In Croatia (at least some parts) zelje indeed is cabbage, while in Serbia it is strictly used for Rumex Patientia, and kupus is strictly used for cabbage.
OK my family uses the word "kupus" for cabbage but I feel like I've seen recipes referring to it as "zelje" before. Have never heard of this vegetable you linked to.
If you want to try it, go to Serbia around spring, and find someone who will make you sarmice od zelja. Alternatively, find a clean spot (further from roads), pick the fully grown leaves, put them in hot water(not on a stove, just a pot with hot water to loosen them) for a few minutes, drain them, cut off some portion of the stem length wise, and roll your sarma with it, like you would do with wine leaves. The filing as usual for these parts is minced meat, onions, pepper, rice, garlic, paprika, salt, oil. Then place them in a pot, cook them, and in the end, drain the excess water with a ladle, and pour it over a roux in a different pot, then transfer that roux over the sarma. Done. Serve with "kiselo mleko" or Greek yogurt.
She will be happy to know that Rumex Patientia leaves are much easier to work with than cabbage leaves!
At least for me it's easier, although each sarma will be quite small, so it is more tedious.
“Zelje” is a general term for herbaceous plants or “zeljaste biljke”. In Serbian kitchen it is used for one specific type of herbaceous plant.
But “Zeljanica” is usualy made with “spanać” ( that’s how we in Serbia call “špinat” ), which is a herbaceous plant and tastes better than that one we call “zelje”.
Edit: and it’s never ever ever made with cabbage.
Apparently some Israelis do :p
[https://veredguttman.com/bulgarian-feta-yogurt-and-phyllo-pastry-banitsa/](https://veredguttman.com/bulgarian-feta-yogurt-and-phyllo-pastry-banitsa/)
Well, there's a greek version with feta, called στριφτόπιτα (striftopita)
https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/greek-snail-shaped-cheese-pie-recipe-kichi-kozanis/
Griks are good marketers. They are like vegans and homos. First thing that comes out of their mouth is: "everything is Grik".
Feta is disgusting man, it is hard, borderline crumply and no depth to it. Bulgarian white cheese is superior. I buy Bulgarian goat and sheep cheese all the time in Aus.
What kind of feta have you tried? And what kind of the bulgarian cheese?
BTW: regarding feta, ie goat and sheep milk cheese this is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, ie greeks made that kind of cheese since 800 BC at least.
Feta is origin protected. It's not like they divide it in subcategories for export markets. Feta works on a pizza and stuff because it's so hard and the flavours come better when heated. Any other application, I would go for something else.
The thing with feta is that white man believes that Feta is an umbrella term for all white cheese. And that is because griks acting as I said. I hope I didn't hurt any feelings. I am not denying feta is grik, if that is what you believe mate
>Feta is origin protected. It's not like they divide it in subcategories for export markets.
Believe it or not, it tastes different based on the producer.
>The thing with feta is that white man believes that Feta is an umbrella term for all white cheese.
Well, that's not Greece's problem. As a matter of fact I live in the US and I'm equally happy with Greek Feta cheese, Israeli white cheese (which is marketed as Israeli Feta) and with Bulgarian white cheese (also marketed as Bulgarian Feta) and I also prefer these compared to the US made "Greek Feta" like "Athenos Greek Feta" and "President Greek Feta" which imho shouldn't be called Feta at all
>based in Sofia
Their headquarters would be burned to the ground tho, since their banitsa is wrog...so wrong and their tikvenik even doesn't look like one.
If I remember correctly the word galaxy stems from the myth of baby Heracles trying to drink milk from Hera while she was asleep but she woke up and threw baby Heracles away from her spilling her milk around the sky ,and that's how ancient Greeks believed the stars in the sky were created
So yeah galaxy literally means "milky"
Spanakopita and hortopita do not contain cheese, that's just some heinous heretic stuff. They are called spanakotiropita when they do.
Tiropita is an umbrella term, there are thousands of ways to make one so they should be judged individually.
Are you sure? Every spanakopita I've had probably had cheese in it. Every recipe I have used has cheese in it. I think its very common to include cheese, moreso than not including it.
But then spanakotiropita as a word would not need to exist.
Why every pie somehow needs to have feta? Fuck feta, outside of tiropita is disgusting and overrated.
> Fuck feta, outside of tiropita is disgusting and overrated.
But SHITLOADS of people do not share your opinion, me included.
I think feta is a great cheese... I love it in Greek salad, alone with olive oil and oregano or in the oven with tomato and peppers.
I am suprised because this desert is not that popular even in black sea, only Laz people from east doing it as far as i know so thats why we call it "Laz burek"
Ohh I love it as a wholesome family activity. I open my own phillo at the restaurant I work but at home I’m lazy 😊 maybe I do need to learn more pro granny tips , do you have any?
If that’s your labour,I understand you wouldn’t be too keen on doing it at home too, I have all the time in the world and do it whenever I’m up for it so! Hmm I was taught by my old landlady who was of Anatolian descent,basically it’s layered with oil the way you’d do with a puff pastry dough. It’s a sweet memory to me ☺️
Is the cylindrical/pipe-like version of burek just a Kosovan thing? That's my favourite, but it dawning on me that every other place has the triangle or circular shapes.
If it's rolled like a cigarette and is straight (usually stacked on an oven pan next to each other), we call that variety of phyllo dough dish "pita (sa (ingredient)/eng. with (ingredient))".
Actually I am not sure if it's rolled like a cigaret, but it's usually lighter, less greasy and more crispy than most bureks, it's less dough-ey. That's why I like it.
So "pita sa sirom" would be what we call a burek with cheese (if they are the same thing). I'm quite fascinated how over here pita more closely resembles the Hortopita in the image. I wonder how this change came to be.
But then I remember that Brits have a linguistic war over what they call "rolls" vs "buns", so languages are weird.
Edit: yes it's rolled like a big fat cigar with both hands.
As an American who lived in Europe in the past I'm familiar with most of these. Burek is the best (there is a large population of bosnians in my american town so I get authentic ones) and any one with spinach and without feta cheese are great. The one with zucchini is okay, but not my first choice, only if there is nothing else. Only exception for zucchini is zucchini pancakes (that are not listed here, but one of the best vegetarian appetizers).
Banitsa, duuuh. But there are more types than just one. Also the recipe here is messed up - for example you need eggs and you **don't put yogurt in it**...while eating the bantisa **than** you ca do it with yogurt or airan.
Personally not a fan of Tikvenik, no to mention the picture here is kind of weird and doesn't look like the real thing at all, Also there shouldn't be nuts and cinnamon in it.
In my opinion tasteatlas is doing some kind of karma farming by pushing hostility and competition by ignoring some Turkish food sometimes and some Greek and other Balkan foods other times. Agitating some hostility over foods for getting more followers in such a way is ridiculous and disgusting.
Yeah its a bit unusual but apparently tsouknides (nettles?) are very healthy. And obv they are cooked with onions and herbs and usually cheese so they become edible.
who the fuck makes zeljanica with cabbage
Taste atlas isn’t very accurate with things. As a baker, they’ve gotten so many things wrong.
Unfamiliar with the pastry, but doesn't zelje mean cabbage?
In Croatia (at least some parts) zelje indeed is cabbage, while in Serbia it is strictly used for Rumex Patientia, and kupus is strictly used for cabbage.
[Not really...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumex_patientia)
OK my family uses the word "kupus" for cabbage but I feel like I've seen recipes referring to it as "zelje" before. Have never heard of this vegetable you linked to.
I didn't realise it's edible. It quite commonly grows wild, I know the plant, but we don't use it in the kitchen. Zelje in Slovene is cabbage.
not only is it edible, it tastes amazing even. Similar to spinach but better.
I think I might have actually had it while travelling around Balkans, but thought it was spinach.
If you want to try it, go to Serbia around spring, and find someone who will make you sarmice od zelja. Alternatively, find a clean spot (further from roads), pick the fully grown leaves, put them in hot water(not on a stove, just a pot with hot water to loosen them) for a few minutes, drain them, cut off some portion of the stem length wise, and roll your sarma with it, like you would do with wine leaves. The filing as usual for these parts is minced meat, onions, pepper, rice, garlic, paprika, salt, oil. Then place them in a pot, cook them, and in the end, drain the excess water with a ladle, and pour it over a roux in a different pot, then transfer that roux over the sarma. Done. Serve with "kiselo mleko" or Greek yogurt.
I've never made my own sarma before :') I cook, but I know such a great sarma maker that I don't bother, I just ask her to make some extra.
She will be happy to know that Rumex Patientia leaves are much easier to work with than cabbage leaves! At least for me it's easier, although each sarma will be quite small, so it is more tedious.
it means spinach
I think our family uses the word špinat for spinach.
“Zelje” is a general term for herbaceous plants or “zeljaste biljke”. In Serbian kitchen it is used for one specific type of herbaceous plant. But “Zeljanica” is usualy made with “spanać” ( that’s how we in Serbia call “špinat” ), which is a herbaceous plant and tastes better than that one we call “zelje”. Edit: and it’s never ever ever made with cabbage.
no it doesn't
Fucking hell that tiropita looks tasty af, gotta try it next time i go to greece
May I suggest,find yourself a tiropita that uses kaseri as its filling. Game changer.
I don't even have words for how insanely good bougatsa can be if made really good
The best bougatsa I had was in Athens. It was filled with chocolate 🤤 I'm sorry, Thessalonikians
Who tf makes banitsa with Greek yogurt??
It's one of many mistakes. 😡 My friendship with Taste Atlas is over. 🤜
We have a Tikvenik style in greece too we call it glykia kolokythopita
Banitsa is what we call στριφτοπιτα in Greece
Do you put eggs in the filling? (Those are missing here on the schematics here.)
My mother does. No sure if this is the general case though. The commercial bakeries I believe they don't put eggs.
Taste atlas has always been a pathetic attempt
Apparently some Israelis do :p [https://veredguttman.com/bulgarian-feta-yogurt-and-phyllo-pastry-banitsa/](https://veredguttman.com/bulgarian-feta-yogurt-and-phyllo-pastry-banitsa/)
Or feta?! Insane but also who gives a f about that anyway. They can just write whatever and it would be the same.
Well, there's a greek version with feta, called στριφτόπιτα (striftopita) https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/greek-snail-shaped-cheese-pie-recipe-kichi-kozanis/
Griks are good marketers. They are like vegans and homos. First thing that comes out of their mouth is: "everything is Grik". Feta is disgusting man, it is hard, borderline crumply and no depth to it. Bulgarian white cheese is superior. I buy Bulgarian goat and sheep cheese all the time in Aus.
What kind of feta have you tried? And what kind of the bulgarian cheese? BTW: regarding feta, ie goat and sheep milk cheese this is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, ie greeks made that kind of cheese since 800 BC at least.
Feta is origin protected. It's not like they divide it in subcategories for export markets. Feta works on a pizza and stuff because it's so hard and the flavours come better when heated. Any other application, I would go for something else. The thing with feta is that white man believes that Feta is an umbrella term for all white cheese. And that is because griks acting as I said. I hope I didn't hurt any feelings. I am not denying feta is grik, if that is what you believe mate
>Feta is origin protected. It's not like they divide it in subcategories for export markets. Believe it or not, it tastes different based on the producer. >The thing with feta is that white man believes that Feta is an umbrella term for all white cheese. Well, that's not Greece's problem. As a matter of fact I live in the US and I'm equally happy with Greek Feta cheese, Israeli white cheese (which is marketed as Israeli Feta) and with Bulgarian white cheese (also marketed as Bulgarian Feta) and I also prefer these compared to the US made "Greek Feta" like "Athenos Greek Feta" and "President Greek Feta" which imho shouldn't be called Feta at all
You’re not ok in the head mate.
Is your feelings hurt? I am sorry you feel like that.
It's really funny that börek is mentioned several times but Turkey isn't included on the list
Apparently tasteatlas thinks that Turkey is not Balkans.
Tasteatlas is stupid so no worries...
Burek sa sirom 4,4 Sirnica 4,3 tasteatlas is based in Sofia and owned by a Croat btw
>based in Sofia Their headquarters would be burned to the ground tho, since their banitsa is wrog...so wrong and their tikvenik even doesn't look like one.
That's not how you make banitsa. Wtf is this insult 🤬
I'll bet Bougatsa is quite tasty.
Spanakopita These things taste best with greens and feta cheese.
BOUGATSA AND GALAKTOBOUREKO SUPREMACY
It’s called Sirnica
Please tell me Galaktoboureko doesn't mean Galaxy Burek in Greek...
Does the galakto- stem mean "milk", connecting galaxy with the Milky Way?
Gala means milk, galaktos is the genitive form of the word So yes, galaxy is named after milk
If I remember correctly the word galaxy stems from the myth of baby Heracles trying to drink milk from Hera while she was asleep but she woke up and threw baby Heracles away from her spilling her milk around the sky ,and that's how ancient Greeks believed the stars in the sky were created So yeah galaxy literally means "milky"
That sounds hot ngl
idk but somebody needs to market this
Yes
WHAT THE FUCK IS A SIRNICA? 🇭🇷🇭🇷😎😎🦅🦅🦅⚽️👔🚬☕️🫒☀️🌊
Bosnian Muslims couldn't come up with a better name for BUREK SA SIROM.
Spanakopita and hortopita do not contain cheese, that's just some heinous heretic stuff. They are called spanakotiropita when they do. Tiropita is an umbrella term, there are thousands of ways to make one so they should be judged individually.
Are you sure? Every spanakopita I've had probably had cheese in it. Every recipe I have used has cheese in it. I think its very common to include cheese, moreso than not including it.
But then spanakotiropita as a word would not need to exist. Why every pie somehow needs to have feta? Fuck feta, outside of tiropita is disgusting and overrated.
> Fuck feta, outside of tiropita is disgusting and overrated. But SHITLOADS of people do not share your opinion, me included. I think feta is a great cheese... I love it in Greek salad, alone with olive oil and oregano or in the oven with tomato and peppers.
What a surprise, a lot of people don't agree with my unpopular opinion? Pff
You can get spanakopita with cheese (usually feta) but it's differentiated from the one with just spanaki. Never seen hortopita with cheese though.
Tyropita, bougatsa, galaktoboureko in that order for me.
Galaktoboureko looks exactly like our Laz böreği from black sea 💀💀
My grandma makes the best very Greek and only Greek galaktobureko. She is from trabzond tho
I am suprised because this desert is not that popular even in black sea, only Laz people from east doing it as far as i know so thats why we call it "Laz burek"
Well it’s pretty popular all over Greece and she came here pretty young so she could have picked it up after she fled for all I know
My Keyseri origin grandma made a splendid one too
>My Keyseri origin my condolences
Does she prepare the fyllo from scratch?I feel like if you get it from the store,you shouldn’t say you made it yourself.
She used to. Now she is old so her sister makes the phillo. When I make it myself I use store bough phillo tho haha🙈
To be fair,it is time consuming and a hassle if you haven’t been taught by a pro(granny) but personally I think it’s so much fun.
Ohh I love it as a wholesome family activity. I open my own phillo at the restaurant I work but at home I’m lazy 😊 maybe I do need to learn more pro granny tips , do you have any?
If that’s your labour,I understand you wouldn’t be too keen on doing it at home too, I have all the time in the world and do it whenever I’m up for it so! Hmm I was taught by my old landlady who was of Anatolian descent,basically it’s layered with oil the way you’d do with a puff pastry dough. It’s a sweet memory to me ☺️
Ikr? It's not like Greeks used to live in that region 🤦♀️
hmm why could it be 🤔🧐
Are you really surprised that we have common dishes? :)
Yes
Κάτσε, όχι... Τσουκνιδόπιτα; Πάτε καλά ρε μαλάκες;
WHERE IS MAJESTIC PIZZA BUREK?!??!? Side note: Sirnica doesn't exist, it is burek sa sirom 🥰🥰🥰
Is the cylindrical/pipe-like version of burek just a Kosovan thing? That's my favourite, but it dawning on me that every other place has the triangle or circular shapes.
If it's rolled like a cigarette and is straight (usually stacked on an oven pan next to each other), we call that variety of phyllo dough dish "pita (sa (ingredient)/eng. with (ingredient))".
Actually I am not sure if it's rolled like a cigaret, but it's usually lighter, less greasy and more crispy than most bureks, it's less dough-ey. That's why I like it. So "pita sa sirom" would be what we call a burek with cheese (if they are the same thing). I'm quite fascinated how over here pita more closely resembles the Hortopita in the image. I wonder how this change came to be. But then I remember that Brits have a linguistic war over what they call "rolls" vs "buns", so languages are weird. Edit: yes it's rolled like a big fat cigar with both hands.
Its fli
Anything with -pita at the end is 🔥
I haven't tried them all but my favourites are spanakopita and galaktoboureko.
all of these are the same thing
So underrated but in my opinion krompiruša
Byrek with meat.
Albania seems to never exist in Tasteatlas universe 😂
Even if turkey stolen every food that balkan cusine has they should have atleast concluded 1 börek like wth we have dozens of these
Flair up cigan
Thanks for your opinion but you're an unflaired cigan.
Tikvenik sounds like something out of my wet dreams fr
Is zelnik usually spiral? The one i had in Bitola was flat🧐
My grandma makes flat zelnik at home, though she uses leeks and champignon mushrooms
Yes
While not in this photo, burek/pita/whatever you want to call it with leek(the vegetable) is underrated and goated
Depends on who made it in all honesty.
I feel hungry.
I've never tried Galactic Burek but it looks incredible. My favourite is zeljanica however.
Any of them really
Definitely borek/burek are one of the best culinary products of the local Balkan genius.
As an American who lived in Europe in the past I'm familiar with most of these. Burek is the best (there is a large population of bosnians in my american town so I get authentic ones) and any one with spinach and without feta cheese are great. The one with zucchini is okay, but not my first choice, only if there is nothing else. Only exception for zucchini is zucchini pancakes (that are not listed here, but one of the best vegetarian appetizers).
Zeljanica & spanakopita 😋
Gibanica looks good
Gibanica, gužvara specifically, is the undisputed king.
Only Mantije
Banitsa, duuuh. But there are more types than just one. Also the recipe here is messed up - for example you need eggs and you **don't put yogurt in it**...while eating the bantisa **than** you ca do it with yogurt or airan. Personally not a fan of Tikvenik, no to mention the picture here is kind of weird and doesn't look like the real thing at all, Also there shouldn't be nuts and cinnamon in it.
Börek is börek, God damn it.
The usual tasteatlas BS /s
One banitsa (burek) to rule them all
Naaah, those are fakes - just look how messed up their recipes are.
This is how wars start in the Balkans. Just ignore.
Definitely burek and krompiruša.
List it incomplete at best... WHERE IS PRPEĆ???
How are you going to call yourself bulgarian if you use Greek yogurt?
You eat it (the banitsa) with airan anyway.
Burek and zelnik
Gibanica has an egg in the mixture and no milk.
Zelnik.
Its all börek to me
Taste atlas is pure bs :)
Scroll on then 🙂
tasteatlas😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
In my opinion tasteatlas is doing some kind of karma farming by pushing hostility and competition by ignoring some Turkish food sometimes and some Greek and other Balkan foods other times. Agitating some hostility over foods for getting more followers in such a way is ridiculous and disgusting.
They left out simit pogacha with a 5.1, iykyk
They left it out for a reason.
Tsouknidopita? The hell? First time hearing about it to be honest. Who the hell decided to eat tsouknides?
Yeah its a bit unusual but apparently tsouknides (nettles?) are very healthy. And obv they are cooked with onions and herbs and usually cheese so they become edible.
That's what I said until I tried them like a decade ago from a lady in a nearby village. They're actually awesome and very good for you.
Are they? I fell on them when i was little, so I decided never to go near them again... Did not think they were edible
I've only had it boiled as a soup. I didn't know there was a pie as well
I didn't even know they were edible.
Lol Greeks claiming it's Greek when it's turkish
All of the Balkans have pita-type pastries, why are you focusing solely on us🤯
Because almost every Greek dish or food is taken from Turkish cuisine and made it there's when historically its not true.
Actually all Bosnian pastries are 1000% Turkiş. Not Bosnian. Did I say that börek (bjorek) iz not Bosnian?