When my sister-in-law first came to visit New York, she made the required pilgrimage to a bagel shop and was appalled to hear the girl in front of her order a scooped bagel. “SHE’S WASTING THE BEST PART” she hissed at my brother.
…And that’s how my sister-in-law had her first run in with the strange, high maintenance beast that is the Murray Hill JAP.
While I usually stand with Allison on this one (first of all, it’s one bagel – live a little; secondly, you lose all carb-cutting value when you pile said scooped bagel with cream cheese), I find that scooping the bagel comes in handy when you’re making a bagel sandwich. Since we’re not talking open-faced, if you don’t scoop it, there’s simply too much in there to make eating it possible.
For my latest bagel sandwich creation, I scooped out a poppy seed bagel and filled both halves with tuna fish that I mixed with mayo and just a teeny bit of cream cheese. I then piled on some avocado, a couple bacon slices, and white cheddar cheese. The whole thing got pressed in a pan with butter for a crunchy bagel panini style sandwich. Tuna on a bagel is a depressing thing to me. I always picture those items sitting all sad at the end of a buffet at the kind of event where I do a lot of fake smiling. THIS tuna on a bagel, however, is exciting. Bacon! Avocado! I’m so excited I might just make it again tonight.
Peaches to Apples 