by Zoë Pollock
Brian Palmer debunks New York's "it's the water" theory:
Gotham's bagelries typically poach the bagels prior to baking them—the bagels spend a few minutes simmering in a pot of water before entering the dry heat of an oven. That pre-gelatinization process produces a chewy interior, and slightly changes the flavor of the finished product. Many bagel makers skip the poaching step, because the boiling equipment is expensive and takes up space in the kitchen. Instead, they brush their bagels with a little water and baking soda in the style of soft pretzels, then blast them with steam once they're in the oven. You can usually identify these impostors by checking out their undersides, since steam can't get to the bottom of a bagel when it's already in the oven. If the bottom is significantly darker and harder than the rest of the surface, you're eating a roll with a hole, not a bagel.
So why don't non-boilers just make bialys instead?
The Dish 