As I was driving back home to New Jersey this weekend, I passed a sign that said “Bagels”. And it got me thinking, why were bagels at home in New Jersey and New York City. Anywhere else but those two states you will find bagels that are flat, dry and just not half as good as they are in NJ and NYC. So why?
Some say that its the water that makes these bagels so great. The water in New York City comes from the Catskill Mountains which is about 130 miles away from the city. The water from these mountains is referred to as “soft”- it has low concentrations of magnesium and calcium. However if this were the case- that the water is what makes these bagels so great, than why aren’t all bagels across the country this good? This water would be really easy to replicate in places like Boston where the water is even softer, but my roommate who is from Boston has told me that my bagels are in fact better. In fact which disproves this theory even more is a chain of stores called Brooklyn Water Bagels, which has locations throughout the United States. Many New Yorkers have gone to the chains ready to say that the bagels aren’t the same, however the company’s founder says “Every New Yorker that ever walked in here walked in here with that smug arrogance, which I love, and said to me yeah, sure, sure… it’s all about the water. Give me a bagel, ok? Invariably, 99 times out of a hundred that person will get back in line and… they apologize, they get it, they can’t believe it”. While there is most likely a confirmation bias and a possible file drawer problem with that statement, if the water didn’t make a difference and these bagels weren’t as good as they are in the City and NJ, then this chain would not be open throughout the country.
NPR wrote a piece on how it could be the process of how bagels are made. Yes the water does play a role with how the bagels taste and their texture, but its really the process of boiling the bagels and then baking them that makes the difference. Watch this video for a more in depth description of the process.
Now this theory makes much more sense to me. Nowadays many people are lazy and don’t have the time to make dough ahead of time and let it sit in coolers and then boil it. This also makes more sense scientifically, with the reaction of the calcium and magnesium in reaction to the yeast. As the NPR article states ” bagels are baked in a hot oven that is also injected with steam”. This steam will gelatinize the outside as well as adds more shine and color to the bagel- but you won’t get that same chewiness that you get from when you boil a bagel.
So when you get down to the science of it, when bagels are boiled a chemical reaction begins between the inside of a bagel (the yeast) and the water (which holds the perfect amounts of calcium and magnesium). These bagels would be very easy to replicate but many people just don’t want to waste their time. People always told me that I would miss my bagels from home the most and it is so true, if only Irving’s would get their hands on these great tips and recipes.
After reading this post I really want to try a bagel from New Jersey. Although I understand the concept of “soft water” and this making the bagel taste better, it might also just come down to preference. If those are the bagels you are used to eating from home, they might already have an edge on others because the taste reminds you of a familiar place. This being said, I have never tried a bagel from New Jersey so I can’t assume they are bad either. It would be beneficial if there was a study, or more of a survey, that asked over one hundred people what bagel is better and why. The participants would be from different locations, to make it fair. if the statistics prove New Jersey has the best testing bagels, then it would be easier to latch onto the theory. Heres an article with a list of the best bagel places: Article
Tyler-
Going off of what Caroline said, I think our pizza’s are better because Italians settled in mostly NYC and New Jersey thus giving a more authentic taste. When I was talking to an international student from Italy, she told me that the pizza’s in the city and NJ were much better, possibly because we have a thinner crust? I have noticed our pizzas are definitely more savory, so maybe it’s the recipes we use! There are so many different possibilities.
Bagels are not the only food that claims that the quality of the water in New York is what leads to their better taste, many people claim that the water makes pizza dough better. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/14-dairy-foods-high-calcium/story?id=25245008
Boiling the dough is the key to making a perfect bagel. The bagel shop in my New Jersey hometown, Butterworth’s Bagels, makes the best bagels around. I used to work for the shop and we always boiled the bagels. Sometimes you could see the remains of a popped bubble on the dough of the bagel. I miss the bagels back in New Jersey. I wonder why we make better pizza too.
It’s so funny that you posted this because I am from New Jersey also, and I was eating a less than satisfactory bagel today and I looked this up myself just out of pure curiosity (and maybe slight disappointment). It makes a lot of sense that other states and cities are just lazier in their bagel making, and I never really thought about it that way. Also the proposition that it’s the water that the bagels are made with is a very interesting and surprising one!