Get ready for Lent! Maslenitsa, Pancake Day, Pączki Day & king cake

See bottom of post for image credits

Clearing your cupboards for Lent? Indulge in some traditional treats before it’s too late. Here’s where you can get king cake and Polish paczki, and the scoop on some other starchy ways (Pancake Day, Russian holiday Maslenitsa) to celebrate the season. (And check out the round-up of Mardi Gras events here.)

Pączki Day

So first stop on our world tour of carbs takes us to the pączki, the Polish filled doughnut traditional at this time of year, especially on Shrove Tuesday, Pączki Day. Per Wikipedia: “Traditionally, the reason for making pączki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, because they were forbidden to be consumed due to Catholic fasting practices during Lent.” 

You can sample them on Monday from 4-7pm at Metropolitan Market, and Bakery Nouveau will have them with chocolate, apple, raspberry, and sliced strawberry with vanilla creme Madame fillings.

King cake

This traditional Mardi Gras treat is “a ring of twisted bread similar to that used in brioche topped with icing or sugar, usually colored purple, green, and gold (the traditional Mardi Gras colors) with food coloring.”

• If you want a taste of this traditional specialty, find the Where Ya At Matt mobile food truck in Belltown on Monday or Redmond on Tuesday.
• You can also pick it up at Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle until Mardi Gras.
• Or order it from Sugar Bakery, where it comes with a bourbon pecan praline or vanilla cream cheese filling. (And, if you’re not concerned about Lent, it’s available until March 16.)

Maslenitsa

Maslensita painting via Wikipedia(Here’s a reprise of some information I posted last year on this Russian holiday…)

One of the fringe benefits of doing this site is getting to meet great people and learn about their food traditions.

Local Russian cooking teacher Irina Vodonos is one such friend. She originally contacted me to be listed in the cooking instructor directory. After that, the two of us teamed up to do the Russian Market Virtual Tour, and from there, we became friends.

Last year, she introduced me to another element of Russian culture: Maslenitsa. It’s a Russian “religious and folk holiday” (per Wikipedia) and is celebrated prior to Lent. Also from Wikipedia:

“It is the last week during which milk, cheese and other dairy products are permitted, leading to its other name of ‘Cheese-fare week’ or ‘Butter week.’ During Lent, meat, fish, dairy products and eggs are forbidden. Furthermore, Lent also excludes parties, secular music, dancing and other distractions from the spiritual life. Thus, Maslenitsa represents the last chance to partake of dairy products and those social activities that are not appropriate during the more prayerful, sober and introspective Lenten season.”

From a folk – rather than religious – perspective, it can be a good reason to invite folks over for blini, which is exactly what Irina and her husband Sergey did last year for the holiday. The guests brought various sweet and savory blini fillings and toppings and we ate through the stack of yeasted and crepe-like blinis she’d prepared in advance.

Maslenitsa officially starts Monday, February 20, and lasts until Sunday, February 26. So if you are looking for a twist on the usual pre-Lent Mardi Gras celebrations, consider doing it Russian-style with a blini party. Here’s a recipe for buckwheat blinis from the Seattle Caviar Co. site, and then you can also check out Irina’s Moscow Gourmet Kitchen site for other authentic Russian recipe ideas to go along with the blinis. You can find two more of her recipes on the PCC Natural Markets – one for carrot patties and another for Russian ratatouille aka “imam bayalda.”

Pancake Day

Or maybe just keep it all simple with pancakes.

Pancake Day – another opportunity to use up your sugar, fat, flour and eggs – also falls on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and is celebrated in Canada, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.

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Image credits: blini via Wikimedia; pancakes via Flickr user smittenkittenorig; paczki via Wikimedia, king cake image via smoorenburg.