The other day the LA Times had a whole article in the food section about pretzels. Just the sight of them made my mouth water. Whatever with low carb diets. I love me some pretzels.
Seriously.
When I was growing up, there was an Almart (don't ask me, that was the name) near our house that sold warm, soft pretzels. I would make the trip for one or two, dipped in yellow mustard.
There is just something so wonderful about the slightly crisp outside and soft inside and the tangy mustard. Sorry, A. I know you are drooling, but, you know I am right.
Anyway, the article talked in detail about making them. One of the things used is lye. Apparently it yields that deep golden brown color and more crisp outside. It also means that you need to wear protective gear because it turns out lye is caustic.
There are some things even I won't do for a soft pretzel.
Besides, ever since I found this recipe, I have been VERY pleased with the results.
Every single time.
No way am I going to venture into the wonderful world of lye, not when I can get results like these.
Here's the thing.
If you make them a little larger, like about the size of a bagel, and slice it in half, you can load it up with roasted turkey breast, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo and got yourself
the best damn sandwich EVER!
That was what we had for dinner that night.
It was major.
So much so that I made more pretzels (slightly smaller version) this morning.
And I roasted some garlic to make this soup. Creamy, but no cream in it at all. Perfect.
When folks get sick (Mr. Smith and Grammy both have colds), they just want soup, so we got soup.
About 3 quarts of it.
That should just about do it.