February 20, 2012

Pazcki Day is Tomorrow

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, and  Paczki Day are some of the pre-Lent celebrations that I am aware of. As a Polish Roman Catholic, I am most familiar with and celebrate Paczki Tuesday.

I will do my best to tell you how to pronounce this word phonetically.
•Singular noun is Paczek (pohn-check)
•Plural noun is Paczki (punch-key or poonch-key)

Paczki are a yeast dough that is fried then filled with custard, raspberry, apricot, or prune, and is covered with sugar or a glaze. While this Polish sweet treat resembles a bismarck, the dough of a Paczki is much richer.

My mother was Irish, and my father Polish we lived in a Polish neighborhood that provided all of our shopping needs within walking distance. Our Paczki always came from the Polish bakery that was just down the street.  Some of my friends' parents' and grandparents' would prepare Paczki and serve them hot from the frier. I have had the pleasure of many warm homemade Paczki. Thank you, Mrs. Semasko and Mrs. Werenski.



It seems that before the start of  the Lenten season all of the lard, eggs, and sugar needed to be used up before the fast began, and so began Paczki Day. This is the story that I was told as a child, this is what I have told my children, and what they are now telling their children. 

I have ordered my Paczki and will picking them up in the morning so I can have a cup of coffee and a prune Paczki.

If Paczki are available in your area, perhaps you might give them a try.

9 comments:

  1. I just love these ethnic dishes! And of course I had pronounced it 'PASS-key' until you gave me the pronunciation guide. lol I am always SO appreciative of pronunciations guides (a little quirk of mine). Great post. :-)

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  2. Oh, how I wish they were availble here but no such luck. I would love to try a real Polish Paczki. I don't know that my cooking skills are up to making them.

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  3. They look really tasty Paulette.Polish food is gorgeous, we went to Krakow a few years ago and the food we had was out of this world.We deliberately picked things from the menu we wouldnt normally have tried, in particular the jewish dishes were so good.
    We will be having pancakes tomorrow as it is Shrove tuesday here.Cant wait I love them!

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  4. I'm the product of an Irish mom Russian dad but we never had treats as tasty as that. I'll be on the lookout for Paczki!

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  5. I work at a school, and our Theology department treats everyone to Paczkis tomorrow- can't wait!!!!

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  6. those look wonderful...we have a polish bakery just up the street. will go there tomorrow to get some paczki!

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  7. Returning the Linky love from Happy Hour Projects, thanks for coming by!

    We have a decent Polish population where I live, so all the stores carry paczkis. And while I realize I just pluralized the plural, that's what everyone here says so I really can't help it, LOL. It might not sound too delicious to most, but the prune ones are my favorite! :) (I managed to stop at just ONE yesterday, though!)

    Adrianne
    www.happyhourprojects.com

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  8. I remember Fastnachts vaguely from my childhood. My grandparents lived in PA German country and that's what they would go to the local church to purchase (fundraiser for the church). From what I remember they were donut like creations of wonderful yumminess.

    We didn't have anything like that in Virginia. Maybe a pancake supper or two.....

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  9. Love this post, my husband is Polish and we love Pączki. My favorite are blueberry. I love when we go to Warsaw to be with family and my mother in law has them!!!

    Tamika
    www.notimefortea.com

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