Burek – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Originally written as part of the World Cup 2014 cooking project.

Football:

Bosnia and Herzegovina are the babies of the World Cup in Brazil. Considering that their first ever international took place in 1995 in Albania, they have come on in leaps and bounds to qualify for their first World Cup. Although, saying that they have come remarkably close to qualification on two previous occasions missing out only through the heartbreak of a playoff each time.

We are now in to the territory of every team having played a game in the World Cup. Bosnia and Herzegovina have started out with a narrow loss to Argentina. Everyone is talking about how wonderful Messi was and how great the goal he scored against them was. True, he opened up for the shot well, but on close inspection you will see it was a deflection off the shin of the opposition, the original shot looking like it was going wide. I would like to reserve my praise for the way Bosnia and Herzegovina attacked the game and give the team of Argentinian stars a run for their money.

For the next two games against Nigeria and Iran I am looking for Edin Džeko to step up and show the goal scoring prowess he has shown for his club Manchester City this year, having helped them win the English Premier League last month.

 

The Dish: 

I have taken some classic street food for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s dish; food that you could well imagine fans eating at the football in downtown Sarajevo. The börek is a family of pastries consisting of meat, cheese or vegetable fillings parcelled in flaky phyllo pastry; iconic throughout the Balkan nations. The burek is Bosnia and Herzegovina’s take on it, usually in the form of a filled spiralled pastry tube. Thinking about it many nations and continents have their own pastry equivalents; England has the old Cornish pasty, there is calzone in Italy, the kringle in Scandinavia, the empanada in Latin America and the Samosa which can be found throughout Asia and Africa.

The fun in making the burek is in the pastry. Pushing and stretching on an oiled surface without tearing it is an art. It’s messy and creative but done well produces a great flaky pastry. I have seen the experts making and flinging metre diameter paper thin sheets of pastry in the air to create perfect circles. I am afraid that there would be some serious kitchen decoration if I tried – but feel free to give it a go.

The filling is a typical meat one enhanced in flavour through the use of sweet paprika, allspice and a touch of cinnamon.

 

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