What Is a Borek?

A borek is made from yufka, which is like phyllo, made by hand. The dough is rolled out with a wooden pin, and usually there’s a filling of cheese, meat, spinach, swiss chard, string beans, zucchini, eggplant, etc. It’s either baked or fried. Our most famous borek is su borek, boiled in water and spread on a tray with layers of butter, white cheese and parsely, and cooked on a stove so it’s crisp outside and creamy inside. Another very famous one is puf borek — blown up — it’s fried and it puffs up as it fries. It’s hollow inside and very crisp outside. It’s delicious. We have maybe more than 100 different kinds of borek. The thinner the yufka, the better it is, and Turkish ladies take pride in making very thin sheets of yufka. It’s a dish for all people.”