P?czki ( PAWNCH-kee, Polish: p?czki ['p?nt??k?i] ( listen), singular: p?czek; Old Polish and Silesian: krepel) are pastries traditional to Polish cuisine. They are similar to doughnuts.
Video P?czki
Description
P?czki are deep-fried pieces of dough shaped into flattened spheres and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. P?czki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing, glaze or bits of dried orange zest. A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally, Spiritus) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough. The common opinion is that the ideal p?czek is fluffy and at the same time a bit collapsed, with a bright stripe around - it is supposed to guarantee that the dough was fried in fresh oil.
Although they look like German berliners, North American bismarcks or jelly doughnuts, p?czki 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. Powidl (stewed plum jam) and wild rose hip jam are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry, and apple.
P?czki have been known in Poland at least since the Middle Ages. J?drzej Kitowicz has described that during the reign of August III, under the influence of French cooks who came to Poland, p?czki dough was improved, so that p?czki became lighter, spongier, and more resilient.
Maps P?czki
Etymology and pronunciation
The Polish word p?czki is the plural form of the Polish word p?czek ['p?nt???k]. P?czek itself is a diminutive of p?k (English: plant bud).
In English, paczki serves as both the singular and plural term, though some speakers use "paczkis" for the plural. Whereas sometimes the Polish spelling with the Polish letter ? is retained in English language publications, many sources anglicize to paczki.
The common English pronunciation PAWNCH-kee imitates the Polish phonology, though some speakers pronounce the word PUUNCH-kee.
Dictionaries translate p?czek as doughnut, donut and (botanically) bud. American-style doughnuts with a hole are sometimes known in Polish as donaty [d?'nat?].
P?czki Day
In Poland, p?czki are eaten especially on Fat Thursday (T?usty Czwartek), the last Thursday prior to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. The traditional reason for making p?czki 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, 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; p?czki are also often eaten on Casimir Pulaski Day. In Buffalo, Toledo, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, South Bend, and Windsor, P?czki Day is celebrated on Fat Tuesday.
The P?czki 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 P?czki 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 p?czki on Paczki Day.
In some areas, P?czki Day is celebrated with p?czki-eating contests. The contest in Evanston, Illinois, started in 2010, and is held on the weekend before Fat Tuesday, while Hamtramck's contest is held on the holiday.
United States
These pastries have become popular in the United States as a result of Polish immigrants and marketing by the bakery industry. Sold in bakeries mainly on both Fat Tuesday and Fat Thursday throughout Chicago, they are particularly popular in areas where there is a large concentration of Polish immigrants: Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin, Chicago and Northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana, the Greater Detroit and Mid Michigan areas, Toledo, Greater Cincinnati, Greater Cleveland, Philadelphia, Northern and Central New Jersey, Central Connecticut, Western Massachusetts and greater Chicopee. The Polish community in Buffalo has probably one of the largest Fat Thursday events outside of Poland, which is run in cooperation with the monthly Polish Happy Hour Buffalo event.
Derivatives
In other Slavonic countries, a meal synonymous with p?czki appears in the local cuisines whose name is derived from the same etymology as p?czki:
- Russia: ponchiki (???????), singular ponchik (??????); or, especially in St. Petersburg, pyshki (?????). Ponchiki are a very popular sweet doughnut, with many fast and simple recipes available in Russian cookbooks for making them at home as a breakfast or coffee pastry.
- Bulgaria: ponichki (???????), singular ponichka (???????); usually served with powder?d sugar.
In other countries similar desserts are called:
- Armenia: ponchik is also enjoyed, including the typical deep-fried dough and custard or chocolate filling.
- Czech Republic: koblihy, the Czech word for doughnuts
- Finland: munkki, a dessert similar to p?czki, including the filling
- Lithuania: spurgos, the Lithuanian word for doughnuts
- Israel: sufganiyah
- Slovakia: ?i?ky, the Slovak word for doughnuts
- Ukraine: pampushky (????????)
See also
References
External links
- Paczki Day PSA, an account of Detroit area Paczki Day traditions in 2008
- Paczkis Video produced by Wisconsin Public Television
Source of article : Wikipedia
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