Paczki Day (aka Fat Tuesday)!!

Posted by Devon Akmon | Filed under Food

If you’ve lived anywhere near a sizable Polish community in the United States then you must be familiar with Pączki! In addition to being such a fun word to pronounce (go on, say “POONCH-kee”), these little devils are delectable. Growing up in metro Detroit and having attended Catholic school as a child, Fat Tuesday was something we looked forward to each year; it meant we would have fresh pączki delivered to our school straight from Hamtramck.

So, for the newbies, you must be wondering what are pączki and where does this tradition come from? First of all, pączki are essentially deep fried doughnuts filled with sweet filling (think jelly doughnut) and covered with powdered sugar or icing. So, how do these differ from the more common jelly doughnut? Pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar and sometimes milk. In other words, bakers throw in everything but the kitchen sink (remember, Fat Tuesday marks the coming of Lent).

Pączki have a long history in Poland dating back centuries. However, pączki are traditionally consumed on Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before Lent, in Poland. Here in the US the tradition takes place on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning on the Lenten season. As explained on Wikipedia, “the reason for making pączki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, because they were forbidden to be consumed due to Catholic fasting practices during Lent.”

Hamtramck has long been the center of the Detroit Polish community (although, the small Detroit enclave is much, much more diverse these days). This is the place to go for pączki. People have been known to drive great distances for these treats, especially given the large Catholic population in metro Detroit (think Italians, Polish, Irish, Lebanese and Iraqi Chaldean communities). The long lines leading out of the various bakery doors are quite common on Fat Tuesday. Last year I visited one bakery with some work colleagues and we waited close to two hours to buy our pączki! This year I’m heading to Hamtramck a day early to buy my dozen to share with family and friends.

So, how decadent are pączki? According to this Detroit News article, a typical 5-ounce pączek contains about 420 calories and 25 or more grams of fat. If you’re a newbie and not quite sure where to buy pączki, then head over to Chowhound and take a look at what’s recommended. Me, I’ll be heading to New Palace Bakery as usual!