Dispatches from Nowhere 02.01.06
I know. I'm late. Let us not talk about it.
Anyway.
Do you eat Bagels?
I do.
How do you take yours? Do you take it toasted with butter? Are you the sort that wants it plain with peanut butter? Perhaps you only eat your bagel as a breakfast sandwich with sausage or eggs (toasted or not)? Maybe you are a purist and you subscribe to the classic combination of cream cheese and lox?
What I am driving at is that the bagel, while wonderful in its Carb-tastic goodness, is a delivery medium. I don't know anyone that just eats them plain. I mean, in a pinch, when you are hungry and you don't have other condiments, it might be acceptable to eat the bagel in its unadorned state.
I do stress the might in that statement.
I don't know why I feel this way about our friend the bagel. I love all sorts of breads, crusty French loaves, steamed Chinese buns, Soda breads, simple whites to a more complex pumpernickel. Not to mention sourdough. (Sourdough is a whole different discussion.) Maybe it is the construction of the item in question. Simple dough is formed around a hole. Then it is boiled and if necessary, topped. Finally, all bagels are baked. If done correctly, this technique imparts a crusty outside and a dense, chewy inside.
I can (and do) eat most of those breads unadorned, naked as it were. But a bagel? It requires ... stuff. I am partial to a schmear, maybe some lox if I am feeling so inclined. I have been known to dally with flavored spreads. You know the ones I am talking about. The whipped and flavored cream cheeses. I have seen you eyeing them as they sit unassumingly on the shelf. They call with a siren song. Theirs is a taste of the forbidden - like carrot cake soup. I have been known to experiment with different flavors, different mix ins as it were. Yet, after each midnight indiscretion, I always come back to the schmear. Nothing else is quite the same. The delivery medium might change - some days you want a sun dried tomato, other days you want an everything, but in the end, I always return. It is the flavor I want, that I need.
I know that not every one enjoys the pumpernickel or sharper flavors of onion, garlic, even sesame that are the mainstays of the bagel world. Some of you might prefer the more exotic tastes of cinnamon raisin swirl, cinnamon sugar, chocolate chip, maybe cranberry, or even the holy grail of sweetness - The Wild Blueberry.
Even the sweeter, sugared bagels cry out for something more, that something extra to help send the experience into orbit. Jams, jellies, or preserves would not be remiss in this situation. You might end up licking your fingers when you finish, but as with most good things, that is not a bad sign. It is a sign of satisfaction.
Enough of that. The entire discussion is making me hungry. Now, I wonder where I can find a bagel shop?
Anyway.
Do you eat Bagels?
I do.
How do you take yours? Do you take it toasted with butter? Are you the sort that wants it plain with peanut butter? Perhaps you only eat your bagel as a breakfast sandwich with sausage or eggs (toasted or not)? Maybe you are a purist and you subscribe to the classic combination of cream cheese and lox?
What I am driving at is that the bagel, while wonderful in its Carb-tastic goodness, is a delivery medium. I don't know anyone that just eats them plain. I mean, in a pinch, when you are hungry and you don't have other condiments, it might be acceptable to eat the bagel in its unadorned state.
I do stress the might in that statement.
I don't know why I feel this way about our friend the bagel. I love all sorts of breads, crusty French loaves, steamed Chinese buns, Soda breads, simple whites to a more complex pumpernickel. Not to mention sourdough. (Sourdough is a whole different discussion.) Maybe it is the construction of the item in question. Simple dough is formed around a hole. Then it is boiled and if necessary, topped. Finally, all bagels are baked. If done correctly, this technique imparts a crusty outside and a dense, chewy inside.
I can (and do) eat most of those breads unadorned, naked as it were. But a bagel? It requires ... stuff. I am partial to a schmear, maybe some lox if I am feeling so inclined. I have been known to dally with flavored spreads. You know the ones I am talking about. The whipped and flavored cream cheeses. I have seen you eyeing them as they sit unassumingly on the shelf. They call with a siren song. Theirs is a taste of the forbidden - like carrot cake soup. I have been known to experiment with different flavors, different mix ins as it were. Yet, after each midnight indiscretion, I always come back to the schmear. Nothing else is quite the same. The delivery medium might change - some days you want a sun dried tomato, other days you want an everything, but in the end, I always return. It is the flavor I want, that I need.
I know that not every one enjoys the pumpernickel or sharper flavors of onion, garlic, even sesame that are the mainstays of the bagel world. Some of you might prefer the more exotic tastes of cinnamon raisin swirl, cinnamon sugar, chocolate chip, maybe cranberry, or even the holy grail of sweetness - The Wild Blueberry.
Even the sweeter, sugared bagels cry out for something more, that something extra to help send the experience into orbit. Jams, jellies, or preserves would not be remiss in this situation. You might end up licking your fingers when you finish, but as with most good things, that is not a bad sign. It is a sign of satisfaction.
Enough of that. The entire discussion is making me hungry. Now, I wonder where I can find a bagel shop?
posted by depressoboy at 1:22 PM
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