Börek Chronicles #3: Avcı böreği {Hunter’s roll}

A different kind, definitely not a classic, too many thoughts involving my mother and actually a crepe with mussels, definitely a random recipe of sorts

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When I was a child some restaurants used to serve an unusual börek called “avcı böreği / hunter’s roll”.

Unusual because it was not something it was ever made at homes. Or at least not at the homes I knew. As a child I loved that börek. I had this feeling my mother despised it, not thinking highly of it and whenever I ordered one, she made a face. I felt so disapproved, I would not dare to ask of it to be replicated at home. Yet when I had a chance at a restaurant I ordered it trying to avoid my mother’s stare.

I don’t know why she so despised this börek. She didn’t feel it to be worthy maybe, inferior. Worthy of what, I want to ask now as an adult, but I can’t, can I? She passed away way too early, the best cook I have ever known and my teacher, my master in the kitchen. I still can’t understand her deep dislike of this börek.

All these thoughts were lingering on my mind last week, when I was preparing “avci böreği / hunter’s roll”. At least a version of it. The original as far as I can remember had minced meat in it and covered in a crepe or filo which was drenched in flour-eggs-breadcrumbs and fried. I looked it up on internet and it seems there was fine bulghur in it as well. I don’t have a recollection of such a detail, as a child I was too busy devouring a peculiarly coated deep fried börek. The thing I remember is the texture of it and the mouthfeel.

I was having guests over for dinner and as I was trying to figure out the the menu, I felt a crunchy element was missing and also something of substantial texture to bite into. In a flash, I had a lightbulb moment: what about a avcı böreği? It was substantial enough with the crispy exterior. But instead of the classic, what if I stuffed mussels into my version of hunter’s rolls with a filling packed with onions… Sweetness from the carrots and onions, earthiness from the pine nuts, brininess from the mussels, freshness from parsley and dill, and crunch from the crepe coating. That was the random vision.