In the UK, there’s a limited choice on the bagel front. Plain, poppy seed, sesame and onion. Some delis go to town with rye, black bread or cinnamon and raisin, but, for the most part, unlike our American cousins, we’ve kept thing simple. 

So, with the arrival of New York-style bagels to our shores, the biggest news has been the everything bagel.

What an everything bagel isn’t is an overstuffed bread roll packed with every single filling option you can think of.

No, this variety is a plain white bagel, slathered in a seasoning combination that mixes several other topping options – sesame, poppy seed, onion etc – you get the idea. 

How does it taste? “Everything bagel is garlicky, nutty, crunchy and delicious” explains Francesca Goldhill, founder of Hertfordshire bakery, bagel + schmear, who developed her own recipe for the savoury sprinkle when she set up shop two years ago, making New York-style bagels that she’d fallen in love with when living in the Big Apple.

Goldhill explains there is no standard recipe, but that most versions use a combination of sesame, sea salt, garlic, and either fennel or nigella seeds — which add a contrasting colour.

“We use black and white sesame seeds; poppy seeds, dried garlic, dried onion and plenty of flaky sea salt” she explains. “The feedback I had to my original recipe (from American customers) was that my first recipe was too sesame-heavy. So now the recipe is more balanced with the salt, garlic and onion.”

She says that despite being new to many of her guests, everything bagels are her best seller even though they are a concept that has yet to take hold here or at least is only starting to take find a place in the UK bagel market.

US emigre, Dan Martensen, founder of Primrose Hill’s It’s Bagels confirms that it’s also their best-selling bagel and says his favourite way to eat his is with a schmear of jalapeno cream cheese.

The origin of the topping is difficult to ascertain with various claims being made on the internet. Articles in US newspapers and on Google go back and forth but the topping seems to have first appeared in the States in the 1970’s or early 1980’s but at whose hand isn’t clearcut.

One of the claimants is David Gussin, who has written that around 1980 he started reusing the various leftover bagel toppings from the oven and persuaded the bakery owner to use them on fresh bagels. He does now concede that the concept may have existed before, but insists it was he who coined the term ‘everything’. 

Best seller: the salty, seeded mix is a favourite for It's Bagels Photo: Dan Martensen

Sports marketer Brandon Steiner also declared it was he came up with the idea in 1973 when (at the age of 14) he was helping out in a bakery, while American author, Seth Godin, wrote that he also worked in a bagel factory making everything bagels years before Gussin claimed to have done it. So far, so no clearer. 

No matter who originated the idea, it has become a US staple and a welcome addition to the choices at the New York-style bagel bakeries on our shores. I’ve also found them at new chain, B Bagel.

The seasoning mix has been so popular that Goldhill has been selling it to home cooks and is about to launch a 60g size for national distribution that she will be launching at next month’s Taste of London.

How would you use it if not on a bagel? It has so many uses, one of which, says Goldhill is sprinkled on top of a cream cheese slathered bagel. However, she warns against incorporating it into your schmear: “The onion and garlic are dried and tend to rehydrate in the cream cheese, which is not so pleasant.”

Photo: Trevennon Dakota

Six foods that are better with everything bagel seasoning:

1. Friday night challah – shower your home made loaf with it to take your Shabbat special up a notch.
2. Scrambled eggs – it adds crunch as well as garlicky oniony notes.
3. Popcorn – top freshly popped corn with butter — allowing it to melt — and then shower with the seasoning.   
4. Salads – zjuzh up the simplest salad with a handful for nutty, crunchy texture and a range of flavours.
5. Meat or fish — it’s perfect sprinkled over salmon before grilling or baking — try Trevennon Dakota’s salmon recipe.
6. Smashed avocado — schmear the avo on toasted sourdough and shower with the seasoning for the perfect brunch food.

bagel+schmear