The rolls are elevated in wheat: a synergy of malt, yeast, flour and water transmuted into gluttonous joy that spreads throughout the land. Try one once and go down the bagel hole, hooked for life.
But who does the best?
Unsurprisingly, New York has declared itself the authority on reels with holes. The city makes great bagels. But there is only one thing.
They are not Montreal donuts.
01
of 07
Montreal muffins are like snowflakes
Montreal bagels are handmade works of art, modeled after the Montreal Jewish community made them back in the day, generations ago, when they blessed the city with Ashkenazi culinary savoir-faire.
Neither muffin is like the other, from shape to color. That’s the Montreal road.
Apparently New York is catching up on that front, increasingly eschewing machine-made puff pastry pieces in favor of old-fashioned crafts. It’s a start.
02
of 07
They are alchemy
Among the city’s quintessential late-night foods, you can score Montreal muffins fresh from the oven at 8 a.m. or 6 p.m. or 4 a.m. after a doubler. Of course, New York has its own 24-hour joints. Penalty fee. But do you feature freshly handcrafted muffins freshly baked in a wood-fired oven like a 1950s scene at any time of the day or night? I do not believe it
The smoky and always slightly sweet flavor seals the deal on their standard Montreal bagel styles, dusted with so many sesame or poppy seeds that they leave a trail in their wake, whether it’s in the bag, on your lap, on the floor. ..
By the way, that slightly sweet taste? It is not the eggs that partially differentiate the Montreal rolls from the New York ones, but the honey that sweetens the water that they bathe for three minutes before entering the wood oven. And for whatever reason, there is little to no salt involved.
As for the New York textbook that insists Montreal bagels are too sweet, do we really tell you? America puts sugar in everything and you are playing with a teaspoon of honey?
Those same New Yorkers probably haven’t tried a fully dressed Montreal muffin. Umami is real, folks. Or the whole wheat rye bagel. Or the onion. Or garlic. Or caraway seed.
03
of 07
They do not need propagation
Montreal bagel makers don’t dedicate feet of counter space to thirty different types of spread . It’s because they don’t need them. Cream cheese? That’s for when you’re eating all the mini cream cheese sandwich samples they put on the counter, or when your Montreal muffin is a day old and you’re toasting it, or when you’re ordering smoked salmon at Beautys.
What about certain New Yorkers who claim Montreal muffins are hard as cement after five minutes out of the oven? Please. Regardless of the bagels you have, whether they are more than two days old and / or you don’t know how to seal your bag of bagels. Work on it. Also, all you have to do to soften an old one is put it in the toaster oven at 200 ° F. for ten minutes. Problem solved.
04
of 07
Wood ovens reign supreme
State-of-the-art rotary or rotary ovens get the job done with New York muffins. They come out golden. They are cooked.They have good taste. That’s cool and all, but it’s not a wood-burning oven, is it?
From the best flatbread you’ve ever had to the best pizza in Naples, everyone knows that flour tastes best in a wood-fired oven. Montreal even has a restaurant that only serves food, not just bread, which is passed by.
Any wonder the locals eat donuts Montreal natural when caught fresh from the oven on the board of donuts? You can’t beat that smoky flavor.
05
of 07
Have been in space
NASA mission specialist Greg Chamitoff loves Montreal muffins so much that he took them into outer space.
It’s unclear if the 18 Fairmount muffins that made their way to the International Space Station were vacuum-sealed or dry-packed for freshness, but it’s believed they didn’t last the trip there due to, you know, being ridiculously delicious and everything.
06
of 07
Montreal Bagels Are … Bagels
A Montreal muffin is a muffin, thickly (but not overly) chewy on the inside and almost caramelised and crunchy on the outside. However, there is no crunch here, just amazing texture. There’s no fooling someone into thinking that Montreal roll with a hole is bread, but unfortunately, the same can’t be said for many New York rolls.
07
of 07
They won’t kill you
The New York puffed bagel has between 300 and 800 calories. At the higher end of that scale, you can cut calories by swapping a solitary muffin with a large piece of cake.
Meanwhile, their standard Montreal muffin, which is smaller, thinner, and molded with a hole much larger than New York’s, has 180-220 calories, a perfectly acceptable count for a healthy diet.
If you were to replace a Montreal muffin in the morning with, say, a 490 calorie New York Ess-a-Bagel, don’t change anything else in your diet and lifestyle other than that daily muffin, you’ll find yourself roughly 30 pounds heavier by this time next year. Instead, grab an 800 calorie muffin and you’ll have an extra 63 pounds cushioning your frame in 12 months.
Some New Yorkers received the memo, opting to get their buns out of New York before turning them into sandwiches to save calories. For fun and science, a registered dietitian checked how many calories she was saving. With most of the doughy interior removed from your bun, there were still 400 calories left. Even the rind of an Ess-a-Bagel has as many calories as TWO or more Montreal muffins.
To sum this up, New York City makes bun-shaped bagels so large they have more calories than bacon cheeseburgers, then scoops out its innards, dumping pounds of freshly baked bread daily to save less than the energy equivalent of a piece of cheese. on a morning sandwich with enough calories to keep a professional athlete poised for the next six hours.
