My grandfather had a complicated relationship with food. Before I was born he successfully lost a lot of weight, so from the time I knew him he was always extremely careful--some would say obsessive--about what he ate. He wasn't a dieter in the classic sense. He absolutely loved rich foods, never avoided carbs, had dessert at least once a day, and I never saw him eat a salad. He was just very careful about how much he ate. In one particularly vivid memory, we went out to dinner and all he ordered was French onion soup (that was more melted cheese than soup) and cheese sticks with marinara. I jealously ate my "healthy" fish and vegetable, while watching him enjoy his few bites of melted cheese. Grandpa loved doughnuts, preferably Dunkin, and he loved bialys with smoked fish and cream cheese. I don't eat bialys often, they're hard to find around here, but when I do I think of him. Making these was fun, as was assembling my accompanying platter of smoked fish and vegetables. The bialys themselves? They were just okay. They tasted very bread-y to me. The bialys I remember had a texture more similar to bagels. Also, I didn't think there was enough onion topping and wasn't happy with how much of it fell off in the baking and slicing process. I'll take responsibility for the latter problem, I think it's a technique issue, but next time I want to make bialys I'm going to test out a different recipe.
The smoked fish accompaniment sounds delicious. I like how this recipe reminded you of your grandfather - to this day, I can't see a bowl of dinner mints without thinking of mine :-)
ReplyDeleteI love your accompaniments, sounds yummy used by the way...
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed them lightly toasted, it was very nice!!
The first time I had even heard of bialys, so I wasn't sure what to expect by way of taste or texture. Hearing your comments is reassuring. It does taste like any bread and I would like to know which recipe you will try the next time you make these.
ReplyDeleteBialys remind me of my family too. Grandmother, father and great grandparents always seemed to love them with cream cheese and many stinky fishes.
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't like them. It's funny, I thought these were pretty "authentic" to the ones I grew up with, so I loved them.
I doubled the onions for the topping and that seemed to be just about the right amount.
I love when recipes remind me of loved ones! Baking often does that for me. :)
ReplyDeleteThese were new to me. And I liked them a lot. But of course I'd like to try one from a true bakery to see if they were the same.
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