Constantinopolitan Su Boregi / Nerompoureko (Σου Μπουρέκι)

Constantinopolitan su boregi, called nerompoureko in many Greek kitchens of the City, is a water pie: handmade pastry sheets boiled first, then layered with cheese and baked in a round tapsi. That boiling is what makes it itself. Where spanakopita wants crispness, this pie wants softness, a tender pull between the layers and a browned top that still yields under the knife.

The method looks strange only the first time. You roll the egg dough thin, boil each sheet for less than a minute, cool it, drain it, and layer it while it is still supple. The water changes the bite of the dough. It becomes silky instead of brittle, which is why packaged dry phyllo gives you a different pie no matter how much butter you brush between the sheets.

Use a sharp feta and a melting yellow Greek cheese, kasseri if you can get it, graviera if that's what your shop has. Λίγα και καλά, a few things, and good ones. I write this one down carefully because the old Politiki cooks often kept the rhythm in their hands: boil, cool, drain, butter, layer. Once you do it once, your hands begin to understand.