“Today is Kinkling Day and the smell of hot grease and fresh kinklings permeates many homes. Some people say that for good luck some of the kinklings must be fed to the chickens. This is done in a lot of
cases, but in most instances the housewife would rather do the eating.
Others declare that today is pancake day, and that tomorrow is kinkling day. Those interested can settle it among themselves.” – The Frederick news, Tuesday March 7, 1916
While Louisiana has its world-famous Mardi Gras traditions, Maryland is not without our own rituals in preparation for Lent, and as with other regional traditions, they have been woven into the cultural fiber well beyond their religious context or national origin.
Atwaters Bakery may be peddling exotic King Cakes at me but I’ll take a Polish pączek from Krakus Deli or a German fastnacht, thank you. Much like scrapple, the latter is yet another Pennsylvania Dutch food that is as much a part of Maryland as it is anywhere.
Frederick News 1932
“Fasnachts were made as a way to empty the pantry of lard, sugar, fat, and butter, which were traditionally fasted from during Lent.” – Wikipedia
In Western Maryland, where they go by the unique name “Kinklings,” these cousins-of-doughnuts are celebrated with an annual flutter of news mentions and a rush on bakeries for “Kinkling Day.”
“‘Eat a doughnut on Shrove Tuesday,’ say the Pennsylvania Dutch, ‘and live a year longer.’
Maryland Germans whose ancestors, like the Pennsylvania Dutch, came from the Palatinate, need no reminder that Tuesday is Fastnacht Day. By this time, they either have stocked the pantry shelf with the necessary ingredients for home-made fastnachts or they have placed an order with one of the bakeries that still make the real things.” – Baltimore Sun, 1958
I remember occasionally hearing my mother and her sisters mentioning the “Fox Nocks” they ate for dinner once a year. Quite a few newspaper-sourced recipes have made their way into decades worth of my family’s meals and apparently this is one of them. My guess is that the article my grandmother got the recipe from was “Doughnuts Everybody Remembers” from January 1963.
We worked with my aunts approximation of this recipe. In the future I would probably complete one of the rises in a refrigerator overnight for convenient timing.
Despite the indulgent premise, fasnachts are actually less sweet than doughnuts. You’ll notice the relatively small amount of sugar in the recipe, although they are rolled in cinnamon sugar on the outside.
One source of confusion for us was the proper method for creating the dough indentations. My aunt remembered them being really stretched out and thin in the middle, my cousin preferred to press the centers in and leave the sides nice and puffy “like little bathtubs.”
When I located the news article it appeared to side with my aunt but we all agreed that the little bathtubs turned out very nice.
This didn’t exactly rid the kitchen of fats, as I now have a gallon of used oil in my kitchen, begging for things to be fried in it.
So much for Lenten fasting…
Recipe:
- 1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
- 2 cups salted water
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 envelope dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water
- ¼ cup shortening
- 2 eggs, well beaten
- 6 cups sifted flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
Dissolve yeast in the ¼ cup of warm water, adding a pinch of the sugar. Set aside. Cook potato in the salted water until tender. Drain, reserving 1 ½ cups of the water. While the water is still warm, slowly whisk in shortening so it melts. Mash potato & beat in sugar. Add eggs and salt, mixing well. Gradually add hot potato-shortening water. If the mixture has cooled to lukewarm, beat in yeast and then gradually stir in flour until dough is smooth, satin-y, and pulls away from sides of bowl. Knead until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk – about 2 ½ hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.
Punch down and remove to floured surface to knead further. Divide into two halves, form each into rectangle and roll to about 1/3-inch thick. Cut into 2 inch squares & place on baking sheets to rise again until doubled in bulk.
Pick up each square and press & stretch the center until the center is thin. Fry in hot oil or lard (375°), turning once to brown. Drain on paper towels & shake in a bag of sugar (optional: cinnamon sugar) while still hot.
“In Maryland, Cruller, Doughnut, and Fossnock are synonyms.” – questionable information from “Americanisms–old & New”, 1889