the Turkish cuisine, having been developed in Central Asia before some westward migration to
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...
in the late Middle Ages,
or by nomadic Turks of central Asia some time before the seventh century. Another popular theory posits that it may be a descendant of the pre-existing
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Anatolian dish ''en tyritas plakountas'' (
Byzantine Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...
: εν τυρίτας πλακούντας) "cheesy placenta", itself a descendant of ''
placenta
The placenta is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ (anatomy), organ that begins embryonic development, developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation (embryology), implantation. It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrien ...
'', the classical baked layered dough and cheese dish of
Ancient Roman cuisine.
The dish was a popular element of
Ottoman cuisine, and may have been invented at the Ottoman court,
though there are also indications it was made among Central Asian Turks;
[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, .] other versions may date to the
Classical era of the eastern Mediterranean.
[Speros Vryonis ''The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor'', 1971, p. 482]
One alternative etymological origin that has been suggested is that the word comes from the
Turkic
Turkic may refer to:
* anything related to the country of Turkey
* Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages
** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation)
** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language
* ...
root ''bur-'' 'to twist', but the sound harmony for this proposal would dictate the suffix "-aq", and Turkic languages in Arabic orthography invariably write with an ك not an ق, which weighs against this origin.
Regional variants
Even though borek is very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, especially in
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...
and throughout the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
, it originated in Anatolia. Borek is also part of
Mizrahi and
Sephardic Jewish traditions. They have been enthusiastically 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".
Turkish variants
The word "börek" is accompanied 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:
Former Yugoslavia and the Balkans
In the
former Yugoslavia, burek, also known as ''pita'' in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...
, is an extremely common dish, made with yufka.
This kind of pastry is also popular in Croatia, where it was imported by
Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats () are the third most populous ethnic group in the country after Bosniaks and Serbs, and are one of the constitutive nations of Bosnia and ...
and
Albanians. In Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Slovenia, ''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.
Ispanaklı Selanik Böreği
Savory spinach pie is a pastry eaten throughout the Balkans. The filling is made of chopped spinach (sometimes chard) and usually feta or white cheese, and egg.
Etymology and history
Turkey
''Ispanaklı Selanik Böreği'' and /or ''Ispanakl ...
is a spinach borek common in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Albania
In Albania, this dish is called . 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
Curd is obtained by coagulating milk in a sequential process called curdling. It can be a final dairy product or the first stage in cheesemaking. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet or any edible acidic substance such as lem ...
cheese), ground meat and onions (
ragù style filling),
spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed eith ...
and eggs, milk and eggs with pre-baked dough layers, but it can also be made with tomato and onions, peppers and beans, potato or a sweet filling of
pumpkin
A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus '' Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes u ...
,
nettles (known as ''byrek me hithra''), or kidney beans (popular in winter).
''
Lakror'' is 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 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.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
In 2012,
Lonely Planet included the Bosnian burek in their "The World's Best
Street 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 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
The
Bulgarian version of the pastry, locally called ''byurek'' (
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 eggs filling.
[
]
Greece
In Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...
, ''boureki'' or ''bourekaki'', and Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
''poureki'' (, 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. Galaktoboureko
Galaktoboureko ( el, γαλακτομπούρεκο, tr, Laz böreği, ar, شعيبيات, lzz, Paponi) is a Greek, Turkish, Laz, and Syrian dessert of semolina custard baked in filo. Turkish ''Laz böreği'' is made with a type of puddin ...
is a syrupy phyllo pastry filled with custard, common throughout Greece and Cyprus. In the Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...
, σκερ-μπουρέκ (derives from the Turkish şeker-börek, "sugar-borek") is a small rosewater-flavoured marzipan sweet. Bougatsa (Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
is a Greek variation of a borek which consists of either semolina
Semolina is coarsely milled durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, and sweet puddings. The term semolina is also used to designate coarse millings of other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains (such as rice or corn) as well.
Etym ...
custard
Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency f ...
, cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During product ...
, or minced meat filling between layers of phyllo, and is said to originate in the city of Serres
Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki.
Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Nort ...
, an art of pastry brought with the immigrants from Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
and is most popular in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
, in the Central Macedonia
Central Macedonia ( el, Κεντρική Μακεδονία, Kentrikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the central part of the geographical and historical region of Macedonia. With a populat ...
region of Northern Greece. Serres achieved the record for the largest puff pastry
Puff pastry, also known as ', is a flaky light pastry made from a laminated dough composed of dough (') and butter or other solid fat ('). The butter is put inside the dough (or vice versa), making a ' that is repeatedly folded and rolled out bef ...
on 1 June 2008. It weighed 182.2 kg, was 20 metres long, and was made by more than 40 bakers. In Venetian
Venetian often means from or related to:
* Venice, a city in Italy
* Veneto, a region of Italy
* Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area
Venetian and the like may also refer to:
* Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
Corfu, boureki was also called ''burriche'', and filled with meat and leafy greens. The Pontian Greek
Pontic Greek ( pnt, Ποντιακόν λαλίαν, or ; el, Ποντιακή διάλεκτος, ; tr, Rumca) is a variety of Modern Greek indigenous to the Pontus region on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, ...
piroski (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.
Serbia
In Serbian towns, Bosnian pastry dishes were imported by war refugees in the 1990s, and are usually called ''sarajevske pite'' or ''bosanske pite'' (Sarajevo pies or Bosnian pies). Similar dishes, although somewhat wider and with thinner dough layers, are called ''savijača'' or just "pita" in Serbia. These are usually homemade and not traditionally offered in bakeries.
The recipe for "round" burek was developed in the Serbian town of Niš
Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, whil ...
. 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 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 biggest burek ever made.
Slovenia
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 a diploma thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
on this at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students.
History Beginnings
Although certain ...
in 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 the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SRC SASA) had attained his PhD degree with a thesis on meta-burek at the University of Nova Gorica
The University of Nova Gorica, UNG ( sl, Univerza v Novi Gorici), is the fourth university in Slovenia. It is located in the towns of Nova Gorica, Gorizia (in Italy), Vipava, and Ajdovščina.
History
The University of Nova Gorica grew out of ...
.
Other countries
Algeria
In Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, religi ...
, this dish is called ''bourek'', a delicious roll of pastry sheet stuffed with meat, onions, and spice, is one of the main appetizers of Algerian cuisine.
It's 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
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat ( red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetaria ...
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
Annaba ( ar, عنّابة, "Place of the Jujubes"; ber, Aânavaen), formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse Ri ...
. 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, ''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.
Israel
Burekas ( he, בורקס) have long been part of Sephardic cuisine were introduced to Israel by Sephardic Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
who 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 the kosher prohibition 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
The sweet potato or sweetpotato ('' Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young ...
, chickpeas, olives, mallows, swiss chard, and pizza flavor.
Libya
Known in Libya as brik, it is also a popular dish in Libya.
Moldova
The regional cuisine of the Moldavian West bank of the Pruth
The Prut (also spelled in English as Pruth; , uk, Прут) is a long river in Eastern Europe. It is a left tributary of the Danube. In part of its course it forms Romania's border with Moldova and Ukraine.
Characteristics
The Prut originates ...
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
''Boletus edulis'' (English: cep, penny bun, porcino or porcini) is a basidiomycete fungus, and the type species of the genus ''Boletus''. Widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere across Europe, Asia, and North America, it does not occu ...
, and sealed around its edges and then tossed and subsequently boiled in borscht
Borscht () is a sour soup common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. In English, the word "borscht" is most often associated with the soup's variant of Ukrainian origin, made with red beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which g ...
like soups or chorbas. They are traditionally eaten in the last day of fasting at the time of the Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipati ...
. 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
The turnip or white turnip (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word ''turnip'' is a compound (linguistics), compound of ''turn'' as in turned/r ...
with which they were once filled.
Romania
In Romania, the plăcintă
''Plăcintă'' () is a Romanian and Moldovan traditional pastry resembling a thin, small round or square-shaped cake, usually filled with apples or a soft cheese such as Urdă.
Etymology
The word ''plăcintă'' comes from Latin ''pl ...
is considered a variation of the phyllo-wrapped pie, with the dough traditionally stuffed with cheese. In Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
, 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.
Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, Burēk ( ar, بُريك, ), 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's 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
Pita ( or ) or pitta (British English), is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket, als ...
. This is also known as a ''boreeka''.
See also
* List of ancient dishes and foods
* List of pastries
This is a list of pastry, pastries, which are small buns made using a stiff dough enriched with fat. Some dishes, such as pies, are made of a pastry casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweetness, sweet or Umami, savory i ...
* Zelnik
* Banitsa
* Bierock
Bierock is a yeast dough pastry pocket sandwich with savory filling, originating in Prussia. The dish is common among the Volga German community in the United States and Argentina. It was brought to the United States in the 1870s by German Russia ...
* Boyoz
Boyoz is a Turkish pastry of Sephardic Jewish origin, associated with İzmir, Turkey, which is practically the only city where it is prepared for commercial purposes and follows the original recipe. As such, in the eyes of Smyrniots boyoz became ...
* Gibanica
* Pastel
A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those us ...
* Pirog
* Pirozhki
* Samosa
* Mongolian Khuushuur
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borek
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