Of all the herbs we use, either culinarily or ornamentaly, lavender is an aroma, a color, a flower and an herb. Certainly many of the plants which produce our spices have an aroma, but few of them are as versatile in usage as lavender.
Lavender is well known as the scent in a sachet or fine soap, but it lends itself as a flavor very well to honey lavender ice cream or infused into crème Anglaise or pastry cream for a nice perfume and flavor to the finished dish. Lavender flowers can also be pulsed briefly along with granulated sugar in a food processer to make lavender sugar.
Who Used It First
The word Lavender comes from the Latin verb, “to wash,” which makes its presence in soaps such a fitting addition. Romans used lavender to scent their baths, bed, cloths and hair.
Lavender, a member of the mint family, was likely found in the Mediterranean countries and the Middle East and India. It’s been making things smell good for some 2500 years.[1]
There are at least 28 species of lavender and of those we may be most familiar with only a few. English lavender, curiously not from England, is also most likely culinary lavender. “The names widely used for some of the species, ‘English lavender’, ‘French lavender’ and ‘Spanish lavender’ are all imprecisely applied.”[2] The various subspecies do appear different from each other with some flowers being staggered up the stem and in other species bunched all together. All are generally regarded as safe in normal food or medicinal quantities.[3]
The only way to Celebrate Fat Tuesday is call it Pączki Day
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Whaddid He Say?
Pączki are easy to make. They are the traditional celebration food of Polish people on Fat Tuesday.
Despite the absence of the N, “poonch-key” is a mouthful both to say and to eat. The second part is better than the first.
Yeah, it is a hard word to pronounce. It has sounds that our English doesn’t understand. The good news is no matter how well or poorly you say it, that isn’t important because they taste amazing. If you can find the traditional rose pedal confit, well, that’s a treasure.
Ingredients
Milk
Instant yeast
Granulated sugar
Unsalted butter
Egg
Egg yolks
Rum
Salt
All-purpose flour
Filling
Rose marmalade
Bavarian cream
Apple pie filling
Lemon curd
Chocolate pudding
Substitutions
Rum isn’t necessary, but it does add a nice flavor. Rum extract is fine here.
Active dry yeast is not the same as instant, and fresh is different, again, from them both. Instant, or bread machine yeast, should be easy to find.
Fillings is traditionally only one: rose hip marmalade. Amazon has one here, but-shhhhh-it isn’t essential. I mentioned rose pedal confit above. I’ve tried it and it’s too loose to be a good doughnut filling. Tastes great but too messy.
On Line or In Line?
My grandparents spoke of standing in line waiting for a chance to purchase some of these. I never got to visit the bakeries in Hamtramck, the Polish neighborhood in Detroit, when I was a kid.
I’ve been making these for my kids and sharing the extra (want and need are not the same) with neighbors. They always seem so pleased to see me with free pastry. Hmm.
Enjoy these. Plan at least two days in advance so there’s no rush. The traditional rose petal confit is hard to find and sources on the interweb can be spurious. I purchased a lovely jar in New Jersey and did not come close the next year, in another state, from the web. Sad face 🙁
Any jam you wish is, of course, okay, but traditions are sticky things. Lemon and raspberry are the most popular with my kids. A good homemade chocolate pudding is also a welcomed treat.
Powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar are good garnish for outside if you don’t glaze them.
I make the Pączki on Fat Tuesday morning. Shhhhh.
Frying your Pączki
Of course, you’ll need a deep fryer or a Dutch Oven of sufficient size to hold enough fat so you can fry 5 Pączki at once.
It is expected, and also a sign of a Pączki done well, for them to have a light ring around the outside. As with all doughnuts, these will spring as they fry because the steam and the carbon dioxide in the dough expand. Use a spider or a wooden cake dowel or a bamboo skewer to turn the Pączki over.
A cuppa with that Pączki
I’ve a mug store and designed these. A perfect accompaniment for any Pollack’s Pączki feast.
Available in 11 oz or 15 oz sizes.Available in 11 oz size.
Paczki (it should be noted that WordPress has not the "a" with the little hook on the bottom which is the proper vowel for this word) are the traditional Fat Thursday (Yes!) and Fat Tuesday treat before Lent begins. In Chicago and Hamtramck and NYC, lines may form outside of Polish bakeries for these gems. You can avoid these line, or build one of your own, by making your own pre-Lenten treats.
Course
Dessert
Cuisine
Polish
Prep Time3hours
Cook Time15minutes
Total Time3hours15minutes
Servings12people
AuthorDann Reid
Ingredients
12ozWarm milk
10gInstant yeast
4 ozGranulated sugar
70gUnsalted butter, room temperature
1eachLarge egg
3eachEgg yolks
15mlRumUse the kid's medicine cup
1t Salt
814g All-purpose flour
72gAll-purpose flour
Equipment and oil
1GallonFrying oilI prefer Peanut
Cinnamon Sugar
Powdered Sugar
1jarRose Petal JamOr rose hip marmalade
Sheet pan and draining rack
Instructions
Mix the Paczki
Scale the flour, less ½ C, yeast, and salt into a bowl.
Paddle the butter and sugar to a pale white color.
On low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, then the rum.
Add the flour and cool milk in alternating additions starting and ending with the flour. Turn speed to medium and mix for 3 minutes or until the dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. It should soft, but not very sticky. If it is too sticky, add the remaining flour and mix on medium 1 more minute.
Place the dough into a buttered stainless steel bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof 1 to 1.5 hours, or until nearly doubled.
Turn the dough out onto a floured counter or work table and roll ½ inch thickness. Too thin and they will not be tall enough to hold filling. Too thick and they will not cook in the center.
Cut the Puczki with a 3” round cutter pushing straight down and twisting only when the cutter reaches the table.
Place the paczki onto a lightly floured pan, drape a clean kitchen towel over them and allow to proof till 1” high.
While the paczki are proofing, prepare the oil and pan for frying. In a deep and wide 6 qt or more pot, or a Le Crueset casserole, bring 3 to 4 inches of oil slowly to 350 degrees F. Use a digital candy or fryer thermometer to keep the temperature even. (If you are using a deep fryer, new, clean oil is best so the paczki don’t pick up the flavors from the previous cooks. Set the device to 350 and wait).
When the paczki are 1” tall, carefully remove them from the sheetpan, place them into the oil—don’t drop them; they’ll splash hot oil—and fry until the bottom is well golden brown. Flip the paczki over, fry again till well golden brown then remove each as it is done to a draining rack on a sheet pan. Fry 3 or 4 at a time watching the temperature of the oil so it remains nearly 350 degrees. Too many paczki will make the temperature reduce and the paczki will taste greasy and dense. Better to fry fewer than more. If you do not have a draining rack, several paper grocery bags or a thick pad made of paper towels will suffice.
When cooled, poke a hold into the side of the paczki with a table knife and work the blade a wee bit up and down and to and fro to make a hole for the filliing.
Place the filling into a small pastry bag or zip top bag and cut the point off the bag. Push the bag into the hole made with the knife and gently squeeze jam into the center until it starts to return out the hole.
Dust or glaze the paczki while they are cool. If you are using an apple filling, a cinnamon sugar is nice, but place the paczki into the cinnamon sugar while the are quite warm. Let them cool, them create the hole and fill.
Find the nearest Polish person you can find and share in the custom that is Paczki Day. All of Hamtramck will be joining you.
Recipe Notes
In most cases, most any tool will do for most any job. In frying, however, I find that a few things are really important to prevent burning your fingers, burning your food, and keeping the area safe.
A spider is a tool designed for fryers. A high quality digital candy/fryer thermometer as well as draining racks and pans to help the fried things drip their excess oil also help with a great finished product.
If you want to splurge, a table top deep fryer is a great toy, but they do make one heck of a mess and can make a house plenty stinky. I keep mine outside under the eve. The kitchen is clean (well, not greasy) and doesn't smell of fryer.
