For this recipe, which gives you the option of both types of fillings, I hewed closely to the spirit of my mother’s, while making a few refinements and flourishes of my own. For the cheese filling, I kept the Muenster and feta cheeses, and added goat cheese, which upped both the mixture’s creaminess and its subtle funk (using a sheep’s milk feta here, rather than more demure cow’s milk feta, is best for achieving that notable funkiness). The spinach filling also uses both feta and goat cheese for similar reasons, and gives you the option of using greens other than frozen spinach, such as fresh spinach, watercress, arugula, Swiss chard, or beet greens (see notes section below). In both versions, I increased the quantities of herbs significantly. I also found that clarifying the butter used to assemble the boreks helps keep them crisp. And, for a final bit of flair, I like to garnish mine with a mixture of sesame and nigella seeds.

Assembling boreks is easy if you abide by some guidelines for working with phyllo dough, which is somewhat delicate. Since the phyllo turns brittle if left at refrigerator temperatures for more than a day or two, keep it frozen for as long as possible. When you want to use it, plan ahead, as you’ll want to transfer it to the fridge overnight or leave it at room temperature for at least four hours. To prevent it from drying out and causing breakage, be sure to let the dough sit in its sealed packaging at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Since most phyllo is sold in one-pound packages, you can take what you need (plus a few extra sheets in case one or two tear beyond repair), gently reroll the remainder, wrap the roll in plastic, place it in a zipper-lock bag, and refreeze for up to two weeks.

When working with phyllo, keep the stack of sheets covered with a piece of parchment or wax paper weighed down by a dry kitchen towel (do not use a damp towel, despite what some recipes recommend). Finally, keep in mind that minor tears or cracks won’t be noticeable once the borek is folded and assembled, especially if they end up on the inside, so don’t worry too much as you work with it.

So, what is Israeli food? The closest thing to a one-sentence answer: a cross-fertilization of all of the above, and it’s still evolving. Arab and Jewish, Eastern Europe and North Africa, religious and secular.

Most of my trip was centered in and around Tel Aviv, with a day in Jerusalem, and a drive up north to the seaside town of Acre. Some reoccurring themes all over: olives, falafel, fresh vegetable salads, pita, filo dough pastries, and many (many!) bowls of hummus.

While boreks can be made with puff pastry or yufka, a more rustic pastry dough that sits midway between a pasta and phyllo in thickness and heft, the vast majority of Armenian boreks are made using phyllo dough. The most common filling for Armenian boreks is either a mixture of cheeses—typically melty ones like Muenster or Monterey Jack, tangy feta, and something creamy, like cottage or cream cheese—or a combination of cheese and cooked, well-drained spinach. Aromatic herbs and alliums like parsley, dill, and scallion are common additions to either style, and eggs are usually added as a binder.

Along with cured olives, string cheese, dried apricots, walnut halves, and cured meats like basturma (the Armenian equivalent of bresaola) and sujuk (spiced Armenian sausage), boreks are required for any Armenian mezze spread. I don’t know if that’s 100% true for every Armenian household, but I’ve yet to attend a single gathering of more than a couple of Armenians where boreks weren’t served. (My mother keeps containers of unbaked boreks in her freezer at all times, just in case.)

Boreks—or borags, beregs, boregs, boeregs, depending upon who’s doing the spelling (they’re all pronounced the same)—are buttery, crisp, multilayered phyllo hand pies, filled with cheese, greens, vegetables, meat, or some combination thereof. They’re usually triangle-shaped, although tray-style boreks, baked in a pan and then cut into squares, are also common. They’re beloved by Armenians, but are equally prized throughout the countries that were once a part of the Ottoman Empire, such as Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, and Serbia.

You could say that the Israeli food culture is very young, as Israel only became a nation in 1948. But its roots go back thousands of years. If you want to dig real deep, you could flip through the Old Testament and start talking about the magical manna that sustained the Hebrews in the desert. But we won’t go quite that deep.

What’s become known as Israeli cuisine today is a delicious melting pot of North Africa (Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria) and its Middle Eastern neighbors (Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq), as well as the Mediterranean countries, and don’t forget the Jews from all over Eastern Europe and Russia. Jewish immigration began at the end of the 19th century, and the early settlers brought with them food cultures from far and wide.
This wave of people, mainly from Arab countries but also European Holocaust survivors, flooded the new State of Israel. They tenaciously clung on to their culinary heritages as a way of preserving their identities, but eventually started swapping and sharing cooking styles.

Used as a technique to preserve foods in vinegar or salty acidic water, pickle making has been part of the food culture of many societies for thousands of years. Turkey also has an important place in our culture and traditional cuisine from our table without missing pickles, full of healthy and delicious food for the winter months, especially when prepared in suitable conditions. Stating that pickles, which are a good example of fermented foods, have very healthy probiotic properties for the digestive system thanks to the live microorganisms in them, Altınbaş University Gastronomy Department Inst. See. Merve İşeri Uzunoğlu shared the points to be considered for homemade healthy and delicious pickles. “ALL TOOLS SHOULD BE WASHED AND Rinsed”
He said that the beneficial bacteria found in the intestinal and stomach flora regulate digestion and that the pickle helps to regulate the flora of the body with these beneficial bacteria found in abundance.

Uzunoğlu pointed out that the conjugated linoleic acid formed during the making of pickles has cancer-preventing effects in the researches.

“It is very important to stick to the recipes while setting the pickles. Changing the amounts may cause the spread of harmful bacteria as well as spoil the products to be pickled. At the same time, it should be made sure that all the tools and equipment used are clean and there is no food residue. For this, all tools and equipment with hot detergent water. It should be thoroughly washed and rinsed with.

Used as a technique to preserve foods in vinegar or salty acidic water, pickle making has been part of the food culture of many societies for thousands of years. Turkey also has an important place in our culture and traditional cuisine from our table without missing pickles, full of healthy and delicious food for the winter months, especially when prepared in suitable conditions. Stating that pickles, which are a good example of fermented foods, have very healthy probiotic properties for the digestive system thanks to the live microorganisms in them, Altınbaş University Gastronomy Department Inst. See. Merve İşeri Uzunoğlu shared the points to be considered for homemade healthy and delicious pickles. “ALL TOOLS SHOULD BE WASHED AND Rinsed”
He said that the beneficial bacteria found in the intestinal and stomach flora regulate digestion and that the pickle helps to regulate the flora of the body with these beneficial bacteria found in abundance.

Uzunoğlu pointed out that the conjugated linoleic acid formed during the making of pickles has cancer-preventing effects in the researches.

“It is very important to stick to the recipes while setting the pickles. Changing the amounts may cause the spread of harmful bacteria as well as spoil the products to be pickled. At the same time, it should be made sure that all the tools and equipment used are clean and there is no food residue. For this, all tools and equipment with hot detergent water. It should be thoroughly washed and rinsed with.