Bagel Wars

New York City has never been short on bagels.  At least not since the early 1900s, when the International Bagel Bakers Local 338 was formed. Hundreds of bagel bakeries existed - my paternal great-grandfather was a bagel baker in the Bronx - as a matter of fact, he and my great-grandmother are buried in the Bronx Baker's Mutual Aid Society plot at a cemetery in Springfield Gardens, Queens. (I also have a seltzer-man in my background, who sold seltzer off of a horse-drawn cart, but that's another story).  Of course, hundreds of bagel bakers and bakeries meant that there eventually were competing unions, non-union shops, strikes, strife, walkouts, lockouts and all that good stuff that comes along with a good product, the labor that it takes to make a good product...and ownership. Socialism aside (and Socialism is what was behind those early labor unions and why they were important), along came Harry Lender, who basically screwed the pooch, by first mass-producing bagels (with a machine he bought, but didn't invent) and then by perfecting the slicing and freezing of his mass-produced bagel.

Eventually, all hell broke loose, bagels grew to ginormous size, and whoever first put a blueberry into a bagel should get 30 smacks with a stale bialy. When I moved to California (a long time ago), I was sad and missed bagels (and don't get me started on pizza); that is, until I found a bagel place where they actually made bagels the old-fashioned way - hand-rolled, boiled and baked - in San Jo freakin' se. I patronized them for years until I moved back to New York...the land of the giant bagel (I'm looking at you, you decrepit, old, morally, spiritually and physically bankrupt H&H) - the better to make a sandwich on - something a bagel was never meant to do, in my opinion; that's what sliced bread, baguettes, rolls, lettuce leaves (please) and god-knows-what are all for - NOT BAGELS!  

Fast forward to 2014 and within the last three months, two brand-new bagel places have opened (and I think there's another on the way).  Both claim to hand-roll, boil and then bake their bagels the old-fashioned way - even if one is Montreal style, and boils in honey water and bakes in a wood-fueled oven, and blah blah blah (I imagine old Harry is spinning in his grave about now). So, what better way to spend some time, with Significant Eater available as a taster, than by trying these two new offerings?

Let's first take a look at the products side by side. Hmmm.....

I detect some ginormity in the Baz bagel, as well as a rather generous hand with the toppings...

When put on a scale, the Baz bagel weighed anywhere from 2 - 3 ounces more than the Black Seed bagel - which was right in the ballpark of what a real bagel should weigh (just under 3 ounces). Here's an interior view for perspective...

But really, it's all about taste, isn't it?  And to be honest, to really taste-test a bagel, they should be eaten fresh - not the next day, not frozen, not whatever, but because of time constraints, I had to use the toaster.  One half of each bagel was cream cheesed, and one half was buttered...

The far-from-final analysis gave us a clear-cut favorite.  The density, the weight, the crustiness and the taste of the Black Seed bagel did it for us...though Sig Eater did note that they were a bit sweet from their honey-water dip. The wood-burning smoke is evident while the bagels are still in their bag, but not really so much in the finished product.  And the Baz bagel, which had a nice flavor, just did not have enough crust-to-crumb ratio for us...it's sandwich sized. Additionally, and don't tell Sig Eater, I tasted the bagels before they were toasted - and liked Black Seed's more that way as well.

Oh - one little thing - I still prefer the minis that Russ & Daughters sells - they're specially made for R & D by the Bagel Hole in Park Slope, and they're my favorite.  You can't make a sandwich on them, and why would you?  Bagels were always meant to be enjoyed, a half at a time, with a schmear and a bit of lox.

So don't worry, great-grandpa Harry.  Someone will get it right one of these days.

2012's First Breakfast Sandwich

Do this to a pair of eggs…

We'll call it the broken yolk fried egg. Top with some meltable cheese.

Also do this to some delicious Fra’ Mani smoked ham…

Place on a buttered bialy thusly…

Watch all the religions get along in 2012.

Don’t forget the weird fruit combo (so far keeping my resolution to eat healthy in the new year)…

Think about what to have for lunch. Noodles bring good luck so Great NY Noodletown or Sobaya, here we come.

Buttermilk Pancakes - It's What's For Breakfast

Buttermilk pancakes. What’s not to like, right?  I mean, haven’t we all, at one time or another, under the influence of something or other, hopped into the car (with a designated driver, of course!) and headed to our local IHOP or Denny’s or wherever for a stack of these tasty treats?  I know I have – but that was many moons ago, and at this point in my life, I’ll probably never enter an IHOP or a Denny’s again, unless under extreme duress. Or with a designated driver.

So…that means when I want buttermilk pancakes, I gotta do what they did back in the old days, and make ‘em myself.  But there’s usually a small problem when I want to make buttermilk pancakes, and that’s that I don’t generally have buttermilk in the fridge.  I also don’t want to go shopping before eating breakfast…not gonna happen. What to do?

Enter this stuff, which I found at my local favorite store that everyone loves to not like…

Yep - buttermilk powder – and all you add is water!  Works great. Also, it keeps for a long freaking time; this container has a “USE BY” date of sometime in 2015, so figure it’s as healthy as a Twinkie, right?  Anyway, whip up your favorite buttermilk pancake batter, follow the directions on the package, make sure your griddle is the proper temperature and ladle the batter on. When they look like this, turn them…

When they look like this on both sides, they’re done…

And, use the good stuff to top ‘em. If you’re using Log Cabin, stop reading this damn blog, fools…

Happy New Year from Significant Eater and me.

A Real Rain. At Least I'm Cooking

Ahhh, what the heck. A blog about nothing, although I could write about how happy I am with the torrential rain... 

and the change of seasons and the fact that a fairly miserable (weather wise) summer is behind us.

So Significant Eater is here working, and I've already cooked 2 meals today.

Breakfast...

Some Flying Pigs Farm's shoulder bacon. I decided to pull out the plancha and make more use of it.  It's double sided (the other side is a "grill") and it can get really hot.  Although cooking this, it's at about 350° F...

I haven't cooked French toast in forever,  this thread on eGullet got me wanting it, so...it came out great, btw.

Lunch...

  Escarole braised with garlic and chili pepper. And...

Mussels steamed with garlic, white wine, tomatoes and parsley.

That's it. Almost live blogging.

Breakfast Before Bolt Bus Becomes Bacon

 Sunday - it's the day Significant Eater returns to our apartment in Washington, D. C. so she can get ready for a week at the job she loves -  serving the public. That's you and me,  federal taxpayers, and she serves even those who don't pay their fair share (you know, the millionaires, billionaires, oil companies and G. E., for starters).

I always like to make a nice breakfast; I think it's the most important meal of the day, as a matter of fact.  Normally, my breakfasts are pretty healthy  - some whole grain cereal or toast, fresh fruit, yogurt - stuff that's good for you.  But the other day I heard her mention the word bacon, as in she hadn't had bacon in quite a while, and it just so happens I had a pound of good stuff in the fridge - so...

Earlier in the week at the farmer's market,  I bought some nice tomatoes and a couple of pounds of potatoes.   The potatoes got cut up, blanched (btw, when you blanch potatoes or any other root veggies, start them in cold water)  and then pan-fried  in some of that beautiful bacon fat, along with onions, scallions, garlic, and smoked paprika with lots of black pepper...

I totally screwed the pooch by breaking the yolks on what I wanted to be sunny side up eggs - but no worries.  I just covered the pan briefly, and when the eggs were barely cooked through, they topped the potatoes and were served alongside some of that beautiful bacon and sliced tomatoes...

And now, that trip on the Bolt Bus becomes that much easier. And I'll be joining Sig Eater in D. C. sometime Wednesday.

Breakfast Before Barcelona

Tomorrow, breakfast in Barcelona at the Mercat de la Boqueria. Today, Significant Eater and I head off to our much anticipated Spanish/French vacation, where we'll be spending time in both Barcelona and Paris, eating and drinking too much, and taking in some culture as well.

Emotionally, this has been a trying week and the time away will do us good. A loss of an old friend, who had struggled mightily, made for much sadness and when I feel a little distance from it, I hope to write more.

Today, in preparation for our trip, I made us a final breakfast. Before we go away, I try to use up everything perishable in the fridge and the apartment because it sucks to come home to moldy things in the kitchen. There isn't much left, but I did go to the farmer's market earlier in the week and picked up some eggs (they'll last) along with some tiny potatoes - which I made tinier by cutting up. There was also some leftover roast piggie, from a favorite joint on Christie Street. That got diced up too and the whole lot was seasoned with pimenton and sautéed in some olive oil till the potatoes and pork were nice and crispy.

Then, I did a couple of beautiful farm fresh eggs, in a pat of butter and sunny side up.

A couple of slices of 7 grain toast, the egg gets plated atop the crispy potato/pig "hash," and Sig Eater is a happy gal....especially with her two cups of joe.

We'll be missing our view for a bit, and always look forward to coming back to it...but it looks like a nice day for flying.

Hopefully, some blog posts will be forthcoming from overseas. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Coma bé i adéu....Catalan for eat well and goodbye.

The Fried Egg Sandwich

Early on in Gael Greene's book Insatiable, the Insatiable Critic tells us about a tryst she had a few years ago with the king. No, not that king, the real king - Elvis Presley. When the fun was over, Gael says of Elvis:

He twitched a shoulder toward the phone. "Would you mind calling room service and ordering me a fried egg sandwich?"...the totemic fried egg sandwich. At that moment, it might have been clear I was born to to be a restaurant critic. I just didn't know it yet.

Now, I'm no restaurant critic, and I certainly don't have the food chops of Ms. Greene, and I'll never even get to meet Elvis. But I do like me a fried egg sandwich every now and then, if you know what I mean.

A couple of months ago, I started a thread on eGullet about the fried egg sandwich, and even though Gael and Elvis happened to be in Detroit at the time of her epipahny, I tend to think of that sandwich as our own special breakfast treat.

You see, New York City has an old tradition for people on the go in the morning. And maybe other cities too; but here, it seems like you can pop into any "deli" or any "bodega" and grab a fried-egg sandwich on a Kaiser roll, along with a cup of coffee, for about $2.

People sometimes eat them later in the morning, at which point it's really not a hot sandwich anymore. It's a sandwich that at one point was hot, and was wrapped in deli paper, allowing the heat from the egg to soften the roll...and infuse it with eggy smells.

If I recall correctly (I haven't had one from a deli in a long time), the egg on the sandwich is of the broken-yolk fried egg variety. So the egg is thrown on the griddle or into a hot buttered pan, allowed to set a bit, and then the yolk is broken as the egg finishes cooking.

Then there are the add-ons. To my taste, the only possible additions there can be are bacon, ham, cheese or some such combination thereof. Nothing else - nada - you wouldn't put lettuce on there, would you? Especially if you're planning on eating it later, because then the lettuce would just turn, well - gross.

This morning I decided to make the fried egg sandwich at home. Fortunately for Significant Eater and me, there is a kosher bakery right up the block and Kaiser rolls are easy to come by. Kaiser rolls are, to my mind, the classic container for the fried egg sandwich, but I also bought an onion roll for comparison's sake. Unfortunately, they had run out of the seeded Kaiser, which I like, but I settled for the unseeded variety, to go along with the onion roll.

Next, to make the sandwich, I fried up a couple of eggs (yes, farmer's market organic free-range eggs at $4 a dozen) in my trusty nonstick skillet (broke the yolks as you can see from the picture below) - toasted and buttered the roll, although I don't think toasting the roll is "traditional," added a bit of cheese to the sandwich and you know what - it was good. Not quite the same as unwrapping the fried egg sandwich from the deli, where the steamy, eggy smell hits your nose - but it was damn tasty. And I can guarantee my coffee was better too.

Here's the sandwich on the onion roll. I guess due to the fact that it's not the traditional enclosure, we didn't like it as much as the egg on Kaiser. The near burnt onions mask the flavor of the delicate egg and cheese way too much.

By the way, do you make fried egg sandwiches? Are they good? Feel free to share how you make yours.

Bacon, Bialys and Bulkas, Oh My

One thing I know is that if my maternal grandfather sees this post, he'll be rolling over in his grave - and isn't that the silliest thing you ever heard? I mean, do bodies really roll over in their graves? I used to hear that saying whenever anything was done that was seemingly insulting to the old Russian guy. Although when he was alive, I do believe he enjoyed the stuff that was done and handled it with a wink and a shrug. And it was always he who was doing the rolling - never grandma, because she was, how shall I say this, a bit more Attila the Hun-ish. And everyone was scared of her, or at least I was. Hey, is this getting too dark?

Last Saturday night, as Significant Eater and I were coming home from dinner at a friend's apartment, I popped into Kossar's (which opens after the Sabbath ends on Saturday, or after sundown), the world-famous bialy bakery on Grand St. Kossar's sells a number of baked products, each delicious in it's own way. Of course, its world-famous bialy is the number one draw. In my opinion, a bialy is like a Jewish English muffin. What I mean by that is that it needs to be lightly toasted to bring out its deliciousness. Kossar's also bakes bulkas, pletzels, mini-bulkas, mini-pletzels, sesame sticks, mini sesame sticks and bagels. Bulkas are like mini-hero rolls - with the same oniony flavor as bialys and the addition of poppy seeds. Pletzels are onion boards, or big, flat cracker-like things, covered with onions and various seeds...think lavash, but crisper. They're all delish in their own way, and here's what the bulka and bialy look like...


So, there I was Sunday morning, with a stash of the above in our kitchen. And I thought, what better way to show off their deliciousness than to whip up some scrambled eggs, cook up a batch of Benton's bacon, crank up the toaster and go to town? I'm almost convinced that if grandpa could only have gotten over his kosher-ness, he might've even liked the combo. But then, Attila might have smacked him upside the head. And he would've just given me a wink and a shrug.

Significant Eater, of course, had no such reservations when breakfast was served. After all, and with apologies to any and all kosher folks, would you?

Oatmeal - Or, Eat Your Mush

Does anyone remember that great scene in a Little Rascals short, where the boys and girls would whisper to each other around the table? It went like this (thanks to IMDB for refreshing my memory):

Spanky: Don't drink the milk!
Cap's Wife: Why not?
Spanky: It's *spoiled*!
Cap's Wife: Spoiled nothing! You kids put that milk on your mush and eat it! Eeehh!

Always loved those Rascals.

It turns out that Significant Eater and I have a difference of opinion when it comes to oatmeal for breakfast. I really like it, and she doesn't. But, and here's the kicker, she used to; over the last six months to a year, though, she's decided it just isn't her cup of tea (and has gone negative on bananas as well).

I've tried and tried - I serve the oats with only the best Grade B maple syrup (farmer's market, of course), brown sugar that comes from the Brooklyn Brewery (don't ask), delicious fruit both fresh and dried, nuts from Bazzini, whatever - she still turns up her nose (though, and don't tell her I said this, if it's the only thing on the table, she'll eat it). So now when I want oatmeal, I'll often make her something like toast with peanut butter and jelly or topped with butter and cheese...not bad, but not oatmeal.

A week or two ago, SE noticed an article in the NY Times food section, written by Mark Bittman and extolling the virtues of savory, whole grain breakfasts. Things like wheat berries with scallions and soy sauce, polenta "pizza" with pancetta and spinach - well, you get the picture. And on a video on the Times' web site, Bitty (as Gwyneth likes to refer to him) suggests substituting oatmeal for the wheat berries - aha, a eureka moment, I thought. Although, let's face it folks, we've all been eating savory breakfasts for a long time - after all, what is bacon and eggs if not savory? Anyway, back to my eureka moment...


So there it is - oatmeal, scallions, soy, salt - everything a savory person could want. Cooked perfectly - man doesn't this look good?

Well, guess what? She didn't like it one bit - even started to throw out suggestions like perhaps I should've made a little sauce, with soy, vinegar, ginger, etc. etc. Fuggetaboutit - no more oats for you. And chopping scallions in the morning makes the whole place stink to boot. As for me, I'll continue to make mine the way I like it - with cranberries, raisins and good old maple syrup.

Significant Eater will just have to do with toast. And to Bitty - thanks a lot. Now go eat your mush.

Breakfast - The Most Important Meal of the Day

Is breakfast the most important meal of the day? That's what they say, so it must be true. Unless, of course, dinner is really good. And brunch - who thought of that? Just an excuse to start drinking early - like an excuse is needed. Brunch is a meal I never eat - if the Significant Eater is going out to brunch, I'll stay home...I just never got the whole idea.

Anyway, back to breakfast...I make breakfast for the Significant Eater and myself every single day. Yes, every single day. Here's what our sort-of healthy breakfast was yesterday...


Homemade bread, toasted with a fresh fruit salad, cottage cheese, Plugra, jams and coffee. Hey, it helps to get the metabolism going - after all, dinner was in Chinatown, and those soupy dumplings and braised pork belly have lots of calories.