paczki recipe put to use on Fat Tuesday

ONTONAGON -- Tuesday marked chubby Tuesday, Mardi gras and several other names for the day before Lent begins.

In Poland, Fat Tuesday was also the day that homemakers made paczkis. A paczki is a fresh yeast roll, made with egg yolks, sugar and lard, and then deep-fried.

It originated hundreds of years ago when, lacking dependable refrigeration and unable to eat eggs, cream and butter during Lent, Poles converted their perishables into the treats.

Dorothy Zielinski Tessmer is a resident of the Aspirus Long-Term Care Facility in Ontonagon. Her mother, Mary, came to the U.S. from Poland as a young girl and brought with her the original Polish recipe for paczkis.

For the past three years, Dorothy's son, Ray Tessmer of Ontonagon, has brought that recipe to the long-term care unit for residents to enjoy on Fat Tuesday.

The process is lengthy, since the sweets are made with fresh yeast and must rise three times before they are cut.

This year the dough was mixed in huge tubs and residents had the opportunity to cut and form the pastries.