Börek (elsewhere called burek or lakror) is one of the traditional dishes and flavors of Turkish cuisine; it is also popular in the Balkan countries (especially North Macedonia, Bosnia and Albania) following the Ottoman expansion. Its origins are very old, dating back to even before the migration of the Turks from Central Asia to the West and more precisely to Anatolia. The main ingredient of börek is the yufka, a sheet of very thin puff pastry. The main ingredient of börek is yufka, which is a very thin sheet of pastry. Börek is made by stuffing the yufka with cheese, minced meat, spinach, turnip or various other vegetables. Before baking, the yufka is coated with beaten egg yolk.
There are some variations from country to country. In Greece, the meatless variant is usually made with feta cheese and spinach, rolled up and put in the oven. In Serbia, Bosnia and Albania, where it has now become one of the national dishes, this variant is made as a phyllo dough pie with about ten layers with only unripened cheese and cut into triangles. The variant with meat here also depends from country to country.
In predominantly Muslim countries/cities, it is never stuffed with pork (forbidden by the Koran), while in Serbia, a Christian country, the variant has a high percentage of pork.
