Who Puts Butter on the INSIDE of Their Sammiches

@edgarblythe,

We could FEED butter TO the clams.

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Any clam tries to take my butter is getting stewed.

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@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

It is a pretty good bet that the health department here is a big part of why I cant get a bagel.

The only demographic that knows a real bagel might be an ex-New Yorker, or someone from another urban area that had a Jewish neighborhood. You shouldn't blame the health department, in my opinion. Blame the fact that you are living in a part of the U.S. that is basically white bread America. Why make authentic bagels for Americans that put mayo on all sandwiches? As the saying goes, one can't dance at two weddings at the same time.

You were also complaining about local pizza? I cannot assume you know what constitutes good pizza, or a good bagel, can I now? When it comes to New York food, I would trust an Italian-American. But, what are your credentials to assume the tastebuds of an ethnic New Yorker?

2 Replies

@Foofie,

People travel, and real bagels are made outside of NYC as well.

Quote:

But New York's bagel supremacy has far more to do with production practices than water quality. Gotham's bagelries typically poach the bagels prior to baking them—the bagels spend a few minutes simmering in a pot of water before entering the dry heat of an oven. That pre-gelatinization process produces a chewy interior, and slightly changes the flavor of the finished product.

Many bagel makers skip the poaching step, because the boiling equipment is expensive and takes up space in the kitchen. Instead, they brush their bagels with a little water and baking soda in the style of soft pretzels, then blast them with steam once they're in the oven. You can usually identify these impostors by checking out their undersides, since steam can't get to the bottom of a bagel when it's already in the oven. If the bottom is significantly darker and harder than the rest of the surface, you're eating a roll with a hole, not a bagel.

Similarly, whereas New York's venerable bagel establishments tend to ferment their dough slowly in wooden containers, fly-by-night operations abbreviate this process. The longer method employed by traditionalists allows the yeast to produce more than 50 flavor compounds. These chemicals not only permeate the dough; they also seep into the pores of the wood over the years, giving the final product a flavor that can be hard to replicate in newer bakeries. (Wooden bowls are, however, not preferred by government health departments, and old-school bagel shops tend to perform poorly in inspections. The Explainer confirmed this by checking the report for his favorite bagel shop. Not good.)

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/06/why_is_it_so_hard_to_get_a_good_bagel_outside_of_new_york_city.html

We had real bagels in Monterey CA, it happens. But I do in this industry see a lot of not caring if the product is authentic, producers slap a name on some crap product and pretend that it is great, knowing that not enough people will know that they are lying to hurt the profits or cause a scene in the store.

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Foofie wrote:

The only demographic that knows a real bagel might be an ex-New Yorker, or someone from another urban area that had a Jewish neighborhood.

that's a funny thing to think since bagels have a history that long precedes New York and are found in pretty much all Eurasian cuisines

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

I didn't know that about the fermenting, did about the boiling part. I've recently been very happy with my biga (starter in some ital bread recipes) going for 24 hours - the subsequent bread is terrific. Will have to look into this re bagels, and simits, and so on.

edit - just remembered that Nancy Silverton started out her famed bread making with a bagel maker's recipe involving fermenting grapes.. by now I forget the story.

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

Foofie wrote:
The only demographic that knows a real bagel might be an ex-New Yorker, or someone from another urban area that had a Jewish neighborhood.

that's a funny thing to think since bagels have a history that long precedes New York and are found in pretty much all Eurasian cuisines

But, are they called "a bagel"? And, in Eurasia, can one ask for a bagel with a "schmear" (smear of cream cheese in New York lingo)?

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Foofie wrote:

"schmear" (smear of cream cheese in New York lingo)?

yeah yeah
I got 15/15
don't need your lessons

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@ehBeth,

some like a schmear a schmaltz.

1 Reply

@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

some like a schmear a schmaltz.

And arteries ossify.

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

Foofie wrote:
"schmear" (smear of cream cheese in New York lingo)?

yeah yeah
I got 15/15
don't need your lessons

Where did the arcane knowledge come from?

0 Replies

Who Puts Butter on the INSIDE of Their Sammiches

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