Jaya Saxena is a Correspondent at Eater.com, and the collection editor of Finest American Meals and Journey Writing. She explores broad ranging subjects like labor, id, and meals tradition.
The times earlier than the Christian quick of Lent are identified by many names: Mardi Gras season, Carnival, Shrovetide. These are days to eat and drink richly, ideally on king cake, earlier than 40 days of fasting in anticipation of Easter. However in a lot of the midwest, the season all leads as much as Paczki Day: Paczki are a Polish custom, however they’ve change into a beloved culinary custom in lots of communities on Fats Tuesday (this 12 months, Paczki Day is on March 4, 2025). Here is a primer on what they’re and the place to seek out them.
What are paczki?
Paczki are basically Polish doughnuts, although denser and richer than your typical American yeasted doughnut. Conventional fillings embrace rosehip jelly or plum jam, however now they are often discovered crammed with a wide range of jams and candy lotions. The recipe is just like German, Jewish, and Italian crammed doughnuts, however conventional paczki include a splash of Polish vodka known as Spiritus along with the flour, eggs, milk, sugar, yeast, and generally butter that make up the dough.
There are numerous myths as to the place paczki originated. One says Cäcilie Krapf, a cook dinner within the Habsburg royal court docket on the finish of the seventeenth century, threw a ball of dough at her husband and it landed in a pot of boiling oil as an alternative. However these and related treats have lengthy been carnival and different festive interval traditions, possible as a result of, like with the making of pancakes in England or king cake in New Orleans, paczki are supposed to expend remaining eggs, milk and fruit in the home earlier than the quick of Lent (the fasting guidelines was once much more hardcore).
Why are they solely frequent in some components of the U.S.?
The nineteenth century noticed the good Emigration of Polish and Lithuanian individuals, many political elites, to America after the failure of the November Rebellion in opposition to the Russian Empire. Among the earliest settlements have been in Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Chicago. Through the Franco-Prussian conflict, there was a much bigger wave of Polish immigration, with each Polish Jews and Catholics settling the place Polish emigrants had already established themselves, in addition to within the port of Baltimore, Buffalo, New York, and components of New York Metropolis and New Jersey.
It’s nonetheless in these city facilities with giant Polish-Catholic populations like Buffalo, Detroit, and Chicago that you will discover Paczki Day celebrations, a few of that are the Thursday earlier than Ash Wednesday, however most of that are held on Fats Tuesday. Both manner, you’ll discover strains for paczki at Polish bakeries and donut retailers can stretch down the block.
How do you pronounce the phrase “paczki?
The pronunciation has been topic to some debate, with most individuals weighing in on the aspect of “POONCH-key.” Listening to this sound chew, it could appear to lean a bit extra towards “POUNCH-key” or “PAUNCH-key,” however likelihood is, except you converse the language, you will find yourself butchering it. Do not let that cease you from making an attempt! Additionally observe that “paczki” is already plural — should you’re ordering only one, it’s “paczek.” However why would you be ordering only one?
The place are you able to style paczki?
Until you are within the Midwest, sure components of the South, and components of the Northeast, you could be out of luck. Chicagoans can discuss with this map of one of the best paczki, which highlights spots just like the 114-year-old iconic bakery Roeser’s. If you happen to’re in Detroit, bakeries supply each traditional and fashionable takes; New Palace Bakery opens its doorways at 3 a.m. for the paczki die-hards to begin their pickups. You can even get them shipped to you, should you don’t occur to dwell in a spot the place they’re plentiful.