Linda Koltun’s plan is never to not get paczki when they’re available, but sometimes, you have to work your way up to it.
Koltun, of Dyer, was well aware that Tuesday was the high holy day of gluttony and sweetness for many as she and daughter Michelle Koltun, also of Dyer, made their way through MJ Polish Deli in Hammond. But before paczki, there was sausage to be had.
“I came in for the fresh stuff,” Linda Koltun said knowingly as she opened the plastic bag to reveal the spicy, fragrant links within. “You got to get a stash going because as it gets closer to Easter, you’re not going to be able to get it, and tomorrow’s (Ash Wednesday) for all the fish. The paczki are the treat for after.”
Boxes upon boxes of big, fat, frosted and powdery pastries lined the back counter as customers kept streaming in and out of the deli at 7112 Calumet Ave. While it might’ve looked like owner Mariola Magana overestimated her count, one look around the corner into a storage room told a different tale: Boxes equaling 1,000 paczki were stacked empty, cleaned out from when she opened at 8 a.m. to accommodate the hungry hordes.
And Tuesday was a repeat, since Polish people also celebrated Tlusty Czwartek, or “Fat Thursday” last week because why not, Magana said.
“We get to eat them twice (before Lent),” she said. “We also have them year-round here, just not as many flavors.”
Paczki are different from doughnuts, Magana said, in that they have less fruity filling than doughnuts do. It could be because the original bakers of long ago didn’t have enough money for the sugary fillings, but no matter, because just like those who battle over whether cake or pie is better, Magana knows where her loyalty lies.
“It’s not that I don’t like doughnut, but I prefer paczki,” she said. “They’re doughy and fluffy, and with a good cup of coffee or tea, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love to sink their teeth into that cloud of goodness.”
There’s no formula to ordering paczki since Magana expected them to be sold out by 2 p.m. — with many more put aside for the customers who’d be stopping in after work — she said, but she did order more this year because the weather was going to be nice. Her supplier also did her a solid and, along with the traditional raspberry, plum, cherry, blueberry and Bavarian cream she ordered, threw in a few boxes of “exotic” flavors as Oreo and tiramisu, after the famed Italian dessert.
Michelle Koltun snagged herself a paczki made with Nutella, the popular hazelnut spread — a bold choice for someone who’d never had a paczek before.
“I don’t know why. My dad’s Polish,” Michelle Koltun said of her novice Fat Tuesday ways. “I love pierogis, though.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
