Half Smokes

[Spiral Stairs]

Are half-smokes the kind of sausage that can safely be eaten without concern for whether you have fully cooked them (e.g., like a hot dog)? Or are they the kind of sausage that will make me spend days hunched over, on, and beneath a toilet if I have not cooked them thoroughly?

Just askin'. I checked every single one of the internets and there is an astonishing lack of information about the half-smoke, aside from endless advice to get them at Ben's or, sometimes, Weenie Beenie.

[johnb]

Are half-smokes the kind of sausage that can safely be eaten without concern for whether you have fully cooked them (e.g., like a hot dog)? Or are they the kind of sausage that will make me spend days hunched over, on, and beneath a toilet if I have not cooked them thoroughly?

Just askin'. I checked every single one of the internets and there is an astonishing lack of information about the half-smoke, aside from endless advice to get them at Ben's or, sometimes, Weenie Beenie.

AFAIK, they're fully cooked, just like a hot dog. In fact, I'm 100% sure about that.

The reason you can't find out much about them is that they are a very local DC food item, and not well known/understood even in DC. Actually, I know of no other food item that is truly unique to DC. Of course, since DC is bereft of packing houses, the ones we have seem to come mostly from Baltimore.

Back in 2000, some nutbag proposed the half-smoke as DC's signature dish. But I think he finally got out of town.