Jelly doughnuts Jelly-filled doughnuts descend from German culinary traditions. Originally called Bismarks, Berliners, and Fastnachts, these delicious breakfast items were traditionally associated with the Christian observance of Shrove Tuesday. The term jelly doughut first surfaces in USA print in the late 19th century. Bismark, also berliner. An oblong cake, usually fried in oil, with a filling of jelly. In bakeries bismarks are commonly baked, not fried, and often sugared or topped with whipped cream...although it may refer in some way to Otto von Bismark, first chancellor of the modern German Empire (1871-1890) or to the fact that the shape of the cake is similar to that of the famous German battleship the Bismark. Earliest references to bismarks date to the 1930s. Such cakes are also sometimes called longjohns. ---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 30) Bismarks. Kuchenmeiterei in Nurnberg, a fifteenth-century treatise on mastering the art of cakemaking, introduced this recipe for jelly doughnuts, traditional fare in German on Fastnach, or Shrove Tuesday. In Berlin the doughnuts are known as Bismarks after the illustrious Prussian statesman of whom Berliners are particularly fond. However, there is no historical evidence that Bismark was partial to jelly doughnuts. ---Horizon Cookbook and Illustrated History of Eating and Drinking through the Ages, [American Heritage:New York] 1968 (p. 720) German immigrants to America brought their yeast-raised jelly-filled doughnuts. Back home in Germany they had begun as Fastnachkuchen, a treat made on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, to feast before the coming fast and to use up the fats that would not be allowed during Lent...In the United States they first appeared in German bakeries and quickly acquired a new name, as Americans associated everything German with Otto von Bismark, (1815-1898). ---Rare Bits: Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes, Patricia Bunning Stevens [Ohio University Press:Athens] 1998 (p. 27) Our survey of historic USA newspapers confirms the term jelly doughnut was known in 1899: Many persons opened baskets of luncheon...chocolate creams, jelly doughnuts, peanuts, waffles and ice-cream bricks. ---Visitors to the Raleigh, New York Times, April 18. 1899 (p. 4) All kinds of rolls, fried cakes and Jelly Bismarks. ---display ad, Higgins Baking Company, News-Palladium, Benton Harbor (MI) December 30, 1907 (p. 7) What do do about jelly doughnuts which wont cook through?...The answer had mainly to do with the thickness of the dough when rolled. To make a raised jelly doughnut roll out the dough to one-eighth inch thickness and cut with a cookie cutter into thin rounds. The place one teaspoon of currant jelly on the center of one round, moisten the edges with water, and place another round on top, pressing the edges lightly together. Cover and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk. The fry in hot fat (380 degrees F.) until golden brown. ---Jelly Bismark Brings Query on Raw Dough, Mary Meade, Chicago Daily Tribune, September 9, 1933 (p. 15) Jelly-filled doughnuts were the downfall today of a man attempting to rob a bakery at pistol point. First Mrs. Pauline Keller, 52 and spry for a grandmother, swung a bag of doughnuts and knocked the gun from his hand. Then her screams brought her husband from a rear room. The bandit turned to flee, but slipped on a jelly-covered dunker and skidded feet first into a woman customer entering the front door. He was captured. ---Doughnuts Foil Bakery Bandit Seeking Dollars, Washington Post, September 10, 1941 (p. 3)
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 14:22:17 +0000
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