BUREKIt seems the world is rediscovering the Balkans as a beautiful and inexpensive tourist choice these days. A friend who recently went to visit, extolled it's virtues and when asked if they had any exceptional food didn't hesitate to answer, "Burek."
Bosnian Burek is a puff pastry made with ground meat, onions, and a touch of paprika. It's artfully swirled into a spiral shape and served warm with yoghurt.
They are primarily a street food and are found in specific bakeries called Burekdžnica.
Versions of Burek can be found all over Eastern Europe and even into Arabia. Some versions feature cheese, others vegetables like spinach or squash and yet others have various meat and veggie combos. You could even say that Bougatsa, from Week 5 - Greek Breakfast (still my favourite breakfast of all time) is a distant relative to the Burek.
Unfortunately there are no Burekdžnica near us in Toronto, so I had to try my hand at this Balkan delicacy. I was dubious that I would be able to achieve the thin layers of pastry indicated in the recipe, but almost like magic, the dough easily stretched to see-through thinness and was really easy to work with. After making the meat mixture, I rolled it and doused it in copious amounts of butter and oil. The aroma of it baking in the oven was mouthwatering and worth getting out of bed on a cold March morning...
Altogether, Burek was delightful, especially fresh from the oven. The pastry although still flaky was a bit more chewy than store-bought phyllo. For my taste, ground beef is a bit heavy in the morning but the yogurt really helped to lighten it up.
The Verdict:
For Ease of Preparation:
Well, maybe I didn't just whip this one up in five minutes, but honest, it wasn't so bad and could totally be made ahead.
For Degree of Separation:
Pretty much anything with meat (that's not bacon) gets five Cheerios in this category.
For Guestability:
Although a bit weird for guests, you gotta admit it's quite impressive looking...
For Sustainability:
For Costability:
For Overall Appeal:
This was perhaps not the most delicious breakfast we've tried, but it was oddly satisfying. In the future I might bring this back as a supper food.
It seems the Jumbo Breakfast Roll is not the only breakfast food to be immortalized in song! Check out "Burek" by Bosnian musician Dino Merlin:
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