If you’re from DC, you know what I mean. I was astounded last week when I found out that half-smokes were native to DC and unknown anywhere else. I can’t remember when I last had a real half-smoke. Probably not since 1988 when I moved away from there. I really miss those split-down-the-middle treats. Any DC dopers like this hometown dish? Do you have a favorite brand or place to get them?
For the ignorati: A half smoke is a delicious half-beef, half-pork smoked breakfast sausage is served in a hot dog bun.
Heh. I didn’t realize that half-smokes were just a DC thing, either…I also didn’t realize they were a different type of sausage…I thought it just meant half of a smoked sausage (kielbasa) or a smoked sausage split in half…I would venture that many of the “half-smokes” you see touted by street vendors are nothing more than plain old smoked sausages.
I’ll have to explore this concept further…I work in the L’Enfant Plaza area and there are numerous purveyors here, though I’d bet that Ben’s offering would be vastly superior.
And BTW, darn you to heck for making me crave tubes of fat-laden mystery meat…
My wife and I came upon these at a church picnic in Virginia. Whenever we go down there to see my folks in Manassas we make a half-smoke run to a place called Wilson Farms in Catlett. They also have righteous DelMonico steaks if you’re into that sort of thing. They have pretty much anything you could want from a butcher.
That’s the only source we’ve ever known, though. I imagine there are places more in the heart of half-smoke territory.
There was an interesting article about them in the City Paper . I’ve had them from street vendors, but I don’t recall mine being much different from a smoked dog.
It looks like Ben’s might be the place to get them although the article notes that Ben’s Chili Bowl’s dogs may come from Baltimore.
A guy used to sell terrific half-smokes in front of the Ha’Penny Lion in downtown D.C. in 1990. Anyone know if he is still there? Of course I am being facetious, but damn those were good, and since I have just moved back to the D.C. area, I’d really like to find a good half-smoke. I’m just down from NYC, and for the most part, the dogs there are horrible.
I love them. I’ve only ever gotten them from street vendors, so I have no idea what brand they are. A couple weeks ago, the Washington City Paper ran a big feature on the history of the half smoke. It seems partially shrouded in mystery. There’s no agreement on the origin of the name “half smoke.”
Yeah, hardly appetizing. There are better pics in many of the sausage links (ha!) posted already.
That article in the city paper is what got me on this kick. My sister lives in Alexandria and sent that to me. In fact, she lives pretty close to one of the places mentioned in the article.
What’s really sad is when you keep a running list in your head of which vendors offer the best product (some have visible chunks of white fat inside the frank, and are pretty nasty, whereas others are clearly more meaty meat, with the spices visible) for the best price (a half-smoke all on its lonesome can run you anywhere between about $1.25 to $2 apiece, depending on the cart, mode about $1.50).
Half-smokes are great for filling, flavorful, dirt-cheap, super-quick food when you’re running around between appointments downtown. I’m sure each frank is roughly equivalent to the fat content of a tub of lard, but damn they are tasty.
Here’s a long City Paper article on half-smokes. I knew about them from way back when and thought they were a Baltimore thing (I find at least one cite saying the best still made come from Esskay in Charm City), in connection with Polack Johnny’s.
FWIW, the description in that article makes them sound an awful lot like overcooked the Cincy version of mettwurst.
