#73802
07/30/2002 3:05 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Hi, JazzO--I have a double mental link to your post: paint, and a first. When the Kentucky Center for the Arts was built downtown for concerts, musicals, etc., the husband of a friend of mine worked for Porter Paints, and they had the contract to do the painting. Their executives were given tickets to the first performance, but he didn't want to go, so she asked me to. Roberta Flack and the Louisville Orchestra. But this concert wasn't open to the public--it was put on especially for the workers who had built the place. We walked up carpeted stairs that still had plaster dust on them, and a large proportion of the audience wore plaid shirts and blue jeans. And that is how I came to go to the very first concert ever given at our new Arts Center.
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#73803
07/30/2002 3:11 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Actually there's a third type. I found this out by accident when my brother bought a palomino which had a well-developed sweet tooth. The former owner told us that she ate crullers, but we couldn't get her to eat either of the NY types. Turned out she was a horse of a different cruller.
TEd
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#73804
07/30/2002 4:16 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
now that's crull and unusual punishment!
formerly known as etaoin...
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#73805
07/31/2002 2:43 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Bean, fastnachts are Pennsylvania Dutch doughnuts which are a specialty at Fastnacht festivals, held on Fastnacht -- Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday. A fastnacht is a light yeast-raised doughnut, not too large, similar to a jelly doughnut, but never filled. They are spherical in shape, or as close as the cook can get to it. When they come out of the fat (lard is the classical fat) they are immediately sprinkled with granulated sugar, sometimes with cinnamon sugar. Most delicious.
There is a famous Fastnacht Festival held annually in Kutztown, PA. The eating of doughnuts on Shrove Tuesday is similar to the pancakes eaten in other cultures (chiefly UK and C of E) the same day. It is said that this started when housewives needed an excuse to use up fats and sugar before Lent started, but this sounds lame to me. At least at Kutztown they don't have women running races while juggling doughnuts the way they do with the pancake races in the UK.
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#73806
07/31/2002 11:13 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508 |
Okay, Bob, if you can bring up fastnachts, I'm obliged to mention paczki (roughly pronounced "poonch-key"). These are the Polish equivalent of fastnacht, only they usually are filled. Raspberry is traditional, but you'll also find strawberry, custard, apple, apricot, lemon, prune, sometimes bluberry. Also originally made only on Shrove Tuesday, now known in these parts as Paczki Day. (Marketers, who know a good thing when they see it, now start advertising and selling paczki a week or so before Paczki Day.)
Same explanation about using up all the goodies before the start of Lent, so there may be some truth to it. The recipe is, in fact, different from that used to make your run-of-the-mill jelly donut - richer dough, more and richer fillings.
Paczki Day started in Hamtramck, the Polish enclave, city-within-the-city, in Detroit, and has become quite a big local event every year. Although the best paczki (singular paczyk "poon-chik") are made by the ethnic bakeries, even the big supermarket chains have gotten into the act and produce probably millions. Ah, tradition!
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#73807
08/01/2002 3:30 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
(this is too good to be missed, so for all you "non-clickers" here it is in toto...enjoy!)  : The Partially True History of the Doughnut
Many historians died to get this information on the web. Use this knowledge with great care.In early colonial times, Dutch settlers arrived on US soil seeking freedom from the strictly enforced Writs of Pastry. These laws were created after a freak accident in which a cow kicked over a giant fryer causing much of Strudeldorf to be drenched in hot oil and fried to a golden brown. The new arrivals, careful not to mention the Strudeldorf incident back in Holland, were allowed to resume the making of their one true passion: fried cakes. In the days when fried cakes ruled the earth, life was harsh. The cakes were difficult to fry all the way through which often left a gooey doughy center. The doughy unfried cake center often carried deadly diseases such as the bubonic plague and anthrax. Thousands of people and twelve bakers (the baker's dozen) died from eating unfried cakes. Still, people ate and ate not knowing if their next fried cake would be the last. It was then a young lad by the name of Hanson Gregory stepped onto the scene. The year was 1847. Seventy years had passed since the United Stated fought Britain for independence. The American Civil War was still several years away. Without any local wars to fight, Americans had little to do. Hanson's mother was a dedicated cake maker living on the cutting edge of pastry technology. Day in and day out she fried cakes with relentless passion. Sometimes though, even her fried cakes were doughy in the center. To conceal this, she began placing walnuts and hazelnuts in the center of the fried cakes, but this left little Hanson feeling very sad because the only thing he hated more than a doughy center were walnuts and hazelnuts on doughy centers. One night while Hanson was sleeping, an angel appeared to him. The angel was holding a giant plate of fried cakes still dripping with hot oil. "Hanson," said the angel, "You must end the suffering of your people. Reveal the true nature of these fried cakes. Also, try one of the glazed.. they're quite tasty." The angel left, but the plate of fried cakes remained. Upon closer inspection, Hanson was shocked to discover that the fried cakes were hole-y. He ran into the streets shouting about his experience with the angel and giving these glorious pastries to the townspeople. Everyone agreed they were the best fried cakes ever. The people sang and danced for many days then had Hanson burned at the stake for being a witch.
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#73808
08/01/2002 1:22 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Hanson's brother carried on the tradition. He noticed that people frequently got burned when they dunked their donuts into hot coffee. So, using a small fife as a model, he added an extension onto the donuts to serve as a handle. Pretty soon everyone was dunkin' fifes.
TEd
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#73809
08/01/2002 1:31 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 7,210 |
I wood that you had not winded that one, Ted...
formerly known as etaoin...
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#73810
08/01/2002 2:24 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Many pizzaria's in NY, and all the italian food vendors at street fairs sell 'zeppilli's' (or is it zeppelli's?) which are misshappen small lumps of fried dough.. and they are often sold by quanity.. 4 for a $1... greedy people soon learn, the small ones are best.. the large ones do often have doughy centers.
they are dropped, hot and greasy into a small brown paper bag, (lunch bag) and generously sprinkled with confections(icing) sugar... you seal the bag, shake it to distribute the sugar, and eat them hot and sweet..
the dough is left over pizza dough, not sweet at all, but the crisp fried texture and the sweet sugar makes them a treat.
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#73811
08/01/2002 2:31 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
zeppellis=little zeppelins?
formerly known as etaoin...
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#73812
08/01/2002 5:02 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Pizza dough, eh of troy? Sounds good, and it reminds me of the extra strips of pie crust my mom would bake, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. [yum tongue]
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#73813
08/01/2002 7:21 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Do we still have a Food Thread Police? [I hope not. I'm just askin'.]
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#73814
08/01/2002 8:57 PM
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
Since we've now moved on to miscellaneous sweetened dough products, I can mention that as a child in the mid-70s, when there were not many from the subcontinent in the town where I grew up, I used to describe jilebis as "Indian donuts". For the ball type of donut, as opposed to the ring type, one could substitute gulab jamun, little spheres of deep fried goo, tasting as if they are only 40% dough, the other 60% sugar. Indian sweets definitely are, too much so for my taste, I still shudder whenever I think about kulfi.
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#73815
08/01/2002 10:16 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 4,189 |
Pretty soon everyone was dunkin' fifes  LOL! And so was Sheriff Andy Taylor when they were down at the Mayberry swimmin' hole and he dunked Barney! 
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#73816
08/02/2002 1:07 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 2,636 |
And then there are sopapillas. Bits of deep fried flour tortilla dough sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar or plain dunked in honey [babiando aquí]
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#73817
08/02/2002 3:07 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Yes, Helen and FB, we have this treat around here, especially at the twice-yearly festivals held in Little Italy, where it's called 'fried dough'.
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#73818
08/02/2002 10:34 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
> ...it's called 'fried dough'How singularly uninventive.
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#73819
08/02/2002 2:41 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
>>...it's called 'fried dough'
>How singularly uninventive.
Fried dough lives.
TEd
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#73820
08/02/2002 3:48 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
i love indian sweets! 74th Street in Jackson Heights any one remember the Patty Duke show "all the sites a girl could see from Jackson Heights? is now a little india market place, complete with a sweet shop...
The vegetable stores feature fruits & vegetable i don't recognize, as well as several varities of things i do recognize, but usually only see one variety of.. (i think of banana's -- most stores carry 2 kinds.. they carry 6 or more.. if you count the 2 or 3 kinds of plantains.)
Yes, they are very sweet, and often gooey, dripping with honey or a liquid glaze, but they are small.. and if you limit your self to one or two very small ones... they are sweet and creamy and cool the palate after all the heat of a dinner!
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#73821
08/04/2002 9:31 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328 |
>byb on fastnachts: . When they come out of the fat (lard is the classical fat) they are immediately sprinkled with granulated sugar, sometimes with cinnamon sugar. Most delicious.
They're not always sprinkled with sugar-- we usually get (or make) plain ones and eat them split and spread with "Turkey syrup" or "King's Syrup," which is similar to slightly thickened pancake syrup.
Interesting you should mention Kutztown. It's only 20 minutes from my house (around here, we reckon distance by how long it takes to get there, not the number of miles), and I attend Kutztown University. Never been to the Fastnacht Festival though-- in fact, this is the first I've heard of it! I must look into it sometime...
In answer to the question of the original Fastnacht post, I'm from Berks County, PA, which is in the southeastern part of the state. I live about half an hour from Reading and an hour and a half from Philly. (Reckoning by time again!)
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