Lakror
{{short description|Albanian pie}}
{{Infobox prepared food
| name = Lakror
| image = Lakror me spinaq 41.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Lakror with spinach filling
| alternate_name =
| country = {{ALB}}
| region = Korçë region, Pogradec region, Devoll region (Albania)
Bitola and Lake Prespa regions (North Macedonia)
| creator =
| course =
| served =
| main_ingredient = flour, oil, lamb, beef, ricotta, feta, cabbage, nettle, spinach, orache, squash, leek, sorrel, tomato, pepper, eggs, milk
| variations =
| calories =
| other =
}}
Lakror ({{langx|aln|Laknor}}, {{langx|aae|Lakruar}}) is a traditional and common regional Albanian pie dish of Albania made with different fillings consisting of various vegetables or meat.
This traditional pie dish is also found among Albanian communities of southern Italy (Arbëreshë). Korçë and its surrounding areas have preserved a particular tradition of the lakror, considered a specialty by local Albanians.{{cite news|title=Lakrori, traditë e herëshme në Korçë|url=https://www.korcanews.al/uncategorized/lakrori-tradite-e-hereshme-ne-korce-1451.html|agency=Korça News|date=16 September 2018|access-date=16 January 2021}} The pie is made in some other parts of southern Albania.{{cite journal|last=Hasko|first=Blegina|title=Vëzhgim mbi ushqimin tradicional të Bregut të Detit|url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=462936|journal=Kultura Popullore|issue=1–2|year=2013|page=6|doi=}} Lakror is also consumed by Albanian communities in south-western North Macedonia, and by Albanians abroad{{cite book|last=Vullnetari|first=Julie|title=Albania on the Move: Links Between Internal and International Migration|year=2012|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=9789089643551|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSGPweA2KL8C&q=lakror|pages=172}} or in the diaspora in places like the US{{cite book|last1=Henderson|first1=George|last2=Olasiji|first2=Thompson Dele|title=Migrants, Immigrants, and Slaves: Racial and Ethnic Groups in America|year=1995|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=9780819197382|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bl5V_QCJ4GYC&q=lakror|page=138}}{{cite conference|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/199419539.pdf|title=American Studies in Albania in the Past and the Future|last=Kadija|first=Refik|date=1994|publisher=Free University of Berlin|page=12}} and Australia. The pie is sometimes called a type of byrek pastry or compared to an American pie.
Etymology
The term lakror is derived from the Albanian word lakër (cabbage, leafy vegetable).{{cite book|last=Elezi|first=Mehmet|title=Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe|year=2006|publisher=Gjergj Fishta|isbn=9789994387465|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5j0_AQAAIAAJ&q=lakror+|pages=795}} The vegetable was probably the original foundation of the pastry dish.
== Preparation ==
Traditionally Albanian women have been involved in preparing a lakror.
The preparation of lakror is a hands on process that involves working and rolling the filo dough into thin layers, later opening the pastry and placing it in a tin,{{cite book|last1=Erol|first1=Ali E.|last2=Gjata|first2=Joris|chapter="Doğmamış Çocuğa Don Biçmek": Visions of a Multicultural Family|editor1-last=González|editor1-first=Alberto|editor2-last=Harris|editor2-first=Tina M.|title=Mediating cultures: Parenting in intercultural contexts|year=2013|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780739179543|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tHJA-wB7Dh4C&q=lakror|pages=127}}{{cite book|last=Sugarman|first=Jane|title=Engendering song: Singing and subjectivity at Prespa Albanian weddings|year=1997|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226779720|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d0vZkH0m-bMC&q=lakror&pg=PA11|pages=368}} or pan. The gjellë (filling) is prepared separately by boiling minced vegetables. A variety of fillings can be made from different vegetables such as cabbage, nettle, spinach, orache, squash, or those with a strong flavour like onions and leeks.{{cite book|last=Thomaj|first=Jan|title=Fjalor i shqipes së sotme: me rreth 34.000 fjalë|year=2002|publisher=Botimet Toena|isbn=9789992716076|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2j4_AQAAIAAJ&q=lakror|pages=648}} Other fillings are made from meat such as beef, lamb or involve combining ingredients like tomato and onion, tomato and pepper, spinach with cheese or with eggs, milk and (olive) oil.{{cite thesis|last=Ahmeti|first=Sharon|date=2017|title=Albanian Muslims in Secular, Multicultural Australia|type=Ph.D.|publisher=University of Aberdeen|url=https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.723248|access-date=1 December 2020|pages=197}}{{cite book|last1=Levinson|first1=David|last2=Ember|first2=Melvin|title=American Immigrant Cultures: Builders of a Nation, Volume 1|year=1997|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=9780028972084|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYgYAAAAIAAJ&q=lakror|pages=30}} "These traditional foods include barbecued roast lamb; spinach; leek or squash - filled pies (lakror)" Sizable portions of gjellë is added to the pastry.{{cite book|author=Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts|title=The Albanian Struggle in the Old World and New|year=1975|publisher=AMS Press|isbn=9780404579258|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4xaI4JxKORIC&q=pungent+|pages=157}} "Lakror, one of the commonest Albanian dishes, resembles an American pie. To make it, the cook rolls dough or paste to a thin layer, places it in a well - greased tin, and generously anoints it with gjelle, or filling. Gjelle usually consists of some succulent vegetables, boiled and then finely minced. Since the word lakror is derived from the Albanian term for cabbage, that vegetable was perhaps the basis of the original concoction; but other vegetables are frequently used. Those of pungent and penetrating flavor, such as leeks, onions, squash and spinach are prime favorites."
File:Lakror me spinaq 2.jpg|Mixing flour, water and a pinch of salt to make dough
File:Lakror me spinaq 6.jpg|Working the dough by hand
File:Lakror me spinaq 9.jpg|Making kulaç (dough balls)
File:Lakror me spinaq 11.jpg|Rolling out kulaç with a okllai (rolling pin) into small petë (flat dough layer)
File:Lakror me spinaq 14.jpg|Placing oil on each small petë
File:Lakror me spinaq 15.jpg|Assembling 5 petë into stack (can go to 10). This process creates pastry flakiness when baked.
File:Lakror me spinaq 20.jpg|Petë stack pressed and bound with a criss-cross pattern
File:Lakror me spinaq 22.jpg|Petë stack rolled out to make one large petë
File:Lakror me spinaq 23.jpg|Petë becoming larger during rolling process
File:Lakror me spinaq 25.jpg|Petë placed atop an oiled tepsi (pan) using rolling pin
File:Lakror me spinaq 26.jpg|Petë adjusted within pan
File:Lakror me spinaq 29.jpg|Gjellë (filling) added atop bottom petë
File:Lakror me spinaq 28.jpg|Second petë, slightly larger, made for top
File:Lakror me spinaq 31.jpg|Second petë placed atop pan
File:Lakror me spinaq 33.jpg|Top petë adjusted within pan
File:Lakror me spinaq 37.jpg|Oil added on top to create crispiness when baked
File:Lakror me spinaq 38.jpg|Excess pastry of both petë is bound into thembra (knotted crust)
File:Lakror me spinaq 39.jpg|Lakror ready for baking
Apart from traditional lakror, there are other variations such as brushtul lakror made from eggs, butter and a filling with feta and cottage cheese.{{cite book|last=|first=|title=Reference Library of European America (Volume III) Countries Albania to Italy|year=1998|publisher=Gale Research|isbn=978-0787629663|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EoP6993Cp44C&q=lakror|pages=18}} "Albanian pies, lakror-byrek, are prepared with a variety of gjelle ("filling"). Fillings may be lamb, beef, cabbage, leeks, onions, squash, spinach, combined with milk, eggs, and olive oil. A lakror known as brushtul lakror is made with a cottage and feta cheese filling, butter and eggs. Domate me qepe is a lakror made with an onion and tomato filling."
Among Orthodox Albanians, Lakror is also made for commemorating St. Basil's day.{{cite book|last=Vitz|first=Evelyn Birge|title=A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith Throughout the Christian Year|year=1991|publisher=Ignatius Press|isbn=9780898703849|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hrdUYzuAO14C&q=lakror&pg=PA163|pages=161, 163}} In some Arbëreshë (Italo-Albanian) communities of southern Italy, the dish is called lakruar and prepared with a filling of cheese, chicken, mixed pork and sheep meat and cinnamon.{{cite news|last=Bellettieri|first=Carmensita|title=Dalla Basilicata, il tortino agrodolce di Carnevale|url=https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/article/basilicata-tortino-agrodolce-carnevale/|language=it|date=1 March 2022|access-date=1 March 2022}}
Organised by the Korçë municipality, an annual Lakror Festival ({{langx|sq|Festa e Lakrorit}}) is held in Korçë or sometimes in a village of the wider area.{{cite thesis|last=Gegollari|first=Nertila Astrit|date=27 August 2010|title=A Tourism Development Plan for Korça County, Albania|type=Masters|publisher=Utica College|url=https://www.utica.edu/academic/library/Gegollari%20NA%202010.pdf|access-date=16 January 2021|page=95}} As a celebration of summer and Albanian cuisine, the festival is attended by locals and tourists. Many lakrors are prepared and then baked in a Saç, a cooking utensil that is covered atop with hot embers.{{cite news|title=Festa e lakrorit në Korçë|url=https://oranews.tv/article/festa-e-lakrorit-ne-korce|agency=Ora News|date=4 September 2019|access-date=16 January 2021}}
See also
External links
=Traditional preparation styles=
- Lakror with pickled cabbage filling (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdvBUxeLmms]
- Lakror with leek filling (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee3QTQrXVoU]
- Lakror with onion and tomato filling, cooked in a saç (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MjAfm0esjY]
- Lakror as made by Albanians from south-western North Macedonia (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-u-Ad9wY-8]
=Other preparation styles=
- Lakror with onion and tomato filling (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQYoxPIkgJA], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sksKaOsp5U0]
- Lakror made from cornflour with spinach filling (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYR9Gz3awLk]
- Lakror with leeks and minimal flour (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcBTKBuazZg]
- Lakror with chicken (and rice) as traditionally made by Cham Albanians (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L_JabaUU4s], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt0-Wg9FKtw]
=Other=
- News footage from the Lakror festival (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGFx6yCJwtw], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wjHeDybv_8], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgKDdIfqYo0]
- Onion and mixed meat Lakror recipe [https://books.google.com/books?id=FAprWfRN8HsC&dq=lakror&pg=PA39]