Tiropita

Tiropita or tyropita (Greek: τυρóπιτα, "cheese-pie") is a Greek pastry made with layers of buttered phyllo and filled with a cheese-egg mixture.[1] It is served either in an individual-size free-form wrapped shape, or as a larger pie that is portioned.

Tiropita
Tiropita with garnish.
Place of origin Greece
Main ingredientsphyllo, eggs, cheese

History

The modern Greek tyropita is historically derived from the tyropatinum, which was a sweet custard developed by the ancient Greeks of Sicily consisting of eggs, ricotta cheese, and honey.[2]

Other scholars suggest that the ancient Greek placenta cake (or plakous, πλακοῦς) and its Eastern Roman (Byzantine) descendant, plakountas tetyromenous (πλακούντας τετυρομένους, "cheesy placenta") and en tyritas plakountas (εν τυρίτας πλακούντας, "cheese-inserted placenta"), are the ancestors of modern tiropita (börek or banitsa).[3][4] Cato the Elder included a recipe for placenta in his De Agri Cultura (160 BC):

Shape the placenta as follows: place a single row of tracta along the whole length of the base dough. This is then covered with the mixture [cheese and honey] from the mortar. Place another row of tracta on top and go on doing so until all the cheese and honey have been used up. Finish with a layer of tracta...place the placenta in the oven and put a preheated lid on top of it [...] When ready, honey is poured over the placenta.[3][5]

Another theory is that layered dishes like tyropita have their origins in Turkish cuisine and may trace back to layered pan-fried breads developed by the Turks of Central Asia before their westward migration to Anatolia in the late Middle Ages (cf. baklava).[6]

See also

References

Citations
  1. Ozimek, Sarah (1 February 2017). "TIROPITA (GREEK CHEESE PIES)". Curious Cuisinière. Retrieved 10 February 2020. Tiropita (or tyropita) is a Greek pie made from layers of phyllo dough that are filled with a cheese and egg mixture.
  2. Musco 2003, "Sicilian Food II; History": "The Greeks in Sicily also made custard of ricotta; honey and eggs called tyropatinum, a sweet version of the modern Greek cheese pie known as tyropita."
  3. Faas 2005, pp. 184–185.
  4. Salaman 1986, p. 184; Vryonis 1971, p. 482.
  5. Cato the Elder. De Agri Cultura, 76.
  6. Perry 2000, pp. 87–92.

Sources
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