The Bialy, a Savory Answer to the Danish

In some sense, a bialy is like a cross between a bagel and a danish pastry because what distinguishes it from the bagel reminds me of the danish, but it is by no means sweet. My friend pointed out to me that it's also a little flatter than a bagel, and she should know because she's jewish. The thing is that though the bialy is very much like a bagel, it doesn't have a hole, it has a serious indentation instead. If a bialy had a hole then if you put some minced onions where the hole is they would fall right through. Since it's not a hole, you can put things, like minced onions, where the depression is. The depression acts like a bowl to contain them.

Some Bialys

Now this is the same thing they do with a danish, it's where they put the sweet "filling". Except I've never seen a sweet bialy, and I prefer savory things, so a bialy is right up my alley. In fact, I've been pegged as a bialy type. It's also a bit like an onion roll as it has the same type of minced onions as the good ones.

It takes a little practice to eat one because you have to ration the amount of the onion part you take with each mouthful. This takes a bit of skill, but I wouldn't say it detracts much from the experience. It's quite similar to how one might eat a danish, and that doesn't seem to stop people from eating them. I like bialys with cream cheese or butter. I don't know why, but maybe the bialy is helped more by butter than the bagel is, and maybe that's because it's more like an onion roll. Most people have heard of onion rolls, but it could be that fewer are familiar with the bialy. If you like onion rolls and onion bagels and have never had one you should check it out.