First let me tell you that I am from Montreal so you already know where this article is going. However, have you heard of the bagels wars between Montreal and New York? Yes, bagel connoisseurs from all over the world will tell you that either the Montreal or New York style bagel is the best. I am here to tell you that Montreal bagels are the best, of course, what other position could a native Montrealer take?
Let me give you some interesting facts about Montreal bagels and then you can make up your own minds of course.
Here Is My Case:
Grocery store bagels are not the same as freshly baked bagels
You will never know the heavenly taste of a bagel unless you have had one that came straight out of brick and wood-fired oven. These hot wonderful bagels have been made that way, back home, in the old country for hundreds of years. The Eastern Europeans introduced North America to round bread with a hole in the middle known as a bagel and Montrealers and New Yorkers have been enamored with the bagel ever since. People who have never tasted a hot bagel from the brick fire oven will not be able to relate to this article. It is sad though, because the grocery store packaged variety of bagels is nothing like the real thing. It would be like comparing Mama’s home made soup to a can of store bought soup that lacks consistency and flavor.
Bagel History
According to legend, an Austrian baker created the first bagel specifically for King Jan Sobeiski of Poland (1674-1696) who was considered the last of the great kings of Poland. The king was renowned for his ability to stave off the Turkish invaders. From that time onward the popularity of the bagel spread throughout central and Eastern Europe; particularly Poland, Germany, Russia, and Czechoslovakia.
Differences Between the Montreal and the New York Bagel
For those who believe a bagel is a bagel is a bagel, is unfortunately mistaken. New York bagels and Montreal bagels are not the same. Even though they are shaped the same, round with the hole in the middle, the bagels have a different texture and that means a different taste
The difference between the Montreal bagels and the New York bagels is that different European immigrants settled in these two cities and each region in Eastern Europe that made bagels put their own local culinary mark on the bagels that they made. Each bakery had its own recipe and they brought that recipe to North America when they came over.
The Montreal bagel is smaller than the New York bagel but the hole is bigger. The Montreal baker is denser, chewier and sweeter. The Montreal bagel has to be baked in a wood-fired oven. The traditional Montreal bagel recipe will include malt, however salt is never used. The bakers use eggs in the recipe and then they poach the bagels in honey flavored water before putting them in the ovens.
The New York bagel is made with both malt and salt it is also boiled in water before baking, and it comes out puffy with a crust.
There are many varieties of Montreal bagels, the original Montreal bagel recipe is sesame seed, and black poppy seed There is now cinnamon and raisin, garlic, onion, blueberry, pumpernickel and many others including green bagels for St. Patrick’s Day which have been added to the bagel family over the years.
Montreal Bagel Bakeries
Picture your average grocery store smell and now picture the wonderful smells of a real bakery as the aroma of fresh Montreal bagels tantalize your senses. These bagel bakeries are open so you can actually get to see bagels being made by hand and put into and taken out of the large ovens. Imagine the warm feeling you get inside when you walk into a bakery in the dead of winter in Montreal. You can’t wait to sink your teeth into this wonderful delight.
The oldest Montreal Bagel house and probably the most famous one is Fairmount Bakery, of course there are other famous bakeries such as Van Horne Bakery and St. Viateur Bakery. However, Fairmount Bakery is still the first of its kind in Montreal.
Isadore Shlafman was a Russian immigrant who came to the city with his bagel recipe in 1919. Isadore had a dream to build a business and share his love for bagels with the people of Montreal. Today the family business continues on with Irwin, Shlafman’s grandson. However, when Isadore first came to Montreal, it wasn’t easy to start up his business, Bagels were not sold anywhere in Canada. Montrealers never heard of circular bread made with yeast dough and they were not all that crazy about trying it.
Furthermore, besides the lack of appeal of this kind of bread, Isadore soon found that he could not make his bagels the way they should be made without brick ovens. There were none in Montreal and he had to have his brick ovens manufactured.
At the beginning of his business, Isadore Shlafman could only sell his bagels to other bakeries and restaurants because the people from Montreal just would not come into his bakery to buy them. They did not come in off the streets to buy a bagel the way they do today.
Slowly but surely, the Jewish community came in to purchase bagels; however the rest of the Montreal population still did not. The situation is quite different now, 80 years later. Isadore’s business is striving and the original recipe given to his son Jack and then to his grandson Irwin has never changed. It is still the old world recipe, so sacred to the elder Shlafman. Fairmont bakery is open 24 hours a day to meet the demands of all Montrealers and tourists alike. Customers simply cannot get enough of this old world bagel flavor.
Montreal Bagel Fame
The Montreal bagel is widely known now through Ontario, its Canadian neighbour to the West, but it has yet to reach fame from its rival neighbor, New York, to the south. However, even though the New York bagel is its competition so to speak, the Montreal bagel has been sought after worldwide and tourists come from all over to taste this Montreal bagel sweetness and delight.
I am not exaggerating when I say that Montreal bagels are out of this world. Gary Chamitoff, a Canadian Astronaut had to have his chewy Montreal bagel on board the International Space Shuttle mission.
As previously mentioned, the other Classic Montreal bagel establishments are Van Horne Bagel and St. Viateur Bagel. St. Viateur Bagel is promoted in movies to depict the Montreal way of life.
I think I have made my point now it is your turn to decide which is the best bagel in North America!
Sources:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=6924c3b3-a4e3-4c05-b279-025fc9650627
