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Salt Bagel


Fat Guy

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Do they have these in other parts of the country (besides New York)? Salt bagels (plain bagel rolled in coarse kosher salt) have become my favorite of late.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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strange you mention that.  this morning i thought about a salt bagel for probably the first time in 10 years.  i realized that the salt tastes good!  probably because i was hungover.

but yes, nice.  i like OJ with my salt bagel.  don't know why.

to answer your question, we even have salt bagels all the way out in Jersey.

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Great minds think alike.

But what's this Jersey place you're talking about? Never heard of it.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Tommy:  i like OJ with my salt bagel.
Steve Klc is prepared to offer a discourse on why salt brings out the flavor in sweet foods, which makes me wonder why we stopped eating pretzels and ice cream as we gew up.

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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Steven:

You can get salt bagels in Boston as well (at least the last time I was in Rosenfeld's in Newton Center).

I like the little "taste surprise" of biting into a salt crystal on an everything bagel, but I don't know if I could make the leap to a salt bagel. Anyway, I'm back on Atkins (which I prepared for by having an eclair every morning for a week), so no bagels of any kind for a while.

Have you tried the Bagel Mill at 88th & 1st yet? You didn't say where you obtain these sodium encrusted taste treats. I don't remember whether you succumbed fully to the brow beating you got for advocating VF bagels.

Adam

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Vinegar Factory doesn't seem to have salt bagels. I've been getting mine up at Stew Leonard's in Yonkers, where we do a lot of our shopping now that we have a car and a dog (there's plenty of space for me to play with the dog outside while the wife shops, or vice versa). They're not the world's best bagels, but they suffice as a substrate for cheese or whatever I eat for my basic subsistence breakfasts and lunches during the week.

I still believe Vinegar Factory has the best bagels in town right now, judging by the traditional standards to which bagels should be held (dense, chewy, malty, good crust, etc.).

Haven't made it to Bagel Mill yet, though.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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We went to Stew Leonard's once, on the way back from Woodbury Common. Although they appeared to have quality product, I wasn't terribly impressed with either the selection (too limited) and the traffic pattern in the store (too fascist).

Now that you have a car, did you know there is a Costco in Queens, just across from Roosevelt Island? Very convenient for us cliff dwellers, now if I only had a place to store those institutional sizes.

In case you're wondering, I left the Peacock network to open my own practice, which is why I've been absent from the board.

Bagel Mill has salt bagels.  I think it's a little extreme to go up to Stew Leonard's for bagels. You guys freezing them?

Adam

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Stew Leonard's is in a shopping complex with a Costco and a Home Depot, all off I-87 exit 6A. The Costco and the Home Depot are significantly nicer than any of the ones in the five boroughs (I believe I've been to all of them), which are among the worst in each chain.

From where we live in Carnegie Hill, it takes us less time to drive there than it would take us to walk to Vinegar Factory (which is our only choice, since parking over there is a near-impossibility). Since we're both unemployed -- er, self-employed -- we can go at off hours when there's no traffic. And the ability to let the dog run outdoors in an open space with few other people and no other dogs is a great thing.

Ellen posted some notes about Stew Leonard's awhile back. They're fairly exhaustive, though I think we've both revised our opinion of the bagels slightly upwards.

We do always keep some bagels and other breadstuffs in the freezer, but mostly we eat them fresh for two or three days and then go back. Lately, we've been going to Stew's about twice a week.

Stew Leonard's does have a small selection, relative to its size. But this allows for more attractive pricing. What is there is superior to what you find at most supermarkets, though not on par with the best Manhattan gourmet places (not as expensive, either). The floor plan is rigid, though it's been relaxed a bit since I think you've last been. There are cut-outs now that allow you to skip parts of the store. Once you learn the system, you can be very efficient.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I agree, based on person experience, that the Home Depot's in NYC suck like a burnt weenie sandwich (had to get a food reference into the Home Depot comment).  You know, VF validates parking at the David Garage across the street. Not that I'm advocating VF, even though we stopped there tonight on the way home to pick up some food. I've never been more conflicted about a store.

You can't walk? I admit that the walk back UP 91st St is pretty daunting,  but think of what it would do for your appetite.  :)

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It never even occurred to me that there might be free parking. Indeed it turns out the policy is one hour free with ษ purchase, and both of those requirements are easily satisfied (especially since ษ is the approximate price of the least expensive item in the store!).

In terms of walking, it's no big deal for me to haul my carcass there and back, but it's no picnic heading up that hill with heavy grocery bags. Add a five-month-old and very slow bulldog puppy into the mix and it's a project.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Quote: from abbeynormal on 10:10 pm on Nov. 23, 2001

I agree, based on person experience, that the Home Depot's in NYC suck like a burnt weenie sandwich (had to get a food reference into the Home Depot comment).

And a Zappa reference while you're at it: "God, that was a tasty little sucker!"

Has no one had the bagels at Kossar's (on Grand Street)? Those were the absolute best when I had them, but that was a year ago. They freeze well, too. Guess I'll have to get there on the weekend; it will give me an excuse to get down there to get my lens cap (but that's a different story).

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Quote: from franklanguage on 9:27 am on Nov. 24, 2001
Quote: from abbeynormal on 10:10 pm on Nov. 23, 2001

I agree, based on person experience, that the Home Depot's in NYC suck like a burnt weenie sandwich (had to get a food reference into the Home Depot comment).

And a Zappa reference while you're at it: "God, that was a tasty little sucker!"

Has no one had the bagels at Kossar's (on Grand Street)? Those were the absolute best when I had them, but that was a year ago. They freeze well, too. Guess I'll have to get there on the weekend; it will give me an excuse to get down there to get my lens cap (but that's a different story).

Thanks for picking up on the frank reference frank.

I have a vision of what Steven will post on Kossar's:

Well'>http://www.egullet.com/cgi-bin/topic.cgi?f...topic=62

Well

, not really a vision, more like extraordinary recall of what's been posted on this board.

Keep it greasey so it'll go down easy,

Adam

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  • 3 years later...
Seems like there's an overlap between salt bagels and soft pretzels: both are boiled, baked and salted, no?

Soft pretzels are boiled? Not the ones made at Fisher's at the Reading Terminal Market, although they are dipped into a solution (is it a mild alkali of some sort?) before baking. And since most bagel bakers (alas) have eliminated boiling and instead are using steaming ovens instead, it's more and more difficult to find the real thing.

Salt bagels have been my favorite since I was a kid in the 1950s and we made regular trips to Watson Bagels on Chancellor Avenue in Newark, then Irvington. Just last week I picked up some at Elmora Bagels in Elizabeth, owned by the same famiiy that operated Watson. Unfortunately, they no longer make bialys. But they still boil the bagels before placing them on wooden boards into the oven.

I don't object to a few poppyseeds mixed in with the salt. But it should be a salt bagel, not a poppyseed bagel.

The best bagels I've found in Philadelphia (the closest to Watson in size, flavor and texture) is Philadephia Bagel Company, in the strip mall at Columbus (Delaware) & Washington. They make an excellent bialy, too, but weekends only.

Bob Libkind aka "rlibkind"

Robert's Market Report

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Summers between elementary school grades in Madison WI, my favorite lunch involved riding my bike to Bagels Forever where you could get fresh bagels for around 20 cents (I think they may be 30 cents now). Though Bagels Forever was a sort of large operation that mostly produced bagels to be frozen and sold from grocery stores, the salt bagel was only available fresh. They were good always, but best when they were still warm from the oven as they sat in the bin. I'd sit out front of the building and eat it plain. Fantastic memories.

As a side note, around the same time we often toasted frozen bagels for breakfast and I would always select a plain bagel, toast it, and salt it.

Edited by slbunge (log)

Stephen Bunge

St Paul, MN

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Seems like there's an overlap between salt bagels and soft pretzels: both are boiled, baked and salted, no?

Soft pretzels are boiled? Not the ones made at Fisher's at the Reading Terminal Market...

Okay, not all soft pretzels are boiled. But lots are, as a Google search on "pretzel recipe" reveals. Almost all call for boiling (or steaming); there is one that calls for a dip in water and soda, a la Fisher's.

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strange you mention that.  this morning i thought about a salt bagel for probably the first time in 10 years.  i realized that the salt tastes good!  probably because i was hungover. <p>but yes, nice.  i like OJ with my salt bagel.  don't know why. <p>to answer your question, we even have salt bagels all the way out in Jersey.

I may be just a step-up from trailer park,

however the asiago bagel is my fav.

Really not a bagel at all, more like a cross between focaccia and nothing.......... :hmmm:

http://www.panerabread.com/default.aspx

Edited by chefreit (log)

I Will Be..................

"The Next Food Network Star!"

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Salt Bagels are alive and well in DE. They aren't bad, but I find Everything bagels much more tasty.

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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