Welcome to Off the Eaten Path, a sequence the place our Check Kitchen creator Noah Tanen dives deep into regional recipes. Subsequent up? New York bagels.

I’m simply going to say it: New York Metropolis has the most effective bagels in America, and doubtless on the planet. Absolutely the best, contemporary out of the wood-fired oven at St. Viateur in Montreal come shut, however what New York has over its Canadian counterpart is a far wider availability of fine bagels nearly anyplace. I’d go so far as to say that the overwhelming majority in New York are, if not nice, fairly good.

Anybody who has lived anyplace else will inform you that this isn’t typical. The people information used to elucidate the focus of top quality bagels has turn into gospel: it’s all in regards to the water, that there’s one thing in regards to the pH or the mineral content material in NYC faucet water that causes town’s dough to be intangibly superior.

I’ve at all times been skeptical of this notion, however a little analysis reveals it’s merely not true. America’s Check Kitchen performed a style check, pitting bagels made with each Boston and New York Metropolis municipal water towards one another. The outcomes amongst tasters confirmed the 2 batches to be just about indistinguishable.

So what truly makes them higher in New York? For my part, it’s the folks. Bagels arrived in New York Metropolis by the use of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from Poland within the late 1800s, and ever since, New Yorkers have been perfecting the craft of bagel rolling and boiling, holding on fiercely to tried and true strategies and recipes even within the trendy period.

In spite of everything, this type of passionate native tradition is what makes regional meals particular. When you’ve got a historical past spanning centuries and generations of individuals making the identical meals, usually in competitors with each other, it’s that delight and native affiliation which produces greatness. It’s why Philadelphia makes the most effective cheesesteaks, Texas has the most effective barbecue, and why New York Metropolis makes the best bagels.

Even should you’re not in or from New York Metropolis, you may make do-it-yourself bagels your self. I’ll be making an attempt my hand as effectively. Keep tuned to our Instagram for an upcoming episode of Noah Tackles: Bagels coming subsequent week.