frozen supermarket bagels

[julie3fan]

8 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

 

Heck, I've even repaired the machine that takes a 5 lb block of butter, and using hot wires cuts it into the little pats.

 

Hey, Chief, this isn't the butter thread!  No hijacking! 🤣

[elliair]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

Most of the desserts served in the buffets are purchased from the same company for years now. They're consistently lousy and never change in appearance. I tend to bypass them for anything else that Princess actually makes themselves, and yet people seem to love them

 

 

Worse ever pie served on Princess was/is the sugar free pumpkin pie.  Absolutely horrid stuff.  There's a mango SF pie also that's right up there with the SF pumpkin pie.  It tastes like it's made out of gelatin.  As for the Einstein Bagels, it's all about the cost and easy preparation.  On one cruise I saw a woman with 6 bagels on her plate!  It was piled high and another plate full of smoked salmon and cream cheese.  She sure did pack down the carbs.  Ever wonder why you don't see potato chips on board?  Humidity, can't keep them crisp.

[chengkp75]

36 minutes ago, jlp20 said:

Don't know if it's true, but because of the humid sea air,  baking anything is an issue.

Just because the ship is on the water, doesn't mean the air is consistently humid.  We have very dry days at sea as well.  And anything that would be affected by humidity, like rising bread dough, is done in a proofing cabinet, where the temperature and humidity is controlled.

[FritzG]

On 10/25/2018 at 6:54 PM, Coral said:

Actually the croissants are not that great either. They used to be a lot better. I think they stopped using butter or something.

That's exactly what happened.  Three or four years ago all of the pastries went downhill because they stopped using butter.  I used to love the blackberry danish and the croissants, but I don't eat them anymore.  

[Coral]

10 minutes ago, FritzG said:

That's exactly what happened.  Three or four years ago all of the pastries went downhill because they stopped using butter.  I used to love the blackberry danish and the croissants, but I don't eat them anymore.  

 

My first cruise with Princess was 20 years ago. I wish I could freeze frame that time period as I loved Princess during that time.  I wish new cruisers knew how good it used to be. I am sure those who started sailing 30 plus years ago wish the same for me.

[Thrak]

21 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Things that folks expect to have consistent shape and size, like hamburger and hot dog rolls, and bagels, are typically not done onboard, just because of the machinery needed to keep the shape and size consistent.  I will disagree that the dinner rolls are made ashore.  I have repaired the roll making machines and proofing cabinets many times.  This machine takes a ball of fresh dough, divides it into 19 smaller dough balls, and then using oscillating plates, rolls these 19 balls into 19 dinner rolls, which are then transferred to a baking sheet, and into the proofing cabinet to rise for a couple hours before baking.

 

And while some desserts are made ashore, most are made on the ship.  Again, I've been called to repair dough sheeters (where the pastry dough is folded and rolled repeatedly, tart presses (the pastry dough is pressed into the fluted tart pans), and other specialty baking machines in both the bakery and pastry shops.

 

Heck, I've even repaired the machine that takes a 5 lb block of butter, and using hot wires cuts it into the little pats.

 

Thank You! I took umbrage with the "dinner rolls are made ashore and frozen" thing. As for the "bagel thing"... In a past life I worked in a small bagel factory. We made Oy Vey bagels. They were made from sratch but "mostly" we used shortcuts. When I started I was a baker. I baked a lot of bagels every day. Due to constraints of our facility and also due to the "dick-headedness" of the crew boss/dough mixer the bagels differed due to different proofing times. It was freaking HOT in that area. Outside temps were in the 100 - 110 °F and inside it was waaaaaaaaaaaay hotter. The guy would "stick it to the baker" in order to get an extra hour of break while the baker caught up. That caused inconsistent bagels. The bagels were steamed rather than boiled. That worked great for commercial bagels but the Sunday bagels - for the restaurant - I boiled. They were beautiful and "proper" bagels.

 

We made our own brand - Oy Vey  Bagels - but later got a contract with a major company - Rainbow. The Rainbow bagels sold for significantly more in grocery stores but the only real difference between Oy Vey Bagels and Rainbow Bagels was....... The bag we put them in.

Anyway, having been both a bagel baker and then, later, a "dough mixer" (shift boss in charge of mixing the dough and all production for the shift) A really small batch of dough was 200 lbs. A "regular" batch of dough was 350 - 500 lbs. Like I said, we were a small facility. Of course we produced a lot of batches every shift of every day.

 

I can't imagine making real "boiled bagels" on a ship. Even making enough "steamed" bagels for the ship would take a bunch of specialized equipment and an immense amount of extra effort. I think people sometimes (often?) ask too much of the cruise line. I know what is required to make a large number of '"real" , boiled bagels and I simply can't imagine the cruise line doing this. I certainly don't want my cruise fare to reflect the investment and hassle required even for "steamed" bagels, let alone properly "boiled" bagels.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Thrak

[Thrak]

5 hours ago, Coral said:

 

My first cruise with Princess was 20 years ago. I wish I could freeze frame that time period as I loved Princess during that time.  I wish new cruisers knew how good it used to be. I am sure those who started sailing 30 plus years ago wish the same for me.

 

While I envy you your nostalgic view and recollection of cruising can you imagine what it would "cost" to book a cruise today with that level of quality? I would never have been able to experience cruising at all if they still gave what they used to give. That would probably make some folks happy as they would be rid of "the rabble" (of which I am likely a part) but cruise lines would no longer be in business if they charged what it would cost to provide the level of cruise experience that was available 30 years ago. I feel certain I would love that level of cruise experience but am equally certain it would have continued to be something far beyond my ability to ever experience.

[vampiress]

13 hours ago, julie3fan said:

 

Hey, Chief, this isn't the butter thread!  No hijacking! 🤣

this gave me a chuckle.  legendairy thread.

 

 

i've not found fault with the croissants.  i like a croissant with cream cheese and lox for breakfast.  as for desserts, i've found them hit or miss on every cruise line, but the fresh baked cookies are the best,  if they do freeze the dough and just cook it, it doesn't affect the outcome, those cookies are the best.

Edited October 27, 2018 by vampiress

[jwattle]

On 10/25/2018 at 7:09 PM, elliair said:

I think a lot of their desserts are frozen, not made from scratch, especially the ones served in the buffet.  The rolls served at dinner and in the buffet are also frozen and they bake them there on the ship.  Just like grocery stores do, they don't make the bread there, it comes in frozen then baked in the store.  Ever watch the longshoremen load the stores onto the ship?  Lots of frozen food in cardboard boxes.  We were on a cruise to Hawaii and the Longshoremen in San Francisco was in a union rift.  They refused to unload some semis that were parked at the pier.  Lots of items didn't get on board and were still sitting on the dock when we got underway around 11:30 pm.  (We watched all of it from our balcony).  When we got to our first port, we saw several suburban's drive up to the ship unloading 5# sacks of flour.  We asked what the deal was and they said that not all the flour got onboard for the trip.  That was the same cruise where the longshoremen dumped a large cart of luggage into the bay.

As much as you've cruised, you would be mistaken...I took the Ultimate Ship Tour on our November Grand cruise last year. Their rolls are baked on the ship FRESH. The desserts are also made on the ship FRESH. It is amazing to see the work and ingenuity that goes into it, especially the amount of it that it manmade, not just machine. 

[elliair]

2 hours ago, jwattle said:

As much as you've cruised, you would be mistaken...I took the Ultimate Ship Tour on our November Grand cruise last year. Their rolls are baked on the ship FRESH. The desserts are also made on the ship FRESH. It is amazing to see the work and ingenuity that goes into it, especially the amount of it that it manmade, not just machine. 

 

Yeah, we've been on a number of cruises and the desserts never change from one cruise to another.  I like their pretzel sticks in the buffet, but they rarely have them.  BTW, many of the foods they serve taste like they're frozen then baked.  Princess does a good job in reinventing foods like sweet potato hash, then the next day it reverts to something different.  Saw meatloaf with a hotdog shoved up the middle of it.  Next day, the same meatloaf showed up on the cold salad bar.  They must of had a lot hot dogs left over from the grill.  /just an observation

Edited October 27, 2018 by elliair

[Happy2cruise]

On 10/26/2018 at 3:19 PM, elliair said:

 

  Ever wonder why you don't see potato chips on board?  Humidity, can't keep them crisp.

Whenever we order from room service the sandwiches come with potato chips and they have always been crisp😀

[elliair]

2 hours ago, Happy2cruise said:

Whenever we order from room service the sandwiches come with potato chips and they have always been crisp😀

You won't see them out at the bars, only the carafe jars of peanuts of snack bar mix.  A few years back, Carnival use to give out bowls of homemade potato chips whenever you ordered a drink.  They were really good.  This same question was asked (maybe on CC (?), why potato chips weren't available,  the humidity was the reason.  We never order food from room service.  Sounds reasonable.

Edited October 27, 2018 by elliair