Bagels, schmears, and a nice piece of fish A whole brunch of recipes to make at home

Barrow's dedication says it all: "To my mishpocha" (Yiddish for "family"). Delivering the goods with intriguing sidebars and undeniable expertise, award-winning cookbook author Barrow envelops 50-plus recipes with stories to remember, techniques to master, and food photographs that home cooks can attempt to emulate in real life. First, the tidbits: the explanation of pumpernickel, what constitutes schmaltz, how to make seeds stick to bagels, and so on. Barrow's secrets, too, are readily shared, like resting dough for a time before kneading or working with it, making an easy crème fraîche by letting sour cream culture for 24 hours, slicing lox to the appropriate thinness (so transparent you can read a newspaper through it). Recipes straddle traditional and contemporary cooking with offerings like hot-honey-and-marcona-almond cream cheese, carrot-pineapple salad, hatch-chile-jack bagels, and a bacon-egg-and-cheese bagel sandwich. Barrow also offers a litany of foodstuffs beyond bagels that can be found on a platter: lox, olives, and a potpourri of salads, schmears, and other accompaniments. Here, besides the well-explained recipes, cooks will find a pleasing read and a comforting soak in Barrow's memories and sayings.

"Whether you bake the bagels yourself or buy them... dress up grocery store cream cheese or make it from scratch, I'll guide you through it all," writes Washington Post food columnist Barrow (Pie Squared) in this entertaining outing. With a smattering of Yiddish and a recap of her mishpachah--including her renegade grandmother who flavored matzo balls with bacon fat--Barrow covers everything from recipes for a proper whitefish salad to sour pickles, but the bagel is the thing. In a thoughtful concession to the home baker's space constraints, each recipe makes half a dozen rings that fit on a quarter sheet pan. To quote Seinfeld, Barrow's classic New York bagels are real, and they're spectacular. (The secret to "the chew, the glossy exterior shell, and the dynamic rise" is high-gluten flour, not New York City water.) Recipes are also given for the bagel's flat cousin, the bialy; homemade cream cheeses and spreads; and even a gluten-free option. But some inclusions are simply meshuga; for instance, after convincingly arguing that the history of traditional bagel-making is rich and deep, she offers a blueberry bagel recipe and a mix of cream cheese and chocolate chips meant to mimic cannoli filling. Minor shandas aside, Barrow's helpful guidance, flexibility, and humor combine to make this a kvell-inducing joy. (Mar.)