Shrove Tuesday

[purrfectlydevine]

Fastnacht (not sure if it is spelled correctly) Day is the tradition around here as the way to use up the sugar and fat before Lent. Fastnachts are doughnuts traditionally made with potatoes in the dough. They are served plain or with powdered sugar. Many churches take orders for them and sell them as a fundraiser. The grocery stores with bakeries sell them and one of the stores has curb service Tuesday morning. Of course the local doughnut chain makes them also.

 

[urmaniac13]

I thought of another good substitute for scottish toffee... we can also get Polish creme caramel here, that has real creamy smooth texture and soft, I am sure that will melt well with heat...

And Mish is right... there is always nutella... wonderful companion any time both with bananas and pancakes...

 

[Chaplain Kent]

My favorite Sh rove Tuesday story comes from my Jewish cousins. She was trying to impress her overly protective kosher mother-in-law with how she could prepare the perfect kosher meal. All the preparations were made and checked by the book, separate dishes were, plates and utensils were purchased. The kitchen was scrubbed and not a detail was overlooked. A few moments before the arrival of the in laws. The wife asked her husband if she had forgotten anything? He went down a mental list and at the end of that list was dessert. The meal was not complete with out dessert and there was not time to prepare a proper dessert. the wife decided to dash out to the bakery and purchase something while the husband waited for his parents to arrive. Fortunately the wife returned just before her in laws and the dinner went on with out a flaw. The mother-in-law was quite impressed and began to be a little relived that her son would be at least fed by this woman who was now his wife. Then came the dessert. They were placed on a silverplatter which was a wedding present and never did a dozen "hot cross" buns purchased on Sh rove Tuesday look more appealing.
The couple ended burying the dishes in good kosher fashion the mother-in-law never ate at their house again.

 

[Ishbel]

Traditionally, Hot Cross Buns aren't eaten until the end of Lent - although, in reality, they are available all year round nowadays!

 

[GB]

Forgive my ignornace, but what exactly are Hot Cross Buns? Is there something in them that is not kosher?

 

[Ishbel]

GB
They are a bun (here's my recipe I posted a while back )http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f116/traditional-british-hot-cross-buns-7356.html?highlight=cross+buns

They were traditionally eaten in Christian households after Lent, to celebrate the end of the fasting period... They are a fruited bun, traditionally served with a 'cross' on them.. hence NOT something traditionally found in Jewish homes!

PS - they are delicious, try them, but omit the 'cross' to save hurting the feelings of family

 

[Jikoni]

Happy pancake day everyone. GB, this is what hot cross buns look like.
They are yummy. I imagine that for the fact that they have a cross on them and eaten by christians at the end of lent kind of makes then not popular with the jewish as per the story by captain kent.

 

[GB]

Hmmm I wonder why the couple had to bury their dishes. Just having something with a cross on it would not make the dishes non kosher. Even if they were "contaminated" somehow (having meat and dairy on them together for instance) there is a way to purify them again. They should not have had to get rid of their wedding gift.

Those buns sound delicious. I will have to try them.

 

[buckytom]

British pancakes are more like French crepes than the thicker American style - which are more like what we Scots call drop scones and the English call 'Scotch Pancakes' - just to confuse the matter even more!
quote]

lol, shaking head.

we always called them norwegian pancakes. my favourite fillings are sliced bananas, whipped cream, and walnuts; butter, sugar, and cinnamon; and butter with either blackberry preseves, orange marmalade, or strawberry jam.

 

[licia]

I don't understand customs of many, but I understand how wonderful hot cross buns are. Our bakeries only carry them shortly before Easter, and I am going to only buy them once this season.

 

[ronjohn55]

Here's one of the paczki I mentioned in the IHOP thread...

(It's pronounced poonch-kee)

We don't have the pancakes or hot cross buns here in metro Detroit. We have paczki for Fat Tuesday.

More info..
http://www.polishnews.com/fulltext/chef/2003/chef82_1.shtml

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006602280369

John

 

[buckytom]

ronjohn, last sunday morning i hit the local polish bakery for rye, ham, and potato salad and i saw those paczki. i was tempted, but the 4 foot tall and wide babushkas beat me, literally, to it.
i read something about that they are consumed the thursday or friday before ash wednesday, something like a fat thursday?

 

[ronjohn55]

ronjohn, last sunday morning i hit the local polish bakery for rye, ham, and potato salad and i saw those paczki. i was tempted, but the 4 foot tall and wide babushkas beat me, literally, to it.
i read something about that they are consumed the thursday or friday before ash wednesday, something like a fat thursday?

Bucky! You're still alive! Thank goodness! Yes, NEVER mess with Polish grandmother (Babcia) in a babushka, you're lucky they didn't pinch your cheeks to death!

The paczki came about in the build up to lent as a means to use up all the "decadent" things around the house before the fasting and sacrifice of lent (you know, get all the crap out of the house before you start the diet!).
Fat Tuesday is the big day for it, but you do start seeing them beforehand.

There's actually a Polish market I go to that has them year round, since paczki is really just Polish for "donut". They do seem to get a bit bigger this time of year though. The box of a dozen that I brought in this morning easily weighed over 2 pounds.

John

 

[cc2003btw]

One tip for all you pancake makers. Don't whisk the mixture too much....

I was worried about the lumps, did it fine the other day. Humph.

 

[buckytom]

ronjohn, i just googled paczki, and found out that in america paczki day is fat tuesday, and in poland, it is fat thursday, aka thusty czwartek.

lol, maybe they haven't grasped the concept of a calendar yet, and are using one from a few years ago... ( i knew i could come up with a polish joke for that one )

my neighborhood is so polish that when i was talking a walk down my block the other day, 2 people tried to begin conversations in polish with me: one in a car asking directions, the other on foot asking for a neighbor's address. and all kidding aside, the woman in the car was going up the block, a one way, the wrong way.
i told her she was driving like a dupa!

 

[kimbaby]

chocolate chip pancakes for me

 

[Alix]

Well we traditionally do potato pancakes for dinner today. Mmmmmmm. I will likely do something else too. And Ken, if you read this...YOU'RE GETTING RICE PANCAKES!!

 

[Ishbel]

I made a batch of hot cross buns (OK, so my religious days are WELL behind me!) and they tasted delicious!