Charlie, classic NYC bagels are smaller (3-4 oz), chewy with some crust on the outside. It should *not* be light and fluffy! That’s what people call “rolls with a hole”. Bagels definitely should have some chew to them and require you to have to pull some when biting. I grew up in NJ & NYC in the '70's and now make my own, since it’s difficult to find great ones in Atlanta (Emerald City Bagels are good).
Exactly. I was confused when he complained about it. Cuz I’m like uh, NYers prefer them crusty and dense. That’s a defining characteristic since toasting isn’t popular.
Yeah totally agree, it's no coincidence that the only bagel he liked in NY was in the middle of a tourist trap. They are supposed to be dense, not light.
I agree completely, light and fluffy is NOT what you want in a bagel. That's big box grocery store bagels; basically just rings of bread. You need that fresh and warm glutinous pull and satisfying doughy chew encased in a thin crunchy crust. Also check out NJ as bagel culture is deep there (Bagel Loops in Wayne is a great start).
I started working on recreating New York style bagels last year and I think I finally found the trick. Add barley malt syrup (which is the sweetener of the bagel) to the water during the boiling step. The boiling step is very, very easy to mess up though. The water needs to be at a roaring boil and not have too many bagels at once. Charlie, if you want my recipe, which is a classic New York bagel style, I’d be happy to share.
I worked at a bagel shop while in college, the key to a good bagel is high gluten flour, barley malt syrup in the water used to boil bagels and using a bagel board to bake them. A bagel board is a cedar plank wrapped in burlap, it is soaked in water and placed in the oven, the bagels are placed upside down on the plank for part of the baked and then then flipped right side up for the rest of the bagel, this prevents burning of the top and provides some steam.
Regarding the "Dough Improver" - Brian Lagerstrom spoke about something called "Dough Conditioner", it's in a video about burger buns but sounds like something that would help with bagels too. The vid is "This Burger Bun Took Me 10 Years to Figure Out". NY Bagels is such a good idea for your next deep dive series! Looking forward to it.
If you want to stick to bread based stuff, come to New Orleans and do a Po-Boy series. There's nothing like New Orleans style French bread. I'll show you the best spots.
When I was in New Orleans, had lunch with a friend who grew up there. We had an hour long discussion about the different types of New Orleans Style French bread down to the detail. So yeah, that would make an amazing series
I think the bagel consistency lends itself much better to open faced consumption when putting in/on soft spreads. The structure is just too dense for the slippery filling not to be propelled out when biting into the bagel as a sandwich. If I do eat them as a sandwich I'd much rather have things in them that have to bitten off.
YES! I'M SO EXCITED! And you tried an egg bagel! Yes! I hope you'll actually attempt that when you develop your recipe. About toasting... so, the idea is that a bagel is best when it's fresh out of the oven. If you have to get it toasted, then you aren't getting it fresh. I love Kenji's trick for this... instead of slicing and toasting an "older" bagel, preheat your oven to 375, barely wet it (like run the sink and quickly dip it into the stream), and let it heat in the oven for about 5 minutes. Requires some forethought, though if you have a countertop toaster oven, this would work, as well. Another note... there's a chef named Maggie Glezer who wrote a book called "A Blessing of Bread". In her recipe, it's very little yeast, but she doesn't use barley malt syrup in the water at all. In fact, for her boiling water, it's just plain water, and she said in an interview, after having worked at (or with, for research purposes) many bagel shops (including Russ and Daughters supposedly... though I did get that 3rd-hand) she had never seen any of them put *anything* in their boil water. Instead, she uses quite a bit of *non-diastatic* malt powder in the dough. Maybe something to look into?
Oh I'm so excited for this series! Because of your NY pizza series, I'm now making NY Style pizza at home that is as good as any pizza shop. My friends and family all love it!
Yay, I was hoping you'd do a bagel series! I went to NY a few weeks ago but didn't get the chance to try a bagel. Now, hopefully, I can make my own that will be just as good!
I could tell the Utopia bagel was much better than the first two just by looking at it. It has that signature shine, and the proper fluffiness. It's very distinct. I'm a NY'er (no longer living there) and I agree with you on the cream cheese. It's ridiculous how much they put on but it is what it is. Also agree on the toasted. I prefer it not toasted when they are super fresh and you get that real chew. But after a day or two, or if you freeze them, then I would toast them. Excited for you to make these!
I’m so happy you are doing a bagels series! I was gonna suggest it in fact! Loved the pizza and cheesesteak series so much. Bagels and pizza are my two favorite things and favorite to make, can’t wait to see if I gain any new insights to bagels from your tests!
Love your content. You’re actually answering the important questions and running the tests we come to the internet for and barely ever receive. I know you’re not from New York and on limited time, but if you don’t know, it really matters which location you’re at. Basically the Rays pizza effect. There’s so many knock offs of anything good you don’t know when you’re at the real/right one. Personally the best bagel I’ve ever had was from Ess-a but my buddy was very clear only one location mattered cuz the others sucked and that it was imperative to wait for them to dump a fresh batch right out of the oven. Didn’t even use cream cheese just butter and a steaming fresh bagel. I’ve still never had anything like it. Keep up the great work man.
Your videos are fantastic. As a native New Yorker, i agree that we don't like our bagels toasted because the good spots will have them fresh and they'll have that crunch, and if you're lucky they will still be warm when you get them. Glad you went off the beaten path and checked out Utopia. I grew up with a place in the Bronx called Bagels on Bartow which was always solid.
all lox is smoked salmon, gravlax is unsmoked cured salmon. Maybe what you're thinking is cold smoked versus hot smoked. Lox is still raw but it is cold smoked
I know we like NY Bagels but what you need to go is take the path and go to JP Bagels in Hoboken and then you will have the best bagel you can get in the Tristate area.
43 years living or working in NYC and I’ve never had an everything bagel. Onion, plain, and cinnamon raison are my go to bagels. I think it’s time to finally try an everything bagel.
Charlie, I've been watching your videos for more or less a year now and I just want to say that the increase in the quality of your videos has not been lost on us. You're killing it -- you are genuinely the only person I watch on the internet whose videos I truly look forward to seeing. I can't say there is anyone else who can get me to stop what I'm doing to check their content out. Enjoy the coming holidays and I hope you can find the time to take a much needed vacation!
Nice video! I recommend trying Knickerbocker bagel in bushwick next time you’re in NY or Brooklyn bagel and coffee which has a few locations across queens and in Manhattan as well. I have a few pizza spots to suggest as well. Cheers!
As a Manhattan resident I can honestly say I’ve never been to Essa. My local place is Broad Nosh and they are fantastic. Pop Up is great. And of course Absolute.
❤️ Charlie, I love how you’ve turned this into a series ❤️ 🌼Just a suggestion for your series - I’d love to see your take on NYC style (similar to Levain Bakery) chunky cookies with a chewy interior🌼
Charlie. You need to try Round table pizza. Also Another version Mountain Mikes pizza. Specifically the king Arthur's special. IT would be cool if you did a pizza review on these kinds of pizza.
We use Parchment paper for home bagels. Simply. Never thought of just doing them on the baking pan. We use Honey for boiling part. Going to Amazon to order some malt. Really interested to see the difference compared to honey.
I've been making bagels for going on 20 years using Peter Reinharts recipe from "The Breadbaker's Apprentice." He does call for barley malt syrup - used to be you could find it easily at Whole Foods. Cold ferment. Barley malt syrup and lye in the cook water. One interesting hack to look at is how Modernist Cuisine glues their everything bagel toppings.
O man you're gonna hand knead bagels!! Have fun haha Peter Reinhart bagels from the bread bakers apprentice are some of the best bagels I've made and ate (toasted too haha)
Yes! I love that recipe and I’ve used it numerous times. I remember taking the train through New York and my fiancé met me from Boston and she picked up some local bagels to compare. The Peter Reinhart bagels won the taste test.
For my money, the best bagels are at Terrace Bagels and La Bagel Delite, both in Brooklyn (Windsor Terrace and Park Slope, respectively). And I think Russ and Daughters is known more for their fish than bagels.
I am lucky enough to have had the second Terrace Bagels in NJ within walking distance to my parents business as a kid. I can say they make a solid bagel. My parents being native to NY still pretty much go there exclusively. Consistent and good quality.
Maybe the World's Best Bagel Story...The Bagel Delivery Driver and The Police Chase... Watson Bagels (Newark and Irvington, NJ) - Memories From One Of Their Delivery Drivers… When the third site was opened, the other two sites were closed, since this third store combined the previous two sites into one building. All you saw when you walked into the Watson Bagel store on Chancellor Avenue in Irvington was bins of different bagels and a counter where you paid for the bagels of your choice. A lot of the bagels were cold from sitting around too long and I never liked them although they tasted all right; I guess I was just spoiled by getting hot bagels every time I went into the old stores. The bakery was at the rear of the store and was a sight unseen by the regular walk in customer. The bulk of their business was still centered on supplying the surrounding area with their bagel needs through an evening delivery service but by now, the public sales of bagels had increased to a point where it rivaled the commercial accounts and the Chancellor Avenue store was made to serve both sources of business. Since I still had a friend who worked there, I was brought into the business on a temporary basis to deliver the bagels to the surrounding stores as a driver. On my first night I was a passenger in the company station wagon which doubled as a deliver car while my friend showed me the details of the route he drove. I must tell you the car was loaded with dozens of individual bags of hot, fresh bagels of all types and it was unlike any drive I had ever taken from the sensory point of view. The biggest challenge for me was not to pilfer the bagel bags in the rear of the car!! We were about halfway through the route when suddenly a police siren started yelping directly behind us. Instead of slowing down my friend smiled at me as he stepped on the gas and quickly explained to me the cops chased him almost every night in an effort to get free bagels from him. In time, he decided to play a game with them and made them chase him through the streets to his next drop destination before giving up a dozen bagels! On my maiden drive he made two quick turns and another turn in an effort to shake them but they caught up to us in a shopping center where our next drop was located. They exited their police car with their lights still flashing and jokingly said “Hey guys, How’s the bagels tonight?” They were all laughing about my buddy’s quick turns to avoid them and I remember feeling very out of place because I didn’t know them. The rest of the night was uneventful and in the following nights I found it quite a challenging to stay awake all night long and drive safely. In the process, I guess I got used to the intoxicating smell of the bagels and after a couple of weekends of this I decided it wasn’t my calling and bowed out. Besides, the pay wasn’t all that great but I still miss the amazing experience of driving down the road with a car full of hot fresh bagels to this day! newarkmemories.com/memories/1024.php
I’ve never heard of bathing like this, but have added a small amount of baking soda to the boiling process to nice success (though it does make things very foamy, at least when combined with the barley malt)
I don't remember if I've ever tasted bagels, but I've been thinking about buying/tasting them when I've seen them in my local Lidl and then, of course, make them if I like them
I agree. If I were going to test different bagel shops, I would get a plain bagel with nothing on it. That way all you are tasing is the dough and cooking process. No cover ups.
Esa's was always my favorite, I literally grew up across from the original, in that complex behind you.... lol I'm looking forward to this one, since moving out of the area it's all but impossible to find a good bagel.
Toasting a bagel is for day 2 or 3.... fresh bagels shouldn't need the crutch. Also a damp paper towel in the microwave for 30-40 seconds around a stale bagel will bring it back to edible.
Charlie… great work as usual! Really enjoy all your series… please consider baking your bagels on “bagel boards “. They are commonly used in many bagel shops…I do this at home and it’s a game changer.. nothing more than a cedar board covered in burlap. Then soaked in water to prevent them from burning .. you place the hand rolled bagels topping side down, and bake for the first 4-5 minutes, then flip them off the board on to your baking steel.. helps prevent the toppings from burning.. and the moisture adds to the gelatinized dough to form that crusty exterior…another tip for making authentic NY bagels at home. Keep up the great content! th-cam.com/video/zKZuQobB5LU/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared 0:12
The bagel series, YES. I’ve been waiting for this anxiously. I don’t think you’ll ever make it out to this coast, but the best bagel I’ve ever had - NYC included - is at Courage bagels, located in LA. I never go because the line is always ridiculous, but they’re the best I’ve tried by far and it’s not even close. You really should try to find a way to check them out somehow. It’s a Montreal style bagel though.
Buenas noches señor charlie Anderson mi nombre es William y se hacer todo tipo de bagel se preparar la masa y todo el proceso q requiere el bagel si necesita un trabajador q le haga un buen bagel aquí me tiene muchas gracias
I'm guessing you're no longer in New York, but I would have also tried a few of places that aren't in videos that you just stumble upon. I've found that the best version of something usually isn't one of the famous ones.
Like "@mrmambo" below, I also grew up in the NY area and my wife is from Staten island. When we moved to NC 8 years ago, we couldn't find a good pizza or bagel. I've been making both on my own. Your pizza recipe is my current favorite, so I will be watching your bagel progress with great interest. My family loves my bagel recipe and won't let me change a thing, so I'll have to try your recipe on the down low. Cheers! PS. If you want a GREAT NY pizza I could give three places to try in Staten Island.
maybe i'm the crazy one but we would just get a dozen bagels and rip one out and eat it plain. the notion of determining who makes the best new york bagels -- as a product of going around getting a bunch of specialty sandwiches -- kinda misses the actual understanding of what would make one place better than the other.
i wouldnt exactly consider Russ and Daughters for best bagels considering they do not even make their own bagels. merely outsource the bagels to highlight their smoked salmon etc.
One tip I got from Kenji that has changed my bagel enjoyment greatly is to toast your bagels whole. It steams the interior of the bagel and when you cut it, you have a warm almost gooey interior instead of a rigid toasted one. It's noticeably different and I highly recommend it. He also said he often flicks a little water on the exterior before toasting whole to help with the moisture in the oven and blistering.
Charlie, classic NYC bagels are smaller (3-4 oz), chewy with some crust on the outside. It should *not* be light and fluffy! That’s what people call “rolls with a hole”. Bagels definitely should have some chew to them and require you to have to pull some when biting. I grew up in NJ & NYC in the '70's and now make my own, since it’s difficult to find great ones in Atlanta (Emerald City Bagels are good).
Correct 💯
Exactly. I was confused when he complained about it. Cuz I’m like uh, NYers prefer them crusty and dense. That’s a defining characteristic since toasting isn’t popular.
Yeah totally agree, it's no coincidence that the only bagel he liked in NY was in the middle of a tourist trap. They are supposed to be dense, not light.
I agree completely, light and fluffy is NOT what you want in a bagel. That's big box grocery store bagels; basically just rings of bread. You need that fresh and warm glutinous pull and satisfying doughy chew encased in a thin crunchy crust. Also check out NJ as bagel culture is deep there (Bagel Loops in Wayne is a great start).
NYer here. What the OP said. Gotta be chewy - but not like stale, tough, chewy. It’s this fresh chewy feel
I started working on recreating New York style bagels last year and I think I finally found the trick. Add barley malt syrup (which is the sweetener of the bagel) to the water during the boiling step. The boiling step is very, very easy to mess up though. The water needs to be at a roaring boil and not have too many bagels at once.
Charlie, if you want my recipe, which is a classic New York bagel style, I’d be happy to share.
Great advice, I do the same. I also use a bagel board.
@@jamesstein5087
Yes, bagel boards make a big difference. I made my own with cedar and burlap.
I worked at a bagel shop while in college, the key to a good bagel is high gluten flour, barley malt syrup in the water used to boil bagels and using a bagel board to bake them. A bagel board is a cedar plank wrapped in burlap, it is soaked in water and placed in the oven, the bagels are placed upside down on the plank for part of the baked and then then flipped right side up for the rest of the bagel, this prevents burning of the top and provides some steam.
First New York-Style Pizza and now New York-Style Bagels!? I love this channel so much :D
Regarding the "Dough Improver" - Brian Lagerstrom spoke about something called "Dough Conditioner", it's in a video about burger buns but sounds like something that would help with bagels too. The vid is "This Burger Bun Took Me 10 Years to Figure Out".
NY Bagels is such a good idea for your next deep dive series! Looking forward to it.
If you want to stick to bread based stuff, come to New Orleans and do a Po-Boy series. There's nothing like New Orleans style French bread.
I'll show you the best spots.
When I was in New Orleans, had lunch with a friend who grew up there. We had an hour long discussion about the different types of New Orleans Style French bread down to the detail. So yeah, that would make an amazing series
That's definitely on the list as well!
New Orleans style French bred is great. Super light and airy..
I think the bagel consistency lends itself much better to open faced consumption when putting in/on soft spreads. The structure is just too dense for the slippery filling not to be propelled out when biting into the bagel as a sandwich. If I do eat them as a sandwich I'd much rather have things in them that have to bitten off.
I’m guessing you’re not from NYC? The excess cream cheese dropping out is just part of the experience 😂
@@thisbretthallgotta leave it in the paper 🤌
Helps add some mystery to the white splotches on the subway floor 🙄
Lox isn’t just cured Salmon like Nova, lox has some sugar baked in - giving it a slight sweetness you don’t naturally have with salmon
Tompkins being a punching bag for this episode is crazy.
YES! I'M SO EXCITED!
And you tried an egg bagel! Yes! I hope you'll actually attempt that when you develop your recipe.
About toasting... so, the idea is that a bagel is best when it's fresh out of the oven. If you have to get it toasted, then you aren't getting it fresh. I love Kenji's trick for this... instead of slicing and toasting an "older" bagel, preheat your oven to 375, barely wet it (like run the sink and quickly dip it into the stream), and let it heat in the oven for about 5 minutes. Requires some forethought, though if you have a countertop toaster oven, this would work, as well.
Another note... there's a chef named Maggie Glezer who wrote a book called "A Blessing of Bread". In her recipe, it's very little yeast, but she doesn't use barley malt syrup in the water at all. In fact, for her boiling water, it's just plain water, and she said in an interview, after having worked at (or with, for research purposes) many bagel shops (including Russ and Daughters supposedly... though I did get that 3rd-hand) she had never seen any of them put *anything* in their boil water. Instead, she uses quite a bit of *non-diastatic* malt powder in the dough. Maybe something to look into?
An authentic Polish Jewish immigrant/classic New York bagel IS boiled, small and chewy. NOT light, fluffy, or big.
Oh I'm so excited for this series! Because of your NY pizza series, I'm now making NY Style pizza at home that is as good as any pizza shop. My friends and family all love it!
Oh my god, a new series. Absolute legend. I just did this bagel tour a few weeks ago, curious to see charlie's thoughts
Yay, I was hoping you'd do a bagel series! I went to NY a few weeks ago but didn't get the chance to try a bagel. Now, hopefully, I can make my own that will be just as good!
I could tell the Utopia bagel was much better than the first two just by looking at it. It has that signature shine, and the proper fluffiness. It's very distinct.
I'm a NY'er (no longer living there) and I agree with you on the cream cheese. It's ridiculous how much they put on but it is what it is. Also agree on the toasted. I prefer it not toasted when they are super fresh and you get that real chew. But after a day or two, or if you freeze them, then I would toast them.
Excited for you to make these!
I’m so happy you are doing a bagels series! I was gonna suggest it in fact! Loved the pizza and cheesesteak series so much. Bagels and pizza are my two favorite things and favorite to make, can’t wait to see if I gain any new insights to bagels from your tests!
Love your content. You’re actually answering the important questions and running the tests we come to the internet for and barely ever receive.
I know you’re not from New York and on limited time, but if you don’t know, it really matters which location you’re at. Basically the Rays pizza effect. There’s so many knock offs of anything good you don’t know when you’re at the real/right one. Personally the best bagel I’ve ever had was from Ess-a but my buddy was very clear only one location mattered cuz the others sucked and that it was imperative to wait for them to dump a fresh batch right out of the oven. Didn’t even use cream cheese just butter and a steaming fresh bagel. I’ve still never had anything like it. Keep up the great work man.
Your videos are fantastic. As a native New Yorker, i agree that we don't like our bagels toasted because the good spots will have them fresh and they'll have that crunch, and if you're lucky they will still be warm when you get them. Glad you went off the beaten path and checked out Utopia. I grew up with a place in the Bronx called Bagels on Bartow which was always solid.
all lox is smoked salmon, gravlax is unsmoked cured salmon. Maybe what you're thinking is cold smoked versus hot smoked. Lox is still raw but it is cold smoked
I know we like NY Bagels but what you need to go is take the path and go to JP Bagels in Hoboken and then you will have the best bagel you can get in the Tristate area.
Agreed! Jersey has amazing bagels, arguably better than NYC. Bigger, fluffier, doesn't squash the cream cheese all over when you bite
43 years living or working in NYC and I’ve never had an everything bagel. Onion, plain, and cinnamon raison are my go to bagels. I think it’s time to finally try an everything bagel.
so you've tried everything except the everything 😁
I just noticed how much your subscriber count went up! Congrats man! Keep up the great videos! I'm looking forward to the bagel ones.
Thank you!
You can get barley malt (and other grain syrups) if you have a homebrew shop in your area.
Thanks for the tip, I'll have to take a look! I have a few near me.
Charlie, I've been watching your videos for more or less a year now and I just want to say that the increase in the quality of your videos has not been lost on us. You're killing it -- you are genuinely the only person I watch on the internet whose videos I truly look forward to seeing. I can't say there is anyone else who can get me to stop what I'm doing to check their content out. Enjoy the coming holidays and I hope you can find the time to take a much needed vacation!
Nice video! I recommend trying Knickerbocker bagel in bushwick next time you’re in NY or Brooklyn bagel and coffee which has a few locations across queens and in Manhattan as well. I have a few pizza spots to suggest as well. Cheers!
Sooo excited for a Charlie Anderson bagel deep dive!!! Would pay to see it
As a Manhattan resident I can honestly say I’ve never been to Essa.
My local place is Broad Nosh and they are fantastic. Pop Up is great. And of course Absolute.
❤️ Charlie, I love how you’ve turned this into a series ❤️
🌼Just a suggestion for your series - I’d love to see your take on NYC style (similar to Levain Bakery) chunky cookies with a chewy interior🌼
Charlie. You need to try Round table pizza. Also Another version Mountain Mikes pizza. Specifically the king Arthur's special. IT would be cool if you did a pizza review on these kinds of pizza.
Let's bagel! It's a Festivus miracle!
Charles! You can keep doing these deep dives into my favorite foods!
Oh no… not again Charlie…. Are you trying to kill us with deliciousness??
I give up, I wonder no more..I have come to the conclusion your are here to answer all my life questions.
Love this video! I've been to NYC a few times and I lived off amazing pizza, bagels, and sandwiches.
We use Parchment paper for home bagels. Simply. Never thought of just doing them on the baking pan. We use Honey for boiling part. Going to Amazon to order some malt. Really interested to see the difference compared to honey.
So excited to watch this series!
For science purposes you need to go to Montreal and try out St Viateur bagels and Fairmount bagels.
Montreal is arguably 1A 1B to NYC bagels.
NJ Bagels 4u. Locations not too far from NYC
This looks like a good series.
The best I tried in Manhattan is from Bagels and Schmear at East 28th street
I've been making bagels for going on 20 years using Peter Reinharts recipe from "The Breadbaker's Apprentice." He does call for barley malt syrup - used to be you could find it easily at Whole Foods. Cold ferment. Barley malt syrup and lye in the cook water. One interesting hack to look at is how Modernist Cuisine glues their everything bagel toppings.
Best bagels in NYC are over the river in Hoboken, JP’s bagels & Hoboken bagels
Awesome. Please do a Montreal bagel next.
For your series, you need to go to East Long Island. Best bagels and second best is Brooklyn
Sir, you have a great channel. And NO profanity! Thank you. God bless
You.
Im excited for this series!
Absolute bagels looked killer
Oh boy I think there's an "ultimate bagel recipe" video in our future!
I open the bagel and salt it since many bagels are undersalted.
O man you're gonna hand knead bagels!! Have fun haha
Peter Reinhart bagels from the bread bakers apprentice are some of the best bagels I've made and ate (toasted too haha)
Yes! I love that recipe and I’ve used it numerous times. I remember taking the train through New York and my fiancé met me from Boston and she picked up some local bagels to compare. The Peter Reinhart bagels won the taste test.
You should try Montreal bagels! Now those are amazing
For my money, the best bagels are at Terrace Bagels and La Bagel Delite, both in Brooklyn (Windsor Terrace and Park Slope, respectively). And I think Russ and Daughters is known more for their fish than bagels.
I am lucky enough to have had the second Terrace Bagels in NJ within walking distance to my parents business as a kid. I can say they make a solid bagel. My parents being native to NY still pretty much go there exclusively. Consistent and good quality.
Just a heads up lots of Whole Food Stores carry Barley Malt Syrup.
Would love to see you make a NY style hard roll aka Kaiser roll for thr classic BEC
OHH!! please be a new series!!
I am stoked for this series I’ve never had a bagel that wasn’t from Walmart or from Panera bread lol
Maybe the World's Best Bagel Story...The Bagel Delivery Driver and The Police Chase...
Watson Bagels (Newark and Irvington, NJ) - Memories From One Of Their Delivery Drivers…
When the third site was opened, the other two sites were closed, since this third store combined the previous two sites into one building. All you saw when you walked into the Watson Bagel store on Chancellor Avenue in Irvington was bins of different bagels and a counter where you paid for the bagels of your choice. A lot of the bagels were cold from sitting around too long and I never liked them although they tasted all right; I guess I was just spoiled by getting hot bagels every time I went into the old stores. The bakery was at the rear of the store and was a sight unseen by the regular walk in customer. The bulk of their business was still centered on supplying the surrounding area with their bagel needs through an evening delivery service but by now, the public sales of bagels had increased to a point where it rivaled the commercial accounts and the Chancellor Avenue store was made to serve both sources of business. Since I still had a friend who worked there, I was brought into the business on a temporary basis to deliver the bagels to the surrounding stores as a driver.
On my first night I was a passenger in the company station wagon which doubled as a deliver car while my friend showed me the details of the route he drove. I must tell you the car was loaded with dozens of individual bags of hot, fresh bagels of all types and it was unlike any drive I had ever taken from the sensory point of view. The biggest challenge for me was not to pilfer the bagel bags in the rear of the car!! We were about halfway through the route when suddenly a police siren started yelping directly behind us. Instead of slowing down my friend smiled at me as he stepped on the gas and quickly explained to me the cops chased him almost every night in an effort to get free bagels from him. In time, he decided to play a game with them and made them chase him through the streets to his next drop destination before giving up a dozen bagels! On my maiden drive he made two quick turns and another turn in an effort to shake them but they caught up to us in a shopping center where our next drop was located. They exited their police car with their lights still flashing and jokingly said “Hey guys, How’s the bagels tonight?” They were all laughing about my buddy’s quick turns to avoid them and I remember feeling very out of place because I didn’t know them.
The rest of the night was uneventful and in the following nights I found it quite a challenging to stay awake all night long and drive safely. In the process, I guess I got used to the intoxicating smell of the bagels and after a couple of weekends of this I decided it wasn’t my calling and bowed out. Besides, the pay wasn’t all that great but I still miss the amazing experience of driving down the road with a car full of hot fresh bagels to this day!
newarkmemories.com/memories/1024.php
Great video! When you get the chance looking forward to seeing you go Montreal and contrast Montreal vs New York bagels!
Only toast bagels if their the supermarket kind. But if I'm getting a fresh bagel in NYC warm out the oven there's no need to toast it
I didnt hear it mentioned in the video, but are you planning on bathing the dough in a lye or baking soda solution?
I’ve never heard of bathing like this, but have added a small amount of baking soda to the boiling process to nice success (though it does make things very foamy, at least when combined with the barley malt)
RUSS AND DAUGHTERS IS THE GOAT
Really wished that you could have put the price tags of the different bagels. Keep it up thought 👍
I don't remember if I've ever tasted bagels, but I've been thinking about buying/tasting them when I've seen them in my local Lidl and then, of course, make them if I like them
How many ounces or grams are authentic NYC bagels? Pre-bake? Charlie, when is the follow up to your bagel video dropping?
I swear some bagel places put a whole packet of Philadelphia cream cheese on them. I too like a medium amount of cream cheese
very looking forward to this
I'm surprised at the massive amounts of cream cheese they loaded those bagels up with.
I agree. If I were going to test different bagel shops, I would get a plain bagel with nothing on it. That way all you are tasing is the dough and cooking process. No cover ups.
I’m not. That is the norm in NYC unless you ask “to go light” with the cream cheese
I can't claim to be an expert but "light and fluffy" are not the descriptors I think of when I remember the best bagels I've had in NY...
Are you going to go to Montreal for the Montreal bagel research?
Yooooooooo. My fav pizza ever. Cream cheese balls(add them at the last couple mins) jalapeños and pepperoni. Thank my mom later
Esa's was always my favorite, I literally grew up across from the original, in that complex behind you.... lol
I'm looking forward to this one, since moving out of the area it's all but impossible to find a good bagel.
Cold smoking (like smoked salmon) isnt cooking. Hot smoking is which gives a completely different texture
please review the cuisine art pizza oven xD
Bagel Express on 39th and Lexington is the best.
Next time you're here you have to try Popup Bagels!
Toasting a bagel is for day 2 or 3.... fresh bagels shouldn't need the crutch. Also a damp paper towel in the microwave for 30-40 seconds around a stale bagel will bring it back to edible.
You went to Absolute! I get their bagels all the time.
Charlie… great work as usual! Really enjoy all your series… please consider baking your bagels on “bagel boards “. They are commonly used in many bagel shops…I do this at home and it’s a game changer.. nothing more than a cedar board covered in burlap. Then soaked in water to prevent them from burning .. you place the hand rolled bagels topping side down, and bake for the first 4-5 minutes, then flip them off the board on to your baking steel.. helps prevent the toppings from burning.. and the moisture adds to the gelatinized dough to form that crusty exterior…another tip for making authentic NY bagels at home. Keep up the great content!
th-cam.com/video/zKZuQobB5LU/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared 0:12
Popup Bagels and Bagel Hole if you get a chance to return. Trust.
no mention of lye? did i miss it, or is it just a given here?
Is Charlie going to conquer bagels now? I hope so.
You didn't go to Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shoppe. Error.
Both sides must be coated in seasoning there is no debate
The bagel series, YES. I’ve been waiting for this anxiously. I don’t think you’ll ever make it out to this coast, but the best bagel I’ve ever had - NYC included - is at Courage bagels, located in LA. I never go because the line is always ridiculous, but they’re the best I’ve tried by far and it’s not even close. You really should try to find a way to check them out somehow.
It’s a Montreal style bagel though.
Not the water, its the malt boil!
i'd call it suburban vs rural
Buenas noches señor charlie Anderson mi nombre es William y se hacer todo tipo de bagel se preparar la masa y todo el proceso q requiere el bagel si necesita un trabajador q le haga un buen bagel aquí me tiene muchas gracias
I'm guessing you're no longer in New York, but I would have also tried a few of places that aren't in videos that you just stumble upon. I've found that the best version of something usually isn't one of the famous ones.
Dude much like the best pizza the best bagels in NYC are made in BROOKLYN!
NY Bagels aren’t supposed to be light and fluffy
EVERYTHING bagels are overpowering for me especially since lots of places put way too much salt
Way too much cream cheese. Probably because Americans would complain if they got slightly less.
Like "@mrmambo" below, I also grew up in the NY area and my wife is from Staten island. When we moved to NC 8 years ago, we couldn't find a good pizza or bagel. I've been making both on my own. Your pizza recipe is my current favorite, so I will be watching your bagel progress with great interest. My family loves my bagel recipe and won't let me change a thing, so I'll have to try your recipe on the down low. Cheers! PS. If you want a GREAT NY pizza I could give three places to try in Staten Island.
maybe i'm the crazy one but we would just get a dozen bagels and rip one out and eat it plain. the notion of determining who makes the best new york bagels -- as a product of going around getting a bunch of specialty sandwiches -- kinda misses the actual understanding of what would make one place better than the other.
Most nyc bagels are terrible. Only about 25 truly great shops. Utopia is one of them
i wouldnt exactly consider Russ and Daughters for best bagels considering they do not even make their own bagels. merely outsource the bagels to highlight their smoked salmon etc.
Yeah that was a miss
They do make their own bagels, I saw them doing it while I was there. I got some footage but I don't think I ended up including it in this video.
The best bagel in NY isn't as good as an average bagel in Fair Lawn, NJ. Just saying.
There is no such thing as a desirable light or fluffiness to a ny bagel
One tip I got from Kenji that has changed my bagel enjoyment greatly is to toast your bagels whole. It steams the interior of the bagel and when you cut it, you have a warm almost gooey interior instead of a rigid toasted one. It's noticeably different and I highly recommend it. He also said he often flicks a little water on the exterior before toasting whole to help with the moisture in the oven and blistering.
Do you toast them whole in an oven?
Why should i trust your opinion on what the best bagel is?
LFG