What New Hampshire lacks (urgently)
 

New Hampshire food entrepreneurs, here's your opportunity to make your fortune.

Among people who know bagels, there is no debate: there is no better bagel on the planet than the ones made in Montreal by the St Viateur Bagel Factory. The secret is boiling them and then baking them in a wood oven. People travel to Montreal from New York and Washington to get St Viateur bagels.

At one time you could buy these at the Walnut Market in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts. I haven't been able to confirm that that's still the case. Someone in the Lakes Region needs to import these at a reasonable cost.

I know, I know: you're itching to mention the best bagel you've ever tasted. Cancel that thought. You don't know what a bagel is until you've tasted St Viateur bagels.

Bread is bad for you


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Unless you medicate with ice cream sandwiches as I do.

There's nothing like a Thomas English muffin toasted with butter and peanut butter !:D

Thanks. Sailin! I have not had them, but they look great, and I love the story--started by a Jewish holocaust survivor, continued by his Italian friend.

To me, one ultimate test of a great chef or cook is how they do with classics that have just a few ingredients--such as roast chicken, an omelet, bagels. To create a differentiated product here takes extraordinary skill, dedication, consistency. You'll pass a thousand different bagels between here and Montreal, yet only one is the best

https://www.stviateurbagel.com/en/our-story

The owners look like they have thoroughly enjoyed their own product for many years. AND they look happy!

There's no question that certain bakers can and do make the best bread product for certain applications.

Consider cheese steaks.

A Philadelphia bakery, Amoroso, has cornered the market: good cheese steaks go on their bread, period.

I get reasonably authentic cheese steaks out west at a place that imports their bread from Amoroso.

I lived one block from the St Viateur Bagel Factory for 7 years. To get to the shop I walked through the Hasidic neighborhood. Montreal has a very conservative eastern European Hasidic population. It is (or used to be) a very closed community. In 7 years I never got a single Hasidic person to talk to me or return a greeting. On Saturday night as soon as the sabbath was over the Hasidim would form a very long line outside the bagel factory, even on the coldest night in January. (They're not allowed to handle money on the sabbath.)

My post about importing bagels to the Lakes Region was entirely serious. If this could be done at a reasonable price, they would be an instant hit. In the old days these bagels were 85 cents a dozen at the shop in Montreal. Now they're $25 a dozen shipped to the U.S. I'm desperate but not that wealthy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHluEdv71no

Boiled Bagel
 

There was a segment on NH Chronicle about a bakery that boiled bagels with certain ingredients. You may want to check the archives on wmur.com.

When I was 14 years old (early 70’s) I had a job that required me to get up @ 3AM on Sunday and ride to New York City with my boss to pick up a van full of Bagels. We got them from a massive facility that was operated by a number of Hasidic Jews. We would then stop at mom and pop shops and eateries in every town in route of our return to the Berkshires That’s back before Murray Lender bagged bagels up and put them in super markets.

From On-line research: The first written records of the bagel date to the year 1610. They showed up then in the community regulations of the Polish city of Krakow, which dictated that bagels were to be given as a gift to women after childbirth. Back in medieval Poland, their round shape led to the belief that bagels had magical powers.

As the bagel has transcended time it is my opinion that we need to go no farther than Winnepesaukee Bay Gulls to get a great bagel.

Way in the back of Heath's Super in Ctre Hbr, on their little metal day old baked goods rack, next to the swinging double doors that say "Employees Only" you will frequently find really really good bread from www.jessicasbrickoven.com for half the usual price.

Is the good stuff, cheap, and hits the spot for freez'n (up to three months within a sealed baggie!) and toast'n!

Ditto this for bagels too, from some other brand.

Good to know about the pumpernickle bagel ...... if you don't want to eat it ..... you can always use it for a hockey puck ..... and get the puck outta here!

And, with the two or three dollars you just saved on a loaf of bread, suggest you go to www.facebook.com/pg/LaddersThift/posts/ on Main St in Plymouth and go shopping for pants with the two dollars ..... two dollars!

Sadly, Lenders, like Dunkin's, are not really bagels, they are only "bagels".

I have not tried Bay Gulls, are they authentic? If I close my eyes, might I believe they were made by an old grumpy jewish guy with a good heart in Brooklyn?

Sailin--I do not know how well they will travel, but I vote that you treat yourself for your birthday...or Christmas...or Hanukkah...to a dozen St V bagels :)

Winnipesaukee Bay Gulls aren’t bad. I order my bagels from Essa Bagels in NYC. They are awesome


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I wonder if Essa was where we went to pick them up. It was so long ago I can’t remember.

I’d love for my palate to take a trip down memory lane for a nostalgic bite however on a regular basis I’ll stick with Bay Gulls because of the desire to keep my hard earned money in the local economy.

Could be Essa had been around for a long time.


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I haven't been to Montreal in a long time due to the pandemic. The city was hit very hard. Now I need to renew my passport---no more border hopping on a whim these days. It doesn't really matter if they get stale in transit---toasted St Viateur bagels with butter, jam, or cream cheese are amazing.

Some years ago I had a running argument about bagels with a Jewish friend from New York. She was 100% certain that New York bagels couldn't be beat. I calmly waited until we both ended up at a conference in Montreal and I took her to the St Viateur bagel factory. I easily won that bet by her own admission.

I can add two other items which might prove popular: authentic Phila. soft pretzels and Italian water ice.