The Old World bagel met its life partners in the New World. The cream cheese and smoked salmon combo (lox, for American-speakers) is a marriage made in heaven but, well, you know, we all want to stray a little at times. Hence the attractions of bagel fillings that now push the boundaries as the bagel comes of age and goes clubbing.
Today’s most popular fillings include egg mayo, tuna salad, egg and avocado mash, chicken mayo, pastrami, salt beef, cottage cheese and chives and more. You’ll find bagels with a Mexican theme or an Italian twist, but although it has its devotees, Jewish purists will always faint at the thought of a bacon and egg bagel.
Go sophisticated with smoked duck, or chicken liver pate, but whatever the filling, you want plenty of it, and ideally one that involves spreading as much as layering: if it doesn’t ooze out the edge of the bagel as you bite into it, you’ve been short-changed. And that’s the worst thing you can say of a bagel.
