Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish: A Whole Brunch of Recipes to Make at Home

by Cathy Barrow, Linda Xiao (Photographer)

Overview

A playful-yet-comprehensive cookbook that lets anyone create bagels, schmears, and other deli favorites at home.

“To quote Seinfeld, Barrow’s classic New York bagels are real, and they’re spectacular.”—Publishers Weekly

Named a Booklist Top Ten Cookbook of 2022!

Bagel lovers rejoice! This delightful bagel cookbook makes it easy to bake fresh bagels in your own kitchen with just five base ingredients and simple techniques. With advice on mixing the dough, shaping the bagels, proofing, boiling, baking, slicing, and storing, you will be a master bagel-maker in no time.

Recipes include two dozen variations on the New York bagel, with classic and innovative flavors ranging from Sesame to Blueberry to Hatch Chile Jack. You'll also find recipes for homemade sweet and savory spreads, schmears, pickles, and other deli mainstays like Home-Cured Lox and Chicken Salad.

With suggested menus for fun brunches and gatherings, photos of finished food and step-by-step techniques, and a charming deli aesthetic, this is both a comprehensive baking resource and a playful guide to making one of America's best-loved foods.

BAGELS ARE EASY BAKING: This book brings bagels to the home baker with step-by-step recipes for making classic New York bagels, even in the smallest kitchen. And it's not about the water! It's about just five ingredients and straightforward technique.

BRUNCH RECIPE BOOK: For anyone who loves to bake, host, and eat, this cookbook will evoke the urge to entertain with bagel-centric menu inspiration. It is packed with vivid photography, straightforward directions, and winning recipes, including a chapter on chapter on bagel sandwiches and brunch spreads.

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR: Cathy Barrow is an award-winning cookbook author. She's been recognized by IACP and the James Beard Foundation for her work on Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry and Pie Squared, respectively.
 

Perfect for:

• Home bakers and cooks who love bagels
• Bread enthusiasts looking for a new project
• New Yorkers who live elsewhere and want to make a classic NY bagel at home
• Fans of cookbooks like Bubby's Brunch Cookbook, Balaboosta, Josey Baker Bread, and The Whole Fish Cookbook

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781797210551
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	03/15/2022
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	158,000
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Cathy Barrow is an award-winning author and cook. She has written three cookbooks, Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry, Pie Squared, and When Pies Fly. Cathy won an IACP award for best single subject cookbook Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry and was nominated for a James Beard Award in the Baking category for Pie Squared. She writes a monthly food column for the Washington Post Food section, and has been published by the New York Times, Serious Eats, FOOD52, The Local Palate, Garden & Gun, Southern Living, NPR, and National Geographic.

Editorial Reviews

02/21/2022

“Whether you bake the bagels yourself or buy them... dress up grocery store cream cheese or make it from scratch, I’ll guide you through it all,” writes Washington Post food columnist Barrow (Pie Squared) in this entertaining outing. With a smattering of Yiddish and a recap of her mishpachah—including her renegade grandmother who flavored matzo balls with bacon fat—Barrow covers everything from recipes for a proper whitefish salad to sour pickles, but the bagel is the thing. In a thoughtful concession to the home baker’s space constraints, each recipe makes half a dozen rings that fit on a quarter sheet pan. To quote Seinfeld, Barrow’s classic New York bagels are real, and they’re spectacular. (The secret to “the chew, the glossy exterior shell, and the dynamic rise” is high-gluten flour, not New York City water.) Recipes are also given for the bagel’s flat cousin, the bialy; homemade cream cheeses and spreads; and even a gluten-free option. But some inclusions are simply meshuga; for instance, after convincingly arguing that the history of traditional bagel-making is rich and deep, she offers a blueberry bagel recipe and a mix of cream cheese and chocolate chips meant to mimic cannoli filling. Minor shandas aside, Barrow’s helpful guidance, flexibility, and humor combine to make this a kvell-inducing joy. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Cathy Barrow shares the ins and outs of perfecting any deli brunch at home.”—Salon

“Delivering the goods with intriguing sidebars and undeniable expertise, award-winning cookbook author Barrow envelops 50-plus recipes with stories to remember, techniques to master, and food photographs that home cooks can attempt to emulate in real life.”—Booklist, starred review

“To quote Seinfeld, Barrow’s classic New York bagels are real, and they’re spectacular. [...] Barrow’s helpful guidance, flexibility, and humor combine to make this a kvell-inducing joy.”—Publishers Weekly 

“16 bagel (and bagel-adjacent) recipes […] form the foundation of this, Barrow’s fourth cookbook. They are buttressed by many eminently useful tips and generous guidance: This is a book with a two-page section dedicated to the (very important) matter of getting the seeds to stick.”—Eater

"This is the bagel book we didn’t know we needed, a must-have for bagel and cooking enthusiasts everywhere, especially outside of major cities where good bagels are hard to find." —The Forward

"An information-packed delight. This is a book to give as a housewarming gift, treasure in one’s kitchen where it will quickly become flour and lox stained, and to make sure is in every library collection." —Library Journal, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 11/04/2022

Barrow (When Pies Fly) has cracked the code to making bagels at home in this keeper of a book. The process is unpacked in step-by-step instructions so that even the busiest of cooks can achieve make-them-again-please results. She reviews the five key ingredients and the very few needed tools before diving into the techniques and easy timings. Once that is honed, the various recipes fall into place, including New York or Montreal style, gluten-free, and more. Also on the menu are the toppings—from making cream cheese from scratch to crafting a huge range of savory and sweet schmear options. Then come the fish (home-cured lox, kippered salmon, and beet-cured gravlax), followed by salads (egg, chicken, tuna, whitefish, trout), and certainly not to be ignored, pickles (onions and carrots) as well as half and full sours. Cooking through the book, readers will marvel at how simple Barrow makes such astoundingly great food. VERDICT An information-packed delight. This is a book to give as a housewarming gift, treasure in one's kitchen where it will quickly become flour and lox stained, and to make sure is in every library collection.—Neal Wyatt

Library Journal