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!
ReplyDeleteI had to look them up. Yikes. Chocolate and peanut butter. Apparently Pillsbury teamed up with NASA to produce a snack for astronauts. I'm surprised they haven't risen from their grave.
DeleteTomatoes. 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 read somewhere that that taste depends on the soil they're grown in. But I know just what you mean, Lisa.
DeleteI feel your pain respecting bagels and for me, also, pizza. Sadly, even ice cream is rarely as good as I remember it.
ReplyDeletePizza and bagels...
DeleteHallie, 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.
I've always fund British chocolate waxy tasting... but now I"m thinking its probably just the version they export to us.
DeleteBecky Sue, my youngest, who is living in the Netherlands, was complaining that American chocolate just didn't taste as nice. We did a little research and discovered most commercial chocolate makers in the US use palm oil, which I guess you can't use in the EU. And yes, the palm oil is a relatively recent ingredient, which is why some candies don't taste as good as we remember!
DeleteWhen 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.
DeleteOur neighbor in LA had an avocado tree...
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.
ReplyDeleteRing bologna? I've never heard of it, either. .. and a reason to go to Monticello!
DeleteFrom 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.
A traditional British breakfast really is special. Though I never understand what that watery tomato is supposed to add.
DeleteFrom Celia; excellent point Hallie. My guess is color but when I was at boarding school my best breakfast was Heiz veggie brand and fried bread. Many things have changed since I left too join you all here in 1969. And I love bagels with a schmear, smoked salmon, etc. once we settled in Maine? G'noys etc BIG breakfast was the rule. Think some English some American- wish I was eating it now.
DeleteHank, 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.
ReplyDeleteMmmm Dutch chocolate. We have Dutch friends who send us the MOST delicious chocolate letters (H for me) every holiday. And GRIBENES! The crispy remains of cooked down chicken skin. YUM. My mother who rarely cooked would render chicken fat for delicious chopped liver and we fought over the remaining bits (aka gribenes) that were in the pan.
DeleteBeth, I still remember the breakfasts when we took a trip to Holland when I was, I don't know, 8 or 9? A big, hard roll with jam and butter, and an enormous (to my eyes) cup of hot chocolate. I loved them SO much, although my mom was appalled. Looking back, though, it was probably better nutritionally than my usual: Iron and vitamin enriched Captain Crunch cereal!
DeleteOh, that is such a coincidence! ANd dutch chocolate, remember the Drostes Apples? They were amazing, but not anymore....
DeleteFirst 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!
I love grapenut ice cream. It was always hand churned and served with a bowl of fork-mashed fresh strawberries and ice box cookies along side. You can still but commercial stuff in Nova Scotia in the summer - not nearly as good but better than Moon-pie!
DeleteI love a good chocolate cruller and didn't realize they'd stopped making them!
DeleteJerry, I'm with you on too sweet ginger ales. A couple of decades ago, I kept a regional brand on hand, but it disappeared. I found a great ginger beer--Ithaca brand from Ithaca, NY--in my local IGA. I bought all their stock and it turned out to be a one-off. They've never carried it again and I can't find it anywhere local.
DeleteA good donut (cake or risen) is hard to find these days. And my local donut place just closed. I am i mourning.
DeleteI also love a cake donut.
DeleteTo get a good cake donut, I have to drive to a local Mexican barrio bakery. But worth the drive!
DeleteTheir donuts are so light and airy I have to hold them down to keep them from floating away!
From Celia: Jerry, there's a family mustard maker - Reins - I think up in the County, Maine. I'm sure they do both cranberry and Piccalilli and they do
DeleteMail order. Or you might try Stonewall Kitchen. Good luck
https://www.englishteastore.com/products/norfolk-manor-piccalilli-relish-440g
DeleteCelia-I think you mean Raye's mustards in Maine.
DeleteYes, just plain cake donuts. So delicious.
DeleteHallie, 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.
ReplyDeleteSuzette, biscuits are hard! The closest I have ever gotten was from using sourdough starter discard, the part you throw out (but a lot of people keep to make pancakes, etc. with) when you feed the starter. And there's a NYT Cooking recipe for Butter Swim Biscuits that is also good. They are not the light, fluffy ones, but they literally drip with butter.
DeleteBoy do I miss ZEPPY's in Randolph, Karen. Good bagels. And all of their baked goods were special. It was a schlep for me (20 minutes?) to drive there but worth it.
DeleteAnd really good biscuits are so hard to find and hard to duplicate... the layers you want take work.
My husband uses the biscuit recipe in Alton Brown’s Good Eats, I forget which volume. It’s based on Alton’s southern grandmother’s biscuits.
DeleteFrom Celia ; David Leiwitz says the best biscuit recipe is Edna O'Brian's cook book.
DeleteI have made so many biscuits trying to find the best recipe but they all come out pretty much the same. I don't use lard, but I remember growing up my mom made biscuits with lard instead of butter and they were fluffier, so maybe that is the difference?
DeleteJust saying, my Tassajara Bread Book biscuits are to die for. I do the work to make the layers, they are rich in cream and butter, and so flaky even with half whole wheat flour!
DeleteI laminate my biscuits by folding the dough over itself like a letter, patting it out, and then refolding several times. That adds many layers. Enough that my biscuits tend to lean over as they rise!
DeleteI 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.
Margo, Montreal is famous for their bagels, but they are not the same as New York ones! I think I have recipes for both.
DeleteSmoked meat... gotta go to Canada for that. But to me it's a lot like pastrami, taste-wise. A good corned beef is a lost art, too.
DeleteHank, I have good news: they still make both Teaberry and Juicy Fruit gum! Lots of places sell it online, too.
ReplyDeleteAs for Coke, they changed from using cane sugar to high fructose corn syrup sometime in the 1970's or 80's, and that changed the flavor significantly. Remember the hullaballoo over the "New Coke" campaign? It was not an improvement, which was why they brought back "Classic Coke". But you can still get that old-time flavor memory from Kosher Coke, or Mexican Coke, I think they are in bottles with green labels. I see it during Passover sometimes. Also, the US is about the only country that sells Coke with corn syrup, naturally. Australian Coke tastes like our childhood. Fountain drinks are another issue; when the drugstore soda fountain poured you a cola it was made with a combination of soda water and thick, cola syrup made with cane sugar. The machines at fast food places no longer use that syrup, either.
Ah, Jerry, you hit on one of my nostalgic memories, too, the freshly baked hot cake doughnut of my childhood. Sip's only sold cake doughnuts, with two frostings: vanilla and chocolate. They had a machine in front of their big plate glass window, and you could watch the fresh doughnuts fall into the baskets. They were absolutely the best.
When your local farmers market opens, check out the canning booths. Sometimes they sell home-canned picalilli. I have made it, years ago, and it is super labor-intensive. But yes, it is so good, especially on cold salmon. Swoon.
From my own childhood I have never seen watermelon sherbet sold anywhere since our local dairy did in the 1960's. I have made a good replica one time, and didn't save the recipe, alas.
Bagels must be an acquired taste. I have never warmed up to them. We actually made them in my Home Ec cooking class in 1967 in Hamilton Ohio, if you can believe it. We boiled them in lye, which still shocks me that that's how they're processed before baking.
Karen, I used to make pretzels - they are supposed to be boiled in lye, but I never did that. As far as I know, bagels are done in water (without lye?)
DeleteKaren, I tried at several local farmer's markets, but all I could get were blank stares. On3 vendor told me, you must mean chow-chow. No! No! A thousand times no! Chow-chow is a disgrace to the relish community and nothing like piccalilli. i remain bereft.
DeleteI confess I've avoided reading recipes for bagels. There are some things I just don't want to know. Picalilli? I don't think I've ever tasted it: Add to to-do list.
DeleteBeth, I know corn tortillas are traditionally made with lye too.
DeleteOh Karen! You made me think of the super syrupy cokes of my youth from the Stardust Lanes bowling alley! Nothing compares.
DeleteLisa, so true! And the cane sugar, while not exactly healthy, was much better for us than corn syrup is.
DeleteBeth, I just looked it up. Some bagels are boiled in lye before baking, but not usually those from commercial bakers. But I also think we made pretzels, not bagels. I mean, it was almost 60 years ago. Yikes!!
Cherry coke after high school at the last soda fountain in my town! SO good.
DeleteIn California we drink Mexican Coke, which is made with cane sugar. You can find it at all the local grocery stores. It is the only Coke that I drink, it has a much better flavor.
DeleteBill Crider was probably the most even-tempered man on Earth, but he let out a mighty howl when Doctor Pepper switched from pure cane sugar and life was never the same.
DeleteWaving from the home of Dr. Pepper, Jerry. The Dr. Pepper plant in Dallas was a fixture of my childhood. My dad even coached the Dr. Pepper women's softball team at one point, although that was before I came along. And you are so right about the switch to corn syrup. Ugh. Dr. Pepper was ruined.
DeleteSadly, central Ohio is not a good place for bagels, either. There used to be one local deli, Block's Bagels, whose bagels were legit, but they overexpanded and then had to shrink in size and recently the last original Block's changed hands. (I haven't been in to see if the bagels there are still good, as it is not near my home.) There is a delivery-only bagel company, Sammy's, that actually makes a good bagel. It isn't as thin as you are describing, but even though a bit thicker it is still not fluffy, but appropriately tough. Recently I have been settling for bagels from Einstein Bagels. They are not too bad, but only open in the morning, so I need to get out and get right down there if I want to stock up. Fortunately bagels do freeze well, so I try to buy two dozen at a time and use them from the freezer until they're gone. But the last time I went they didn't have two dozen pumpernickel left by the time I arrived. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI'd have been happy: pumpernickel are my favorites. And even though it's a chain, I gree Einstein's are passable. Sadly we no longer have one of their outlets near me.
DeleteYes, pumpernickel is my fave, too. WITH cream cheese, and capers, and tomatoes.
DeleteGrowing up I remember biking to the neighborhood general store and reaching into a giant white freezer for an icy cold Orange Crush soda. Which back then...in the 1950's...came in a brown glass bottle. And New Englanders called it "tonic". Sweet and carbonated with the intense fruity taste of orange. As if there was a fresh orange in every bottle. On a hot summer's day it was a delightful frosty treat to sip! Now Orange Crush comes in an aluminum can and is nowhere near the same taste it was during my childhood days. Blurg. :-/ I also remember the Cushman's Bakery truck pulling up to our house dropping off a delivery of fresh bread and sweets and my favorite ~ chocolate whoopie pies. Each little pie came in its own wax paper "envelope". They were so delicious! We had the same delivery driver for many years until Cushman's went out of business.
ReplyDeleteHank Phillippi Ryan opened up my memory bank with her mention of Clark's Teaberry and Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gums. There was also Clove, Beeman's and Black Jack gums. Along with Wrigley's spearmint and double mint gums. I stumbled on all the above flavors while visiting Caleb's Country Store in Barrington, NH...a nostalgic general store that opened in 1869. I'm sure you can also order these gums through Amazon but do they taste the same? Thanks also to Celia who mentioned how much she loved her soft boiled eggs for breakfast ever since she was a child. My mother also loved her soft boiled egg for breakfast. I close my eyes and I am flooded with childhood images of her sitting at the kitchen table, her soft-boiled egg perfectly cooked and sitting upright in its egg cup. She would slice just a bit of the top of the egg off and put a small amount of butter and a sprinkle of salt in the opening. Then slowly take her time enjoying her breakfast egg with toast and a cup of hot coffee. I used to say to her "Mom, you make eating that egg look as scrumptious as if you were having a filet mignon." :-) Thanks for helping me remember some lovely memories, Hallie! P.S. While you searched for the perfect bagel I searched for the perfect English muffin which for me is the Stonewall Kitchen brand. Split them with a fork, not a knife... :-)
I do split my english muffins with a fork... and maybe I have low standards but I find your basic Thomas's English muffins pretty much sets the standard (lotsa holes, yeasty...)
DeleteNot Stonewall Kitchen brand...sorry. I meant to say Stone & Skillet English Muffins which are made in Boston.
DeleteHallie ~ Try the Stone & Skillet original English Muffin. I think you will love it! The only problem is they are not sold everywhere; they are unfortunately very selective. I buy mine from Hornstra Farms in Norwell but I think they are widely distributed in Whole Foods Markets.
DeleteTrader Joe's makes whole wheat (and also white flour, but I've never tried those) English muffins and they are pretty good. I separate them with my fingers, gently.
DeleteIt's so important to check the ingredients on labels. Many products we are used to (think Reeses Peanut Butter Cups) have substituted original ingredients for veg oils, corn syrup, guar gums, and other chemicals instead of real food products.
ReplyDeleteMany ICE CREAM companies now substitute oils for cream and milk. Haagen-Dazs is the only brand I've found that just has milk, cream, cane sugar (NOT high fructose or corn syrup), egg yolks and vanilla. That's all. If you check ice cream labels, you'll find they have a lot of chemical additives, often no milk at all.
Thanks for the word to the wise....
DeleteI bought a national brand of "ice cream" - actually it was labeled as Frozen Desert. It can't be labeled as ice cream because it didn't have milk or cream, it was all different kinds of oils. Who wants to eat a cup of oil?
DeleteWe're lucky here. Strauss is a local dairy and their ice cream is the real thing and wonderful - nothing but milk, sugar and fruit, decaf coffee or dutch chocolate. . It's not made to be shipped everywhere and last in commercial freezers for months! They also sell "European style" butter, milk and cream in glass bottles.
DeleteWe are lucky north of Boston with not only Richardsons but Hodgies ice cream shops - only real ingredients, super creamy, and close by!
DeleteTalk about checking ingredients--Reeses has a broohaha going on because it has changed the recipe to make up for the large increase in the price of chocolate ingredients. Reeses items now often say they are "chocolate flavored", not milk chocolate. There was such a response that they are, supposedly, switching back later this year or next.
DeleteHas anyone had bagels from PopUp Bagels? They are a national chain. We have one location in our town and the lines are down the block.
ReplyDeleteNot yet... I'll be on the lookout for it.
DeleteFountain cokes! From the local drugstore--now the drugstore is long gone and fountain drinks are bleh! Pepsi wised up and brought back the cane sugar version--which always tastes best slightly frozen in a glass bottle. Cans are second place, and oddly enough they don't seem to offer it in plastic bottles any longer. Mostly I miss my mom's and grandma's cooking--things I can't replicate--biscuits, fried chicken, strawberry jam. I can make those things, but they are never as good.
ReplyDeleteFlora, I too miss Mother’s and Grammie’s cooking. Grammie had a coal stove in the kitchen to roast the holiday turkeys and grill the “beef steaks”. Elisabeth
DeleteFlora, you have me remembering that my husband's mother used to treat coughs with coke syrup. Makes me wonder what's in it.
DeleteWow, now I have a memory from early grade school of my mom giving us cold Coke syrup with paregoric in it. For an upset stomach, I think.
DeleteThere used to be soda fountains at department stores like Woolworth's then they disappeared. There still was a soda fountain at a small cafe on College Avenue next to Mrs. Dalloway's bookstore. It has been replaced by Espresso machines.
ReplyDeleteTo my amazement, I learned yesterday that there STILL is a Milk Bar in Edinburgh, Scotland! When my Mum visited England years before I was born, there were Milk Bars in England and Scotland. I loved the fish and chips when I lived in England while studying at Oxford. Though I could not find a Milk Bar.
Fish and chips is something we do excel at here in New England. But not as good as what I had in Ireland. Or from a street stand in London.
DeletePink divinity ice cream. Caramel apple popsicles. Peppermint stick ice cream did finally come back after many years without, but it's not the same as when I was a kid. Hostess isn't very good since it got bought out, and doesn't last as long either. Fanta, Butterfingers, so many others have changed the recipes. My mom was happy when Pepsi went back to one option at least with regular sugar instead of corn syrup. She also talks about the cool things you used to get in Cracker Jacks. By the time I came along you only got a sticker, and then you just got a paper with a website to play a little game. Oreos' family size is what the regular sized package used to be. I heard Pop Tarts are coming out with one with 'extra filling' and my first thought was "so like they used to be." I also wish for a Döner. Had one when I was 16 and haven't seen one since.
ReplyDeleteOh yes what passes for a prize in the Cracker Jack box now is a huge disappointment!
DeleteCaramel apple popsicles!!! How did I miss them. But the thought of it has me yearning for rootbeer popsicles.
DeleteI miss a good hamburger, fries, and chocolate shake from the restaurant a mile from my high school. Once we were seniors we could leave campus for lunch. But what I really miss is a family owned small restaurant whose owners and staff know their customer’s names and preferences. An extended family sort of a place. There are none where I live, just plastic fast food places and OMG expensive restaurants. Sigh, the good ol’ days.
ReplyDeletePaula - I agree! We prefer to support locally - family owned places. Fortunately fast food restaurants have all disappeared in our local town.
DeleteSigh. Family-owned places. We have a sushi restaurant near us that's been owned by the same family for ages. I remember when they started and the wife was pregnant with a little boy who's now out of college.
DeleteAlicia, I think Coca Cola bottled in Mexico uses cane sugar not high fructose corn syrup. That's why it tastes better imo.
ReplyDeleteIt is a huge surprise to find a restaurant that has Dorothy Lynch salad dressing which originated in and is still made in my home state of Nebraska. You can buy it bottled in stores now but that wasn’t always the case. https://www.dorothylynch.com/about
ReplyDeleteI wish I could find another Mexican restaurant that serves white sauce with the chips in addition to salsa like Los Dos Amigos in Rochester, Minnesota. I love that stuff.
Dorothy Lynch salad dressing? Going to look it up. And I've ever seen or had "white sauce" with salsa. Queso blanco??
DeleteBorn and raised in NJ eleven miles from NYC. I love me a good NY bagel, especially salt bagels. They don't travel well so I learned to make my own. Seriously, it's not that difficult. YUM, and some Nova and cream cheese (a/k/a schmeer) with little onion circles. Oh, heaven. I am so hungry.
ReplyDeleteI love it with chives. But really any kind of onion works
DeleteI'm reading all these food comments and realizing how memories of food are entwined with our histories. It's a lovely topic to explore.
ReplyDeleteI agree!
DeleteSo true. Same with smells...
DeleteNow I want fish and chips...in London.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up in the Boston area it was the golden age of bakeries. Many of the local bakeries had emigrated from Europe during and after WW II and brought their baking skills with them.
ReplyDeleteThis included bagels, rolls that were called Vienna rolls at that time (now they are just a soft squishy piece of flavorless baked dough called bulkies) and other flaky pastries such as Danish.
When I went to Vienna as adult I had rolls that were like the ones from my childhood a crisp crust with a soft inside and real flavor. Danish pastry here is nothing like what you find in Denmark, a light flaky pastry with real flavor and fruit as opposed to a heavier, tasteless variety found in most places here.
Although I don’t think I ever had it as a child, the black forest cake I have had here as an adult is completely different from what I have had in Switzerland and Austria.
French bread and rolls have also deteriorated in texture and taste here.
There was a book written a few years ago in which the author, who wasn’t a professional baker went to France in search of the perfect French bread. He travelled all over the country trying to analyze what made the bread in France so different in terms of texture and taste.
Some bakers said it was the water others felt it was the soil where the wheat was grown or the baker had a secret process in the way the ingredients of the bread was combined. Some felt even where the eggs came from was a factor.
For me, a lot of ethnic foods that people who came from other countries made is no longer the same.
The store bought blintzes aren’t even close to what my mother made. She seldom used a recipe but did have a recipe book from one of the food manufacturers which she used to make them. Knishes are still around but I haven’t tasted the ones I remember that were served at weddings and other special occasions..
There are some theories that when cooking oil and other lower fat substitutes replaced real butter the texture and flavor of many dishes disappeared.
I also read that bagels are not processed the same way from the water that is used to the way they are cooked-boiled as opposed to baked. I don’t buy them very often, when I do it’s with the awareness that they will be very different from the way they used to be. Most people don’t even know the difference because they have nothing to compare with what exists now.
Lovel memories! You're reminding me of the Danish Pastry Shop that was on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. I have never found pastry like that, Danish or otherwise, anywhere since. Hope springs.
DeleteGo to Denmark. You have the pastry as a bonus to going to Copenhagen.
DeleteTheir amusement park, Tivoli, was the model Walt Disney used for Disneyland.
When I was growing up in the Boston area it was the golden age of bakeries. Many of the local bakeries had emigrated from Europe during and after WW II and brought their baking skills with them.
ReplyDeleteThis included bagels, rolls that were called Vienna rolls at that time (now they are just a soft squishy piece of flavorless baked dough called bulkies) and other flaky pastries such as Danish.
When I went to Vienna as adult I had rolls that were like the ones from my childhood a crisp crust with a soft inside and real flavor. Danish pastry here is nothing like what you find in Denmark, a light flaky pastry with real flavor and fruit as opposed to a heavier, tasteless variety found in most places here.
Although I don’t think I ever had it as a child, the black forest cake I have had here as an adult is completely different from what I have had in Switzerland and Austria.
French bread and rolls have also deteriorated in texture and taste here.
There was a book written a few years ago in which the author, who wasn’t a professional baker went to France in search of the perfect French bread. He travelled all over the country trying to analyze what made the bread in France so different in terms of texture and taste.
Some bakers said it was the water others felt it was the soil where the wheat was grown or the baker had a secret process in the way the ingredients of the bread was combined. Some felt even where the eggs came from was a factor.
For me, a lot of ethnic foods that people who came from other countries made is no longer the same.
The store bought blintzes aren’t even close to what my mother made. She seldom used a recipe but did have a recipe book from one of the food manufacturers which she used to make them. Knishes are still around but I haven’t tasted the ones I remember that were served at weddings and other special occasions..
There are some theories that when cooking oil and other lower fat substitutes replaced real butter the texture and flavor of many dishes disappeared.
I also read that bagels are not processed the same way from the water that is used to the way they are cooked-boiled as opposed to baked. I don’t buy them very often, when I do it’s with the awareness that they will be very different from the way they used to be. Most people don’t even know the difference because they have nothing to compare with what exists now.
Sorry for the duplicate post, I keep getting error messages and something I sent lst week printed then disappeared so I am not sure what will go through properly.
ReplyDeleteNo apologies needed!!
DeleteAlso chopped herring which is probably not as popular as it once was. It is still available in some delis but doesn’t have the same taste or texture.
ReplyDeleteThere is a book-Russ and Daughters which is the story of the restaurant which still exists in NY and still has members from the original family. They do ship out of state
Russ and Daughters is still there. Not far from Yona Schimmel's Knish Factory
DeleteMother’s apple pie…spices, butter, sugar go in after the pie is baked. Top crust is just laid gently across the top … not sealed down…and puffs to a dome which is carefully lifted off after baking. The spices, butter, sugar added and folded in with a fork, the dome is returned, and the pie cools to be eaten. Bliss…in spite of mother’s patience, I never learned to do this from her as she had learned from her mother. A treat gone forever. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteSounds like quite the tour de force!
DeleteArgh! Somehow, I managed to miss this. I would say my mom's potato salad - despite using her recipe, it never quite tastes as good as hers. Maybe the formulation of yellow mustard has changed since the 1970s?
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of new varieties of mustard, perhaps one of them would work. A lot of the traditional condiment brands may be different because the brand has been spun off to a different company, that just happened to Hellman’s Mayonnaise.
ReplyDeleteTry to look for some of the older brands that still maintain their original ownership.
My New York City born and raised daughter-in-law moved to Connecticut, but still returns to the city for her bagels. She says there is something in the water that makes them taste better (hoping it's not lead!) though I have to agree. People out here in CT are rabid about their preference in bagels and pizza.
ReplyDelete