The muffin is an interesting specimen. Its ambiguity has long confounded researchers in the pastry community and, indeed, it is often the lynchpin upon which people's pastry biases lie. Those who say muffins are pastries have essentially abandoned the so-called "flakiness index" through which pastries are analyzed based on their relative flakiness, one of the first known measures of the quality of pastry. Are we, as a society, ready to make that jump? See Figure 2 for a complex analysis of available data.
In defense of the muffin-as-pastry, it is certainly a breakfast food and usually--though not always--sweet. Personally, I am much more inclined to bestow the pastry title on a blueberry muffin with a sugary crust on top than a bran muffin, but for the sake of argument, we will take "muffin" as an indivisible Platonic category unto itself.
Muffins are eaten with coffee and they can be purchased at sidewalk carts. Sometimes they are frosted, though whether this adds or subtracts from their pastriness is a matter of much debate. Can this enigma ever be resolved?!?!
A Poem for the Muffin
There once was a muffin made of bran
Of which no one was much of a fan
"Oh Heavens to Pete!
"Muffins should be sweet!"
Said a very disgruntled young man.
There once was a muffin made of bran
Of which no one was much of a fan
"Oh Heavens to Pete!
"Muffins should be sweet!"
Said a very disgruntled young man.
Readers, let this be a lesson for you.
fascinating! for more insight, check this out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/dining/16appe.html?scp=1&sq=melissa%20clark%20muffin&st=cse
(i can't believe i remembered this article existed). basically, they offer the argument that muffin = cake. but, does cake = pastry? are all sweet things pastries, then? confused!
also, that poem is unparalleled.
To respond, dear readers:
ReplyDeleteCovert Muffins!! This is a story that must be revealed! Thanks tipster!