Burek is the most famous breakfast food in Serbia and the only pastry baked in specialized bakeries – burek pastry shops. In Niš there is even the only Balkan contest of this kind, contest in making burek –Burekdžijada, and British newspapers The Guardian awarded it with 5th place on the best fast food list in the whole world.

“Burek and yoghurt, please!” is the most common order that can be heard in Serbia’s pastry shops, and in burek shops they will only ask “With what?”, because that’s the only pastry they make. Between the layers of dough which are tossed and spread through air by burek maker’s apt hands can be found cheese, minced meat and greens, or it can be baked without any stuffing at all. There are also sweet versions of this meal, as well as the pizza-burek, but they cannot be considered as being the true, real burek.

Burek is eaten warm, at any time of day, but burek makers claim that it is sought the most early in the morning, after a good night’s sleep or a sleepless night on the way home from the crazy clubbing, on school lunch breaks, on your way to work – burek is here to replenish and raise the energy levels, since it is rich in calories.

In the beginning of 2012, British newspapers The Guardian, awarded burek the fifth place on the best fast food list in the world.

The biggest and smallest burek in the world

On “Burekdžijada” festival in Niš in 2011 was made the 440lb burek, with 6.5 feet wide diameter and is considered to be the biggest burek ever made. Niš’s bakers spent on this, how they called it “the Guinness burek”, 330lb of dough, 110lb of cheese, and 45lb of fat.

On that same Burekdžijada was also made the smallest burek ever, weighing only 0.1 ounce, which was baked in a beer bottle cap.

According to the first records mentioning burek in 1498, first burek in Serbia had been made in Niš, and the first burek maker was a Turkish baker called Mehmed Oğlu. He baked burek according to regulations applied in the whole state of Turkey, regarding the thickness of the crust and type of ingredients which had to satisfy the high criteria levels of quality.

So, burek originates from Turkey, therefore the name comes from the Turkish word “böreği” which was used for all types of pastry. However, in the Balkans this meaning is narrowed and only refers to Serbian or Bosnia-Herzegovinian type of burek.

While Serbian round burek is cut in quarters and can be made with cheese, greens and minced meat, Bosnian burekis strictly made with minced meat while thin crusts are rolled up. Same meal made with cheese is called “sirnica”, and with greens “zeljanica”. Also in Bosnia and Herzegovina they use vegetable grease, while in Serbia it’s mainly of animal origin (pork).

Both types of burek are made in Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro, brought to all of them by Albanian and Bosnian bakers. This greasy layered dough meal is prepared in many different ways in all other former Ottoman empire’s countries.

Burek
Bosnia-Herzegovinian type of burek
Wikimedia Commons by Nikola Škorić under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

In Serbia, the most popular of them all is the Niš’s burek to which all residents of Niš are paying respects by organizing a manifestation since 2004, the only of its kind in Serbia and surrounding countries. On “Burekdžijada” festival held next to the river Nišava, bakers from all around the Serbia, Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria are competing in the skills of burek making.

In the Balkans burek is considered as fast food, so you can try it on nearly every corner in bakeries, pastry shops or burek shops, but you must never forget – the yoghurt with it. Since burek is often compared to pita, famous writer MomoKapor explained the difference bit humoristically: “All pies are tarts but burek is tARTistic!”

Photo 1 : Aleksandar Stamenković

Photo 2: Wikimedia Commons by Nikola Škorić under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

 

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FoodSerbian cuisineTradition

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