LEJ's Bavarian-Style Pretzel Rolls

LEJ's Bazarian-Style Pretzel Rolls

I like LEJ’s pretzels a lot and I generally buy one every Saturday Morning at Haile's Farmers' Market. Now, there’s one more thing to like . . . a lot. Their new addition is Pretzel Rolls—both round and long—that are not simply the device you use to get the sandwich filling to your mouth. LEJ’s pretzels are long on flavor and add their own flavor to something like one of Nana Pat’s mustards. The rolls are no different; ham and cheese, Lebanon bologna, and pastrami each worked well.

One roll remaining frm the bag of four. I could make burger, but that was too obvious. Instead, I opted for a tuna melt, a messy proposition with most rolls. It turned out to be a damn good sandwich. The rolls are probably not a part of an everyday sandwich. Grilling burgers and sausage? Yep. Ham and cheese and serious mustard? Yep. Tuna melt? Looked and tasted good.

LEJ Bavarian-Style Pretzel Roll

Sliced open and hollowed slightly

Wrapping in parchment paper proved to be best way to warm rolls.

Wrap roll loosely, but completely.

Warm in oven set at 170 degrees or so for about 10 minutes. Rub, paint, dab or spread butter on warm surface then sprinkle with coarse salt (provided).

Add tuna and cheese then broil until cheese melts to preferred consistency.

Preferred consistency.

Engage.

.

LEJ; Armed and Delicious

There’s a new vendor at Haile’s Saturday Market— LEJ Pretzels—and maybe it’s my Pennsylvania heritage (80% of America’s pretzels are made in PA) that made me try their product.

I like a good soft pretzel and I don’t care whether it’s claimed to be Bavarian-style or not. The last soft pretzel was an act bordering on being a pretzel-sin. I was in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station and I purchased a pretzel from a franchise vendor. Like other franchise products it was enough to satisfy my hunger after an overnight train ride but its flavor was mostly derived from the yellow (not dark) mustard dispensed from small single serve packets. Dry and bland best describe the pretzel.

I took one of LEJ’s full-sized “Bavarian-Style Pretzels with me when I left the Market, eschewing on-the-spot consumption using their squeeze bottle of commercial yellow mustard. To their credit, the people of LEJ happily directed customers toward Nana Pat’s mustard; a few spaces further south. Because Nana Pat is a “cottage food operation” her mustard cannot be offered by LEJ, yet. It was the presence of some Fat Tire in my refrigerator at home that clinched my decision to try a pretzel.

When I got home I put the pretzel in its brown paper bag in the oven, turned it to warm and began making a salad using some of the greens I’d gotten. By the time the oven pre-heated to 170 my salad was ready and the pretzel was at a proper overeating temperature. I added some of Nana Pat’s Fat Tire mustard and ate. One of the problems with most commercial, mall pretzels is that they are pale imitations lacking in flavor. One of the strengths of LEJ’s pretzel is its abundance of the right flavors which are derived from two sources; the basic dough that is neither too sweet nor too salty and the properly darkened “skin. “ Without the skin, a result of the Maillard reaction which turns sugars into much deeper, more complex flavors, a pretzel is little more than a piece of dough. These pretzels make the grade with the addition of mustard enhancing the flavor rather than being it.

Score a big one for LEJ Pretzels.

Making Local More Accessible . . . With Your Help

No matter how accessible the world is as a result of digital communications there’s nothing better than finding things that are “as good as it gets” and available locally; just down the street  or across town. The Haile Village Farmers’ Market is, as anyone who has read my postings already knows, one of my favorite places to shop locally. Local produce, coffee, eggs, milk and cheese are sold alongside locally made candies, breads and pastries and ethnic entrees and sides.

Some of the vendors have expanded their cottage industries to become commercial businesses and their products are available more widely. One vendor who wants to do this is Nana Pat's Goodies who makes some fine mustard! As I have said previously, I am not a mustard guy, or I was not. But if your mustard-concepts come from visits to baseball games in the 1950s where bright yellow mustard slathered on steamed hot dogs was the standard and you haven’t progressed beyond an occasional Grey Poupon commercial or Gulden’s Spicy Brown, then it’s time to become more adventuresome and Pat would like to make it easier to do so.
I, the former, non-mustard kinda guy, would not be without one of Nana Pat’s varieties in the ‘frig. Doesn’t take much to edge a good roast beef sandwich into being a great one, especially if it’s made with flavorful, homemade bread! Adding her mustard to a roll filled with sausage and ‘kraut amplifies the savory goodness. And she even makes a bicycle related mustard using Fat Tire Beer!

Nana Pat’s Goodies are available every Saturday morning in The Village of Haile and her customer base is comprised of people who recognize a quality product. Pat and that guy who hangs out with her are moving toward going commercial, but would like to have some financial assistance with an initial run of their product and have chosen to take a digital route. GoFundMe is one of those online enterprises that presents ideas and seeks funds to provide financial support to turn the idea into a reality. Unlike telecom before the ’00 crash, Nana Pat’s idea is not vaporware, it’s a tangible, honest product that she’d like to make more accessible. The upside to seeking funding this way is that she doesn’t have to plunge into debt to a lending institution. The upside to everyone else is greater access to her culinary skills.

Nana Pat’s request, along with a brief video can be found on the GoFundMe site at GoFundMe.com/i288xg. I should add that she isn’t looking for tens of thousands of dollar to make a levitating mustard, just a few thou' to defray costs for a substantial initial production run of her most popular flavor, "Midnight Oil Stout Molasses Mustard". Made with Midnight Oil Stout, a dark beer produced by local brewery, Swamp Head, it's thick and rich, with coffee and oatmeal notes that come from the top quality ingredients the folks at Swamp Head Brewery use.

Like local stuff? Good place to consider doing something locally.

GCC Member? Visit The Village (or downtown) and Get A Deal

As a response to the completion of Archer Braid Trail’s extension through Haile Plantation one of the regular vendors at the Saturday morning Farmers' Market has created a product with bicycle riders (Gainesville Cycling Club members in particular) in mind and is encouraging them to visit the Village.

I have never been much of a fan of mustard, except for when I was a kid and went to Memorial Stadium in Baltimore where all hot dogs came with bright yellow mustard. As my tastes have become moderately more sophisticated I have appreciated the more robust flavors of what might be called "real mustard". I may never become a dipper and use a jar of mustard like hummus or guacamole, but I have learned that mustard . . . some mustards . . . deserve a place in my kitchen.

Nana Pat’s Goodies is one of the vendors at the Market who has embraced the idea that people on bikes is good for the Farmers’ Market.


Nana Pat makes both sweet and savory things, but it is her mustard that matters here. Her newest addition to the line of savories is Fat Tire Special, which uses, can you guess, New Belgium’s Fat Tire Amber Ale as its base. That, alone, would be reason enough to visit Haile Village on Saturday or Union Street on Wednesday, BUT . . . are you ready? . . . GCC members get a discount. A check of Nana Pat’s website blog says it all; she doesn’t commonly offer deals. What’s the deal? Fifty cents off the usual $7 large jar or two small jars (usually $4 each) for the price of a large one, should you want to share the joy. The blog posting also says that this is a limited time product, but I bet demand would win out.


Anyone wanting a seriously good taste treat and wanting to buy locally should try Nana Pat’s stuff. For those of you who like to favor things on facebook and encourage others to treat themselves to something worthwhile, you can do it there, too.

Even if none of the regular merchants in The Village see the marketing value of encouraging the use of ABT, at least one Saturday morning vendor does.