Maier's Staff Preps Paczki All Night

To get ready for Paczki Day (Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday), staff at Maier's Bakery starts the night before. They'll sell 5,000 paczki. But first, there's baking, powdering, and stuffing to do.

  At 9 p.m. bakeries are usually quiet and dark, waiting for bakers to arrive in the wee hours of the morning. But the night before Paczki Day is different. At Maier's Bakery, extra staff is bustling around, slicing strawberries, rolling paczki in powdered sugar and mixing blueberry, lemon and other fillings. Racks and racks filled with trays and trays of naked paczki await their sugaring and filling, all the while more dough is rising. Earlier: Bakeries in the Niles-Morton Grove-Park Ridge area which sell paczki Frank Silvio of Maier's says the bakery will sell 5,000 paczki on Paczki Day and the day before. Besides the fruit varieties, the come with whipped cream, custard, cannoli and chocolate-hazelnut fillings. Like Niles-Morton Grove …

• Photos (9)

It's Fat Thursday - Time For Polish Paczki

You can get the delicious Polish fried pastries with luscious fruit and custard fillings today and also Fat Tuesday. Here's where to find them.

  Did you know there are actually two "paczki days"? You may know the tradition of eating rich foods on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday in French), as a sendoff before the Christian Lenten fast begins on Ash Wednesday, which falls next Wednesday, Feb. 13. France, Brazil, New Orleans, Italy and most places with a Mardi Gras tradition hold their festivities prior to, or culminating on, Fat Tuesday, which falls Feb. 12 this year. However, the Polish custom is to feast the Thursday before Ash Wednesday--called Fat Thursday by Poles. When asked to explain the difference between Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday, Ola Makal, a salesperson at Oak Mill Bakery in Niles, said, "Fat Thursday is typically Polish. We celebrate Thursday. Fat Tuesday is usually …

•  6 Comments
• Photos (3)

Pączki Day Isn't Just For Poles Anymore

People of other ethnicities are picking up the Fat Tuesday treat.

Lillian Osran had never heard of pączki or Oak Mill Bakery before Tuesday. But an article about the Niles Polish bakery in the Chicago Tribune intrigued her enough to make the drive from Evanston. "I bought blueberry, lemon and custard," she said, motioning to her bakery box of pączki. Although her parents were from Lithuania and Russia, she grew up Jewish and didn't know the pre-Lenten Fat Tuesday custom. And in Freeport, in western Illinois, where she lived for many years, no one made the light, deep-fried jam or custard-filled delicacies. Plenty of others, however, are familiar with Fat Tuesday, as well as Fat Thursday, the Polish pre-Lenten celebration that occurred last week. Earlier: Video of Paczki Day in Niles "It was crazy busy …

• Photos (7)

A Foodie Shops and Gets Cooking

Celebrating Mardi Gras a la Polonaise

Polish eats include paczki for Fat Tuesday and herring for Lent. Try this fish, cream cheese and dill omelet; you won't miss meat.

If you're like me, you may be anticipating Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, not only for its religious significance but for the feast and the traditions. For many Christians, the day marks the beginning of Lent, which signifies food restrictions. Hence, Fat Tuesday... the feasting before the fasting. Does Mardi Gras evoke purple, green and gold visions of king cake, beignets, or red beans and rice, New Orleans-style? Being an enormous fan of New Orleans cuisine, it would be easy for me to share recipes from the Crescent City. But, you don't see much of that around here. No, here, the Polish community has made their own mark on Fat Tuesday that locals have come to appreciate. Polish pastries like kolacky (ko-lach-key) have become mainstream. In …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (9)