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Had a lot of fun making Berliners on Fasching Teusday the 16th,
I had fun frying them
Then I got the idea that maybe I could Air Fry them
Both came out very nice!
I love that "faux pa" that some folks maybe mistook
John F Kenedy for saying,
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John F Kennedy was accused of this donut debacle, when he gave his famous speech at the Brandenburg gates proclaiming, “Ich bin ein Berliner“ meaning I am a Berliner, that the people laughed thinking he said ….”I am a donut”
Since at least the early 1800s, Germans had called jelly doughnuts simply Berliners. According to a German anecdote, in 1756 a patriotic baker from Berlin was turned down as unfit for Prussian military service, but allowed to remain as a field baker for the regiment. Because armies in the field had no access to ovens, he began frying doughnuts over an open fire, which the soldiers began calling after the baker’s home, Berliners. The term soon became narrowed to denote only filled Krapfen. (Leits Culinaria)
What is Fasching ?
I am not Catholic, but I love the the Fasching celebration.
You have heard of Mardi Gras (Fat Tuessday).
It really started with the Roman rule of the Lenten season, back when in Europe, it was just a personal choice, it was more like the LAW to follow this rule 40 days, although it was not a total fast, but what you were allowed to eat was minimal.
But it wasn't all about Religion
Now this was a convenient ritual to enforce because food because in Medieval times before supermarkets and mass distribution the winter stock was begining to run out or likely rot.
Ritual was a big part of life, since ancient times. Warriors had rituals, the Pagans had rituals to scare away winter spirits to make a clear path for the good Spring spirits.
The word Lent comes from a latin word meaning the Spring season
Why 40 days?...40 is a very symbolic number in the bible. (It rained 40 days and 40 nights..and many more..) so it was convenient to use this time of food scarcity to have a symbolic fast and penance to become spiritually in good shape for Spring, when farming, commerce and the affairs of life resummed.
Read more about the history of Lent and how it got started.
Why this Fat Tuesday or Fasching celebration about going crazy and eating Donuts?
Also it was recognized that this was a great burden about to be bestowed on the citizens and perhaps a time of release and craziness would be big help. to take the edge off the great deprival about to happen, let's have great indulgence before we seem penance. We can also gorge ourselves on the foods that are about to go bad anyway.
Why Masks?
So for a day they reversed norms of society, and the elders and rulers were mocked, rude things could be said to each other, and people would wear masks so they could feel safe from critisizm may be part of it.
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Berliners
I talked to my friends son nearSteinsfurt where my grandma came from, and he sent me a picture of the donuts on Fasching last Teusday.
The most popular he said is Berliners.
So this was in Baden-Würtemberg nowhere near Berlin, why do they call them Berliners?
Acording to this article, The jelly-filled krapfen were called Berliners in the 1800s, based on the legend of a patriotic baker from Berlin who was a field baker for the Prussian regiment after he was turned down for military service. When the army was in the field, he "baked" the doughnuts the old-fashioned way, by frying them over an open fire. According to the tale, the soldiers called the pastry Berliner after the baker's hometown.
However in Berlin, they don't call them Berliner's but Pfannkuchen (Pan Kuchen) or pan cakes.
How do you make Berliners?
So I had to show my friend that I could make Berliner's also.
My grandma called them Berliner Pfannkuchen.
I made
them the way my grandma did by cutting 2 circles from dough rolled out about 1/2 inch thick, place a dab of jelly in it, wet the sides with a brush and egg wash or water, put the other circle on and crimp the edges well. then you let rise for a 30 min in a warm place and then fry.
An easier way to make them is to fry as a whole ball of dough and then slice them on the side
just enough to get a spoon in there and fill them. |
Go here for the Recipe for Berliners
traditionaly fried in oil
Go Here for the Recipe for Air Fried
Berliners
Here are the Air-Fried Berliners several came out near perfect,
and some were not as well shapped as they could be,
I didn't let them rise completely.
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I really got caught up in watching the Fasching festivities in Rotweil, which is in southern part of Germany in Baden-Würtemberg.
Here is a video of the traditional parade, which is called Narrensprung (Fool's Jump) with masks that happens on Rosenmontag, the Monday before Fasching, or as they call it there, Fasnet.
Empty Table
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