To think it's impossible to get a decent bagel or American muffin in this country?

[rollonretirementfgs]

Supermarket bagels are crap, the ones in the polythene bags. M&S did nice fresh ones but stopped selling them. American muffins... massive light fluffy muffins, as big as your head. Had one in France recently from Columbus coffee.... rubbish over here! Please enlighten me on any hidden gems.

Many thanks,

Desperate for carbs

There used to be a Canadian muffin shop in Marylebone and one off Covent Garden. Long gone.

That wasn't the question though.

If you can't easily get to London, Manchester or anywhere else with a good Jewish bakery (and beigels freeze well so you can get loads), you could get a copy of George Greenstein's Secrets of a Jewish Baker. Great recipes for beigels, muffins and tonnes more.

We are big fans of this recipe. The key is to not overmix, you want to still have some uncombined lumps (no idea why it makes it better, but it does) and use big muffin liners /pans not little fairy cake ones

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/tri-berry-muffins

I really dislike both bagels and muffins whether in America or over here so IMO there are no decent bagels anywhere.

However a friend of mine regularly makes the 90 minute round trip to Brick Lane just for bagels.

You need to eat in better restaurants when you travel to the states.

Could be but 50% of the UK population live inside this circle:

And?

Decent chocolate, haggis, square sausage, black pudding, back bacon, scotch pie, cranachan, porridge (cooked properly), tablet, irn bru, tattie scones

And that's just a few of the Scottish variety. I am sure there are English, Welsh and Northern Ireland foods equally unavailable in the US.

Is OP American or do they just like Bagels and American muffins?

Chocolate, biscuits, jam… whenever I go to visit family my luggage is all food! And this isn’t all family who are Brits or even born outside the U.K. apparently mars bars taste better from here…

'Cheddar style' cheese, that stuff in massive slabs along with the 'Swiss cheese' etc? A discussion with the man on the cheese stall at Whole Foods was interesting about why the US can't make decent cheese, just the glorified plastic burger slices!
The quality of the bread has improved slightly, sourdough from specialist shops, but still way behind Europe.

Costco for muffins.

Why can't they make cheddar? Do they make any hard cheeses? Do they sell things like ciabatta rolls or 'ancient grain' rolls in the supermarket? What is there if not butter? I thought butter was one of the most basic foods!

Don’t listen to this nonsense… we have have cheddar, butter, different breads right along side the wrapped slices, soft bread, and margarine

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wisconsin-cheesemakers-earn-quarter-of-all-awards-at-world-cheese-awards-in-norway-301984024.html

Wisconsin cheese artisans bring home 25% of all awards presented at the World Cheese Awards in Trondheim, Norway, in October 2023, with Marieke Gouda of Thorp, Wisconsin earning the most awards of any United States competitor.

More awards;
https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/life/food/2022/03/03/7-worlds-best-cheeses-made-wisconsin-says-contest/6895358001/

If you wanted to make a charcuterie board with the world's best cheeses (technically speaking), seven would come from Wisconsin cheesemakers.
If you want the best cheese according to the judges at the World Championship Cheese Contest, you're looking for the Gourmino Le Gruyère from Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus in Bern, Switzerland. It's the third time the cheese has taken the top honor at the contest having won in 2020 and 2008.
Still, it was a good year for Wisconsin cheesemakers with seven of the 20 finalists and winning 45 best-of-class categories. On top of that,
cheese curds debuted in this year's contest, and Wisconsin swept both the regular and flavored categories.

Never found a bagel as good as a nyc bagel. Just not the same at all

Why are people saying you can't get decent cheese, butter or bread unless you go to Whole Foods then?

Because most of them have either never been to America, Never been to a grocery store in America, or have never been past the sandwich bread or cheese aisle in an American grocery store.

I can assure I buy regularly a nice beautiful aged sharp cheddar alongside my cheap slices that are great for burgers or egg sandwiches.

I only buy real butter to put on my fresh sourdough

Can you order black pudding with a fry up?

Did you want me to continue with the examples? I can keep going 😏

At a couple of places yes…but it’s not common as I wouldn’t expect it to be (My mid size metro area has 3 restaurants that I know of that do a full English or Irish.)

I know of a one local butcher that sells it.

I’m assuming you don’t get the chance to order biscuits and gravy all that often?

You can't get good cheddar outside Zumerset and sourdough is the work of the devil 😈

I think it's best if you live near a traditional Jewish area. There's a couple of decent bagel shops in hackney and that neck of the woods. Does Manchester also have a big Jewish area?
I'm not sure but I think some of the bagel bakeries do mail order, if you get a dozen or more. Then you can freeze them. The one I use right now is called Rinkoffs. Their smoked salmon bagel is lush too.
Supermarket bagels are just rolls with a hole in!?
That sweetness, chewyness. It's really unique isn't it. I ate bagels every day when I was in NY and put on about 2 stone in a few months!

There's this too

www.bbagel.co.uk