Polly wants a cracker?

Another thread gave me this idea for a question. What's your favorite cracker?

I really like Wheat Thins. And I like Crispini, too, (the one with all the different seeds on top).

[Robin Garr]

I like Crispini, too, (the one with all the different seeds on top).

I'm right with you there, Larry, assuming that you're talking about the very thin, crisp kind that's about maybe 6 inches long by 1 inch wide. We usually get these at Whole Foods, and Mary transfers them to an airtight tin to keep them fresh, so the packaging is gone and I can't check the brand.

Mary insists on Premium Saltines for regular use, and I'm okay with that. Cheez-Its are a guilty pleasure, but I try not to indulge, and really, we don't get a lot of 'em. Too easy to eat too many if temptation is at hand. Sometimes I'll get a bag of mini-pretzels to satisfy the salty-crunchy craving - they seem to be lower on calories and fat than most crackers are.

I love pretzels, too. But I much prefer the big honkers over the little ones. Several years ago I visited the Utz and the Snyder's pretzel factories in PA. Very interesting. Particularly the machine that twisted the pretzels. How did they do that?

Your Crispini sounds like the one I like. I believe they're made in New Jersey. I'd love to find a recipe to duplicate them.

Triscuits!

Mmmm. Triscuits....

Great with blue cheese--oh, sorry--bleu cheese <sniff>.

[Robin Garr]

Great with blue cheese--oh, sorry--bleu cheese <sniff>.

<i>Mais non, M'sieu</i>. Reverse snobbery comes into play here. <I>Fromage bleu</I>, sure, but "<i>bleu</I> cheese" is mixing languages, very declassé. No self-respecting food snob would do it.

Tut, tut. Eet was only a test to see if you truly subscribe to the ideals of the Academie Francaise. I would otherwise nevair do sometheeng zo declasse', monsieur.

Oh reservoir.

RE: Truscuits - my mother knew the guy who invented them when she worked at the Nabisco Shredded Wheat factory in Niagara Falls many years ago.

I'm with you too, Larry. I really like Crispini. Especiallly with a schmeer of cream cheese and a shred of smoked fish. My husband is a Wheat Thin fanatic and eats them all the time dipped into cottage cheese. Triscuits are great with warm savory dips. A cracker I like for cold toppings (crab salad) or strong-flavored cheese is the lowly Ritz. Nice and buttery. Also, Carr makes a very elusive cracker made with wheat or graham flour. Delicious with creamy, soft cheeses. I can hardly ever find these in the store though.

And what's with the popularity of the table water cracker?? I can only think of one application for it -- caviar. Can someone enlighten me as to why this is the most predominant cracker in the "gourmet cracker" section?

Can someone enlighten me as to why this is the most predominant cracker in the "gourmet cracker" section?

Sure. Carr's is owned by Kellogg's - one of the few players with enough cash to buy shelf space in the big supermarkets.

Next question?

I'm with you too, Larry. I really like Crispini. Especiallly with a schmeer of cream cheese and a shred of smoked fish. My husband is a Wheat Thin fanatic and eats them all the time dipped into cottage cheese. Triscuits are great with warm savory dips. A cracker I like for cold toppings (crab salad) or strong-flavored cheese is the lowly Ritz. Nice and buttery.

I was first introduced to Crispini at an art reception at a fancy restaurant. As I remember, it had a schmear of sour cream and topped with crumbled hard-boiled egg, sliced scallions, and caviar.

I believe it's Ritz that has an oven-baked variety that is fabulously good. The first time I tried them was at a book signing and I thought they were homemade.

[Jenise]

The most versatile all-around cracker at my house, the one my pantry is never without an open box of and one standing by, is Matzohs (and we're not Jewish). Unsalted or Lightly Salted, with a preference for a brand called Yehudi I think (they get a little blacker around the edges) but which we rarely see, Bob makes peanut butter "sandwiches" out of them, serve weekend lunch salads atop them or break them up into smaller planks and use them for cheese, salmon carpaccio and the like.

My other favorite plain cracker for cheese is Wasa Light Rye.

For a dessert cheese plate, there is nothing better than the various fruit-and-nut studded Raincity Crisps I buy in Canada.

For snacking? Triscuits.

I've grown fond of Matzohs, too.

Since crackers seem so lonely without cheese, my cracker of choice is the plain water cracker (Carr's or Trader Joes) adorned of course with some lovely cheese, i.e. Humboldt Fog or Gloucester with dill with do....and now the wine....

As a nearly lifetime New England resident--I was born in Charleston, SC, while my dad was stationed there in the Navy, and spent four years in Omaha, Nebraska while my dad was in medical school at Creighton, but otherwise grew up in Connecticut and went to college in Massachusetts, and have worked all my life in MA or New Hampshire:

My preferences are for Pilot Biscuits and Common Crackers.

Thumbs up to Triscuits, saltines, and water crackers, too.

-Paul W.