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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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Carpal Tunnel
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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now that's crull and unusual punishment!
formerly known as etaoin...
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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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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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(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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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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I wood that you had not winded that one, Ted...
formerly known as etaoin...
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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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zeppellis=little zeppelins?
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