Today is Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek) in Poland! Yum!!!!
As in other Catholic countries that celebrate the last day before the fasting season of Lent begins, Poland has its own version of the French Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), known locally as Tłusty Czwartek, or Fat Thursday. With Lent forbidding sweets and treats, Fat Thursday is a similar celebration of gluttonous indulgence as in other countries, but with the date bungled, and instead of parading and partying the Poles queue up in lines that sometimes stretch around the corner in order to purchase pastries from the local cukiernia (cafe, confectionery), or bakery (piekarnia).
Image by Rrrodrigo on Flickr.com
Faworki – image by buari on Flickr.com
Poland’s favourite pastries, particularly on Fat Thursday, are pączki – large deep-fried doughnuts typically filled with rose jam (or other marmalades), glazed with sugar, and sometimes topped with candied orange peel. Another Fat Thursday favourite are faworki – thin dough ribbons, fried until crispy and sprinkled with powdered sugar. The number of these baked goods consumed annually on Fat Thursday is truly astronomical, but you can buy them any day of the year in most bakeries.
Fat Thursday used to mark the beginning of Fat Week –- the period of great gluttony during which our ancestors would eat loads of lard (smalec) and bacon (bekon) washed down with vodka. Nowadays, Fat Thursday is associated especially with doughnuts or pączki.
Until the 16th century, pączki were made with bread dough, filled with pork fat and fried in lard. Later, they evolved into a sweet pastry. Self-respecting bakeries in Poland never make their pączki in advance, nor do they use preservatives. The dough is made in the wee hours of the morning and are sold hot from the frying grease as soon as the doors open. Some home bakers fill a few pączki with almond paste instead of marmalade and encountering this filling is said to bring good luck. An old Polish proverb states, “If you don’t eat at least one doughnut on Shrove Thursday, you will no longer be successful in life.”
I really miss that day! My mother always makes amazing pączki and faworki! I’m not as culinary talented…but I try:)
Smacznego!
