Now Shmear This! ... what does shmear mean to you?

[Gifted Gourmet]

article in the Forward

the word "shmear" (or "schmear," "schmeer," "shmier" or "shmeer"), in the sense of a spread, has by now, yes, spread to just about every nook and cranny of the United States...  The definition of just what a shmear is in America has broadened progressively over the years, too. Once upon a time, the meaning of the word was fairly narrowly confined to cream cheese or to butter...  Today, too, there are purists who stick to this sense:"something such as cream cheese spread on a roll or bagel," ... Urban Dictionary alliteratively explains it as "a large spreaded [sic!] schlop of cream cheese usually schlepped all over a bagel."

Today a shmear can be anything that is soft and gooey enough to be transferable from the flat end of a knife to an edible surface without dripping on your pants, ranging from The Baker's Catalogue's Chocolate Blackout Schmear to the California Avocado Commission's "Yankee Bagel Shmear."

So what does "a shmear" actually mean to you today?

Is it one of the infinite variations of cream cheese and/or butter on your hot bagel?

and if so, what's your personal favorite shmear?

"a large spreaded schlop of cream cheese usually schlepped all over a bagel." is decidedly my favorite definition!

schmears thru the years: shmear of warm chevre on rye, a shmear of mayo, and a shmear of chicken fat have all come up in eGullet threads ...

[judiu]

My favorite is the fresh mixed cream cheese and smoked salmon I use to get from a bulk food place that's now long gone. Boursin with Garlic & Herbs is good, too.

[Pan]

"Bagel with a schmear," with no qualification, means "bagel and cream cheese" to me. Similarly, "Bagel with lox and a schmear."

I have to say that I don't eat bagels too often (there are no really good bagels I know of in my neighborhood, just passable ones at Moishe's), and even less frequently with lox and a schmear, though I do enjoy that.

[johnder]

Having grown up in NY, for me the schmear (shmear?) means everything bagel with cream cheese.

Preferably from Terrace Bagels in Park Slope which I think makes the best bagles in NY, but we can take that to another topic.

I never tried ordering a everything, shmear outside of NYC, I wonder what I would get.

Edited March 23, 2006 by johnder (log)

[srhcb]

I've never heard anyone use the term in person.

SB

[kellycolorado]

To me it means the different flavors of cream cheese available at Noah's Bagels...

[mizducky]

Aha--you have touched on a vocabulary conundrum of mine. While growing up, I heard the term "schmear" all the time, and always in reference to cream cheese on a bagel--and yet, at least in my family, the word "schmear" itself was not synonymous with cream cheese. We always ssid the full phrase "a schmear of cream cheese", not just "a shmear." And yet, I don't recall any of us using the word "shmear" with any other foodstuff.

For that matter, growing up, we never bought pre-schmeared bagels out. You bought the bagels, the cream cheese, and the other goodies, brought them home, and then did your assembling and schmearing and eating. So who knows--maybe there were deli countermen all over 1960s Rockland County who were using "shmear" as synonymous with cream cheese, and I never knew it.

So--I dunno. Just a family-specific word weirdness? I'll be watching this thread to see.

[Fat Guy]

To me there's a difference between a bagel with a schmear and a bagel with cream cheese. A schmear involves less cream cheese.

"Would you like a bagel with cream cheese?"

"Just a schmear."

[Pam R]

a shmear of mayo,

Somehow... a shmear of mayo just doesn't sound right.

Yet... my family doesn't use shmear for just cream cheese. I think anything spreadable can be a shmear, or in fact can be shmeared. Shmear is most often used as a verb around here 'shmear some of that shmaltz on the rye'. Or as a noun 'wipe that shmear off the counter with that shmata'.

"Would you like a bagel with cream cheese?"

"Just a schmear."

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I think shmear means it's more than just a dab ... like I don't want you to jsut scrape a little cream cheese on that .. I want a shmear!

[heyjude]

Fat Guy is exactly right. When I worked at the Film Center Building on 9th Ave. in Manhattan, the coffee shop on the lobby charged a dollar for a bagel with a shmear and 2 dollars for a cream cheese sandwich on a bagel. Of course, the owners were Greek.

[Peter B Wolf]

Don't forget "Wagen Schmier" (Axel Grease)

Would that be Cream Cheese put into Bagel holes and a broomstick forced through them?

[petite tête de chou]

To me it's always meant either plain cream cheese or cream cheese with stuff added to it. I've never heard anyone ask for it at the counter, either. I wonder if this isn't a west/east coast thing? Also, why "shmear?" Why not "smear?"

Edited March 24, 2006 by petite tête de chou (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

In looking at one of the online dictionaries, it was comforting to find that the word shmear was wedged comfortably into this grouping:

shlemiel

shlep

shlimazel

shlock

shlockmeister

shlub

shmaltz

shmear

shmegegge

shmo

shmoose

shmooze

shmuck

shnook

shnorr

And, should you be somewhat familiar with Yiddish, this will make you smile as it did me! When I was a teacher, I could have had the students attempt to put them into a sentence!

Back to the food aspect, here is a recipe for Yankee Bagel Shmear made with avocados ...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Also, why "shmear?" Why not "smear?"

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This is from the article in the Forward, cited above in the first post:

Nor is it entirely clear that Yiddish can claim sole provenance in this matter. It's true that Yiddish shmirn can mean "to spread food on something," just as it also can mean to smear, to grease, to bribe (like the English expression "to grease someone's palm"), and to write or scribble more than one should. But German schmieren has all the same meanings, and Yiddish shmirkez for "cream cheese" is simply an academic translation of German Schmierkaese,

[Jmahl]

If you are not careful you could die from "geleckta."

[Abra]

A schlop that is schlepped, now there's a concept that has linguistic utility far beyond the confines of the culinary, if such a thing can be imagined.

I think it is a coastal thing. I've never heard anyone say shmear in person, or schlop for that matter. however, I myself say schlep with frightening regularity.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Should you think you can only shmear with a cream cheese or butter spread, please realize that Emeril shmears his chicken liberally with gaaaahlick! and I have made and loved that recipe for ages!

[loiosh]

In looking at one of the online dictionaries, it was comforting to find that the word shmear was wedged comfortably into this grouping:

shlemiel

[...]

shlimazel

Hassenpfeffer incorporated!

[christine007]

LOL We're going to do it our way, yes our way!

I think of shmear as an extra large glop of whatever on bread, a cupcake, extra frosting, a big hunk of peanut butter on a cracker, but yes, most especially cream cheese!

[Schneier]

As a noun, it means a thick spread of cream cheese. As a verb, it means to spread something thickly.

[Miriam Kresh]

The English of Americans living outside the States for a long time tends to incorporate words from the new language, especially if there are small kids in the family, and yet fragrantly preserve English as it was spoken at the time they immigrated. One of my favorite old ladies last lived in NY about 60 years ago; she says "chiefly" very naturally, all the time. Never heard anyone else say that.

So I, who left the US over 30 years ago, was unaware of the infiltration of "shmear" into the American vocabulary. To me, "shmear" still means simply to spread some semi-solid or liquid substance on a firm surface. You certainly shmear cream cheese on a bagel; or sunscreen all over your skin. I suppose that in moments of hubris (or gay abandon), one might shmear cream cheese all over one's skin as well.

Miriam

[lamb]

OK - I was just in Zaros' Bread Basket in Port Authority (midtown, NYC for those of you not in the know ) this morning, hopping off my bus and grabbing a bagel with a shmear before waiting for a cab on the dispatch line (oh god - don't EVER cut that line - those waiting will dismember you!). Person behind the counter at Zaro's knew exactly what I meant when I placed my order. When I settled in at my desk and opened the Zaro's brown bag and then the wrapper, I found a bagel with just the *right* amount of cream cheese. Gotta love New York.

[Daniel]

To me there's a difference between a bagel with a schmear and a bagel with cream cheese. A schmear involves less cream cheese.

"Would you like a bagel with cream cheese?"

"Just a schmear."

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This what I believed schmear to mean as well..

[cakewalk]

To me there's a difference between a bagel with a schmear and a bagel with cream cheese. A schmear involves less cream cheese.

"Would you like a bagel with cream cheese?"

"Just a schmear."

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This what I believed schmear to mean as well..

←

Ditto.

Dare we quote Humpty Dumpty here?

[Fat Guy]

FWIW, Barron's/Epicurious says:

schmear

[sHMEER]

Thought to have come from the Yiddish word shmirn  ("to smear or grease"), the word schmear is used in the culinary world to describe a dab of something like mayonnaise or cream cheese that's spread on a roll, bagel, etc.

There's no discussion of schmear in Rosten, but I'll check a couple of other Yiddish texts and report back if I find anything.