The Rest of the Hole Story

When was the last time you had a doughnut? No, not a roll, a doughnut?

We have come to believe that any pastry that is round and made from dough is a doughnut. That is not so. Having grown up in a doughnut shop, not a bakery, the son of doughnut makers, I think I know doughnuts. The delicious globs of dough with a HOLE in them are what I am talking about. Not some blob of dough that is deep fried or baked and has some kind of glaze on it. Doughnuts have holes, let's get that straight. And, depending on how you like them, they are either raised or yeast, or cake.

Personally, I prefer cake. The yeast seem to be just a little too airy for me. Krispie Kreme doughnuts are just not right. They melt in your mouth and have some kind of gooey goodness to them and the icing sticks to your fingers. Krispie Kreme has to give away their doughnuts to get you started. What does that say for their product? Mister Doughnut cake doughnuts are almost perfect. Their doughnuts do a have a certain heaviness which is not that great, and the orbs seem to be a little overpriced. Mister Doughnut now serves breakfast, too. So, are they a doughnut shop, a bakery, or a sandwich shop? They can't decide. With them, it is all about market share.

I can remember the days when my parents sold a cup of coffee and two doughnuts for a quarter. Now, those doughnuts were the best! Just ask anyone who grew up in Hoopeston in the 50s, 60s or 70s. Mom and Dad made the doughnuts fresh every day in full view of their customers with their Lincoln Model Doughnut Machine that was made by the Doughnut Corporation of America. There was a piece of American Manufacturing ingenuity! That machine made over a million doughnuts in its lifetime. The best part about these deliciously mouthwatering morsels? They were fried in LARD! No shortening until about the mid 60s. Those bad boys did not rest in your stomach, they took up residence! But they were so good doing down, and you barely felt them until hours later. I used to eat a half dozen for breakfast! Hence, my nickname, Doughnut.

People would call ahead and put their order in. This was in the day before Hoopeston had dial phones. You would pick up the phone, the operator would say, "Number Please..." and you would tell her what number you wanted. She would then find the right hole and put a plug in and connect you with your number. The number for our Do-Nut Shop was also our home phone. Our number? Why 503, of course.

So, there you have it; the story behind my blog name The Doughnut Hole 503. Or Doughnut...Hole 503.

Doughnut 503