Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday

In Poland and Polish communities in the United States, such as in the Midwest, Mardi Gas is called “Fat Tuesday”. In some areas it is also called Paczki Day," referring to the dense puffy jelly-filled doughnuts. As I look back on my childhood in a definite Polish environment,(both parents, aunts and uncle came from Poland) I can see why they called it Fat Tuesday. All the family would get together and have a “feast”. There wasn’t a lot of polish dishes I really liked (mother use to say I was more Italian than Polish in my food tastes) but I did love the pastries. My favorites were the Paczki and the kolache/kolace. About four blocks from our house was a mom and pa bakery. When my dad felt ‘rich” or had a craving for sweets ( got my pastry sweet tooth from him and my salt cravings from my mom) he would walk to the bakery and buy pastries for the weekend. I would love to have some those pastries now. They were the best. But I settle for the occasional glazed doughnut or a jelly filled one. I have made Kolaches before but they never tasted like the ones from that bakery of my childhood.  I have a recipe for paczki I found on the internet. Maybe for our family Easter gathering I will make them. But then again there is always Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.
Here is the recipe if you are interested.




Take care, Rose