HALLIE EPHRON: It’s nearly impossible to find a decent bagel in New England. I say this as someone who grew up in California within striking distance of fabulous, authentic Jewish delicatessens (Nate ‘n Al’s, Linney’s…) and then in Manhattan (Zabar’s, H&H, Russ and Daughters, Katz’s, Barney Greengrass…)
My ideal bagel is small (think hockey puck, NOT frisbee). Yeasty, with a shiny, crackly crust and a dense interior. Chewy! Close your eyes and you’d never imagine you were eating a muffin or a cookie or a piece of cake or the heel of a french bread.
I confess I’m addicted to the New York Times WIRECUTTER feature where they compare brands of everything from bed sheets to fever thermometers to… bagels. So that’s where I went hunting for a frozen bagel (no, there will never be good locally made bagels here, sad to say) readily available in my supermarket.
Sure enough, their #1 recommendation which I found at my local Stop ‘n’ Shop, delivers the goods. Ray’s New York Bagels! The quest for them took me to the BREAKFAST foods in the freezer section. (Did you know you can buy frozen scrambled eggs? Bleh.)
Thawed and toasted with some good cream cheese! It’s the closest thing to the taste of my childhood.
What’s a taste from your past that you haven’t found in any of your local food stores?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: The quest for a good bagel is SO important! And I am thrilled to hear about Ray’s, thank you.
My grandmother made delicious chopped liver, and that’s impossible to find. I remember Teaberry gum, oh, and Juicy Fruit, but I think those went away. We used to go to a deli called Shapiro's–isn't that a coincidence?--for corned beef sandwiches, and not only the corned beef but the rye bread used to be better. (But Indianapolis is not New York, I know.)
Hmm. Cokes used to be better, didn’t they?. And Fritos.
JENN McKINLAY: I went to school in New Haven and there simply is no pizza on Earth like New Haven brick oven pizza.
I’ll put Wooster Square’s Sally’s Apizza and Pepe’s Pizzeria up against anyone anywhere anytime. I’ve never found a pizza I love as much as the white clam pie at Pepe’s, cut into squares as God intended. Wait, maybe the squares are Sally’s. Lucy, do you recall which is which?
LUCY BURDETTE: You’re right Jenn, the squares are Pepe’s and their white clam is outstanding. I like the crispy pepperoni even better!
From my childhood, my sibs and I all yearn for a sausage and pepper sub that came from a deli downtown. Have never found exactly that sandwich again. As for bagels, we are very lucky to have a good bagel shop in both CT and Key West. I’ll take you to the Key West shop next winter Hallie!
HALLIE: I'm in!!
I know you already have world class doughnuts in Key West, plus every possible iteration of Key Lime Pie, including my favorite with a graham cracker crust and whipped cream on top.
RHYS BOWEN: When I go back to England I always have to have childhood food treats: good fish and chips, sticky buns, Crunchie bars.
Luckily they still all exist. But the snack called Twiglets that I used to love is now made differently and doesn’t taste right.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Maybe this is why I've never been crazy about bagels–maybe I've never had a really good one! I do love bagels and corned beef–salt beef in Britain–from the famous shop in the East End called Beigel Bake. As for childhood things, I've never had a Snickerdoodle cookie that tasted as good as my grandmother's.
I'm with Rhys on the British things that America doesn't get right. Fish and chips, sticky toffee pudding, and especially chocolate. Cadbury's US doesn't taste like Cadbury's UK. Nor do American KitKats taste the British ones. Those are my secret vice whenever I go to England, so maybe that is a good thing…
HALLIE: So what about you? What's a taste from your past that you long for, or is something miraculously still available, just as good as you remember it??
I loved Pillsbury's Space Food Sticks . . . chewy chocolate was the best!
ReplyDeleteTomatoes. We had a huge garden and I took the tomatoes for granted. I go to the farmer’s market in SoCal and they just aren’t as good.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain respecting bagels and for me, also, pizza. Sadly, even ice cream is rarely as good as I remember it.
ReplyDeleteHallie, thanks for the tip about Ray's bagels at Stop & Shop.
ReplyDeleteI did not grow up with deli food, and I am a fan of Cape Cod Bagels in Falmouth -- will bring you some if we're ever in the same place (the 25th anniversary of New England Crime Bake in November?)
Chocolate candy bars: definitely different in the UK, and in Europe! Whenever I travel, I bring some back for a comparison taste test.
When we moved into our Southern California house when I was five, my parents planted all kinds of fruit trees and and berry bushes. There's nothing like picking a big fat yellow sun-warmed peach from the tree and dunking it in the kiddie swimming pool and eating it. Or gobbling down handfuls of boysenberries or apricots. Otherwise I loved a good Twinkie at the time, but I don't think it would have the same allure now.
ReplyDeleteEdith, we are doomed to disappointment with Twinkies; I tried one as an adult & they're just not the same any more.
DeleteWe had a peach tree in our back yard when I was a kid too. So yummy. Some of the farmer's market peaches come close.
DeleteOh, Hallie--so true! I grew up in the heart of New York's Borsht Belt eating bagels and hard rolls (another specific taste and texture impossible to find in New England) from Katz's Bakery (different Katz) in Liberty NY. It's also impossible to find good liverwurst here and no one has ever heard of ring bologna. FYI, Monticello, NY (our high school sports rivals) holds an annual bagel festival every summer.
ReplyDeleteFrom Celia: Arriving in NYC IN 1969 turned my food world on its head. No More pickled onions and pub lunches, sitting on the Quay at my families fav pub in Cornwall where my parents lived and sailed.
ReplyDeleteBut to go back to the end of 1948'i am on a boat sailing to Trinidad for my father's first post war work, FOUR years old, AND I am not happy.
My poor mother isn't either and it's certain that the poor stewardess overseeing our Dutch children's breakfast cannot understand why I'm not eating my bread with chocolate sprinkles like the other kids. Where is my soft boiled egg? Where are my buttered soldiers?
International discussion on Brit Vs Dutch
, some compromise and this little tyrant is satisfied.
I still love a soft boiled egg for breakfast.
As we left England for what turned out to be my father on the move around the world all his career, England was struggling out from the WWII, sugar was rationed till 1954 so no Crunches for me.
Hank, when we were in Indianapolis a few years ago, we had to go to Shapiro's esp. because Shapiro was my mother's maiden name. Well, my grandmother's gribenes, that's something I loved growing up, and I haven't had since. I imagine that my grandmother also made the best rugelach. That's something I do make occasionally for high holiday celebrations, and they are very good. We used to buy rugelach whenever we ate at a deli (which isn't too often, as there are none where we live), but they were never good enough to please me, so I guess that's something that was better in childhood. During "Covid" I was making my own bagels. I got the special flour needed for them (mail order) and I bought bagel boards to bake them on. Yes, they were suitably dense and chewy, and much better than the ones I had made decades before. We have some fairly good bagels here (Kentucky) but they are not quite New York bagels. Anonymous: regarding the chocolate sprinkles at breakfast. That was my great discovery when we were traveling across Europe, staying in youth hostels, in 1972. Chocolate at breakfast. I learned from the Dutch.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, let's gripe about donuts. I like cake donuts; raised donuts are okay but they are basically donut wanna-bes; since Krispy Kreme hit the big time, it's hard to find a good cake donut. Once upon a time, Dunkin' donuts used to taste good; the fat they used to fry them in provided a firm coating; now it is soft and flavorless. They used to have the original Dunkin' Donut -- the one with a tumor to make it easier to dunk; now because the donuts are machine made, that is a thing of the past. Likewise, their crullers -- I loved a good sugar cruller; but they could not be made by their machines, so they went the way of the dodo, to be replaced by donut sticks, which in no way could be considered a good replacement -- I can guarantee that because I have not only refined taste buds, but also a good memory.
ReplyDeleteBut enough about donuts, let's talk about ginger ale, specifically Chelmsford Ginger Ale, the product of my Massachusetts home town. It is a golden ginger ale and not a pale dry ginger ale. It ws originally bottled from water from Beaver Brook, which ran through the town's center, in 1901; it ws originally sold in stone bottles (!). The closest thing I have been able to find is Vernor's, which is way too sweet. Golden ginger ale should a tang just this side of ginger been. It is still being produced and sold through the local Market Basket chain in New England and is unavailable anywhere else, and Market Basket will not ship it anywhere -- I checked. A trip back to New England is considered a failure if I do not stock up on Chelmsford Ginger Ale.
What else? I am in Florida now and the barbarians here have never heard of piccalilli. I especially loved Howard's Old Fashioned English Piccalilli. But piccalilli appears to be illegal here, I guess. And cranberry mustard! How can people live without cranberry mustard? I also miss Grape Nut ice cream; sounds horrible, but it was delicious.
If you have not noticed, I am a cranky old man, and getting crankier. And get off my lawn!
Hallie, I had never heard of bagels until we moved to Massachusetts. My first one was after a cold, rainy St, Patrick’s Day parade from Zeppy's Baigel Bakery In Randolph, MA, where we lived at the time. They were green for St. Patrick’s Day. I guess I was expecting something like a doughnut, and I was disappointed. I’ve never taken to bagels after. Maybe I’ll give Ray’s a try. What I miss from childhood are my Mom’s southern biscuits dripping with butter and honey. I make biscuits often but no matter how they are they’ve just not as good as my Mom’s.
ReplyDeleteI never had bagels until I moved to Montreal after we were married and they were a revelation! I too joined the one bakery is better than the other – as there were only two wood-fired ones that counted. The same for a smoked meat – Schwartz was king above all – but I would eat one happily at Ben’s. Sadly, both are but memories and bagels here are only another format of Wonder Bread.
ReplyDeleteRhys, in Canada, we had and still have Cadbury Crunchy chocolate bars. They are one of my favourites and always grabbed in the small giveaways for Halloween.