Pączki

Description

A pączek is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened ball and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing, glaze, or bits of dried orange zest. A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally rectified spirit) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough. Pączki are commonly thought of as fluffy but somewhat collapsed, with a bright stripe around them; these features are seen as evidence that the dough was fried in fresh oil.

Although they look like German berliners (bismarcks in North America) or jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar, yeast, and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar. Powidła (stewed plum jam) and wild rose petal jam are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry, and apple.

Pączki have been known in Poland at least since the Middle Ages. Jędrzej Kitowicz wrote that during the reign of Augustus III, under the influence of French cooks who came to Poland, pączki dough was improved so that pączki became lighter, spongier, and more resilient.

File:Paczki - stos.JPG|Pączki displayed for sale File:00409 paczki z serem, sanok.jpg|Traditional pączki serowe (curd-based pączki) or oponki File:HomePaczki.jpg|Home-made glazed pączki File:Paczki.jpg|American-made pączki

Etymology, spelling, and pronunciation

The Polish word pączek (plural: pączki ) is a diminutive of the Polish word pąk "bud". The latter derives from Proto-Slavic pǫkъ, which may have referred to anything that is round, bulging and about to burst (compare Proto-Slavic pǫknǫti "to swell, burst"), possibly of ultimately onomatopoeic origin. From Polish the word has been borrowed into several other Slavic languages, where the respective loanwords (ru, uk or bg) refer to a similar ball-shaped pastry.

English speakers typically use the plural form of the Polish word in both singular and plural. They pronounce it as and often write it as "paczki", i.e., without the ogonek (hook-shaped diacritic). This should not be confused with the unrelated Polish word paczki , which is the plural form of paczka , meaning "package" or "parcel".

Pączki Day

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In Poland, pączki are eaten especially on Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek), the last Thursday prior to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. The traditional reason for making pączki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, because their consumption was forbidden by Christian fasting practices during the season of Lent.

In North America, particularly the large Polish communities of Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, and other large cities across the Midwest and Northeast, Paczki Day is celebrated annually by immigrants and locals alike. The date of this observance merges with that of pre-Lenten traditions of other immigrants (e.g., Pancake Day, Mardi Gras) on Fat Tuesday. With its sizable Polish population, Chicago celebrates the festival on both Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday. Pączki are also often eaten on Casimir Pulaski Day. In Buffalo, Toledo, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, St. Louis, South Bend, Louisville, and Windsor, Pączki Day is celebrated on Fat Tuesday.

The Pączki Day celebrations in some areas are even larger than many celebrations for St. Patrick's Day. In Hamtramck, Michigan, an enclave of Detroit, there is an annual Pączki Day (Shrove Tuesday) Parade, which has gained a devoted following. Throughout the Metro Detroit area, it is so widespread that many bakeries attract lines of customers for pączki on Pączki Day. In suburban Cleveland, Eastern European bakery Rudy's Strudel hosts a large indoor and outdoor Paczki Day party in conjunction with neighboring record store, The Current Year. It is called "the Mardi Gras of the Midwest".

In some areas, Pączki Day is celebrated with pączki-eating contests.

United States and Canada

These pastries have become popular in the United States and Canada as a result of Polish immigrants and marketing by the bakery industry. Sold in bakeries mainly on both Fat Tuesday and Fat Thursday throughout Detroit, Chicago, and Windsor, they are particularly popular in areas where there is a large concentration of Polish immigrants: Milwaukee, Northcentral and Southeastern Wisconsin, Chicago, Northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana, Metro Detroit, Greater Grand Rapids, Mid Michigan, Greater Toronto Area, Greater Buffalo, New York, Greater Rochester, New York, Toledo, Greater Cincinnati, Greater Cleveland, Youngstown, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Northern and Central New Jersey, Central Connecticut, and Western Massachusetts.

Explanatory notes

Citations

General and cited sources

• {{cite web |access-date = 2018-02-02
• {{cite book | editor-last1 = Bańkowski | editor-first1 = Andrzej | trans-title = Polish etymological dictionary
• {{cite book | editor-last = Barber | editor-first = Katherine | editor-link = Katherine Barber | access-date = 2016-12-23 | url-access = subscription
• {{cite book | editor-last1 = Bizzarri | editor-first1 = Amy
• {{cite book | editor-last = Melnichuk | editor-first = O. S. | trans-title = Etymological Dictionary of Ukrainian Language | script-title = uk:Етимологічний словник української мови
• {{cite book | trans-title = Let me eat!
• {{cite book | author-link = Stanisław Czerniecki | trans-title = A Collection of Dishes
• {{cite web | access-date = 2018-02-02
• {{cite web | editor-last1 = Doroszewski | editor-first1 = Witold | trans-title = Polish Dictionary
• {{cite book | editor-last1 = Dumanowski | editor-first1 = Jarosław | editor-last2 = Jankowski | editor-first2 = Rafał | trans-title = A Very Good Way of Frying Various Confections
• {{cite web | trans-title = Pączki of the past, or Fat Thursday in history | access-date = 2018-02-06
• {{cite book | editor-last1 = Edge | editor-first1 = John T.
• {{cite book | trans-title = Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary | script-title = bg:Български етимологичен речник
• {{cite book |trans-title=Description of customs and habits under Augustus III
• {{cite book | author-link = Maciej Kuroń | trans-title = Polish Cuisine: Cuisine of a Commonwealth of Many Nations
• {{cite book | author1-link = Tadeusz Żakiej | author2-link = Tadeusz Żakiej |trans-title=Old Polish Traditions in the Kitchen and at the Table
• {{cite web |trans-title = List of traditional products |access-date = 2016-06-15 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180524011143/http://www.minrol.gov.pl/Jakosc-zywnosci/Produkty-regionalne-i-tradycyjne/Lista-produktow-tradycyjnych |archive-date = 2018-05-24 |url-status = dead
• {{cite book |trans-title=History of the Polish Taste: Kitchen, Table, Customs
• {{cite book
• {{cite book | orig-year = 1934
• {{cite book | orig-year = 1993
• {{cite book | editor1-last = Thaker | editor1-first = Aruna | editor2-last = Barton | editor2-first = Arlene | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YF1YCg5Ig-EC&pg=PA277
• {{cite book |trans-title=Polish Cuisine: Regional Dishes
• {{cite web | author-link = Dmitry Ushakov | trans-title = Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language | script-title = ru:Толковый словарь русского языка
• {{cite web | editor-last1 = Żmigrodzki | editor-first1 = Piotr |trans-title=The Great Polish Dictionary

References

1. (2005). "Polish Heritage Cookery". Hippocrene.
2. Karolinas. "''Skąd wziął się Tłusty Czwartek? Skąd wziął się Tłusty Czwartek?''". [[Interia.pl.
3. Anna Hudyka. (2009-02-18). "''Tłusty Czwartek''". [[Interia.pl.
4. "Pączki? Hard to say, culinary Lenten treat made by nuns".
5. "Pazcki day- eat and celebrate". City of Hamtramck.
6. Barbara Ogrodowska. (1996). "Święta polskie: tradycja i obyczaj". Alfa.
7. (9 February 2023). "Pączki Day: A Polish tradition becomes an American tradition". Michigan State University.
8. Lukach, Adam. (23 February 2017). "Paczki day specials from 33 Chicago restaurants and bakeries". Chicago Tribune.
9. "Fat Tuesday Can Be Paczki Pandemonium". [[WWJ-TV]].
10. "Rudy's Strudel announces 2022 Paczki Day details". [[Cleveland.com]].