DC Sites

[Jim Page]

I was listening to WTOP on the way home Friday and they had a piece on some survey of hot dogs nationwide. Ben's Chili Bowl came in 12th, and was evidently the only DC-based vendor to make the cut. Ben's half-smoke was the menu item that was singled out.

By the way, the term "half-smoke" is one I never heard of before moving to the DC area. How a half-smoke differs from a hot dog is something I am curious about.

--Jim

[Jim Garrett]

I was listening to WTOP on the way home Friday and they had a piece on some survey of hot dogs nationwide. Ben's Chili Bowl came in 12th, and was evidently the only DC-based vendor to make the cut. Ben's half-smoke was the menu item that was singled out.

By the way, the term "half-smoke" is one I never heard of before moving to the DC area. How a half-smoke differs from a hot dog is something I am curious about.

--Jim

I too was listening to WTOP. We need a road trip to Ben's Jim

[Jim Page]

By the way, the term "half-smoke" is one I never heard of before moving to the DC area. How a half-smoke differs from a hot dog is something I am curious about.

Attempting to answer my own query, via Wikipedia:
A half-smoke is a "local sausage delicacy" found in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding region. Similar to a hot dog, but usually larger, spicier, and with more coarsely-ground meat, the sausage is often half-pork and half-beef, smoked, and served with a bevy of herbs, onion, and chili sauce.

Ingredients and preparation

Though the etymology of "half-smoke" possibly comes from the original half-pork, half-beef composition, the ingredients and smoked method of preparation, vary by brand and some brands even make more than one kind. A half-smoke can be 50% pork, 50% beef or 100% beef or anywhere in between; it can be steamed instead of smoked. Another possible explanation is that the texture and flavor is half way between smoked sausage and a regular hotdog. Yet another explanation is that it refers to many cooks cutting the sausage in half when grilling. In any case, the products sold under the name generally have a genuine or artificial smoke flavoring and coarser texture than a regular hotdog and are the key features that distinguish.

History

The "original" half-smoke is considered to be the sausage distributed by D.C.'s Briggs and Co. meatpackers, originating in around 1950, though Raymond Briggs started selling his half-smokes circa 1930. Eventually Briggs was sold to another meat distributor, where, by some accounts, the quality of the meat eroded.

[Jim Garrett]

By the way, the term "half-smoke" is one I never heard of before moving to the DC area. How a half-smoke differs from a hot dog is something I am curious about.

Attempting to answer my own query, via Wikipedia:
A half-smoke is a "local sausage delicacy" found in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding region. Similar to a hot dog, but usually larger, spicier, and with more coarsely-ground meat, the sausage is often half-pork and half-beef, smoked, and served with a bevy of herbs, onion, and chili sauce.

Ingredients and preparation

Though the etymology of "half-smoke" possibly comes from the original half-pork, half-beef composition, the ingredients and smoked method of preparation, vary by brand and some brands even make more than one kind. A half-smoke can be 50% pork, 50% beef or 100% beef or anywhere in between; it can be steamed instead of smoked. Another possible explanation is that the texture and flavor is half way between smoked sausage and a regular hotdog. Yet another explanation is that it refers to many cooks cutting the sausage in half when grilling. In any case, the products sold under the name generally have a genuine or artificial smoke flavoring and coarser texture than a regular hotdog and are the key features that distinguish.

History

The "original" half-smoke is considered to be the sausage distributed by D.C.'s Briggs and Co. meatpackers, originating in around 1950, though Raymond Briggs started selling his half-smokes circa 1930. Eventually Briggs was sold to another meat distributor, where, by some accounts, the quality of the meat eroded.

Jim Page is currently working on a 2 volume history of the Half Smoke. He will be finishing it soon...........the half smoke, that is.

[Jim Page]

I too was listening to WTOP. We need a road trip to Ben's Jim

Jim, I was thinking the same thing! Oddly enough, I've never been there!!!

Other sites worthy of our patronage are Mario's Pizza in Arlington and Hank's Oyster Bar off DuPont Circle. Maybe Saturday, May 18th? My grand-daughter's birthday party is this coming Saturday, and it's in Westminster, MD.

I believe we could coerce Laurie and Joan to join us if we took a little extra care in our grooming that day.

--Jim

[Jim Garrett]

I too was listening to WTOP. We need a road trip to Ben's Jim

Jim, I was thinking the same thing! Oddly enough, I've never been there!!!

Other sites worthy of our patronage are Mario's Pizza in Arlington and Hank's Oyster Bar off DuPont Circle. Maybe Saturday, May 18th? My grand-daughter's birthday party is this coming Saturday, and it's in Westminster, MD.

I believe we could coerce Laurie and Joan to join us if we took a little extra care in our grooming that day.

--Jim

Sounds like a plan

[Jim Page]

Jim Page is currently working on a 2 volume history of the Half Smoke. He will be finishing it soon...........the half smoke, that is.

The biggest revelation in upcoming half-smoke history is that Booth's last words, played backwards Beatles-fashion, become, "Smokin', smokin'."

--Jim

[L Verge]

Well, you brought back memories with the name Briggs and hot dogs. That was the only brand my mother ever bought when I was a child. For some reason, however, I never remember her fixing them on a hot dog bun. We always laid them diagonally on a slice of white bread and added whatever condiments we wanted. We then brought the corners of the bread up to form our own version of a bun.

Some postings back, I mentioned the hot dog specials at Lansburgh's Department Store. These were concocted by placing a hot dog on a bun, piling on a generous helping of shredded raw cabbage, and topping it with Thousand Island dressing. Served with a side order of potato chips, this ten-year-old was in heaven.

[John Stanton]

A mystery - at least to me - that needs solving: Exactly where did the Harrises and Henry Rathbone live on April 14, 1865. As you can tell from above postings, I have always assumed that they lived together in a lovely house on Lafayette Square and were picked up there by the Lincolns en route to Ford's. I believe that it was Roger who earlier thought that maybe Clara and Henry went to the White House to leave from there.

Joan Chaconas and I did a little debating today, and she (who is a D.C. history nut) believes that Henry may have been the one who lived on the Square and that the Harrises lived in a suite of rooms at the Willard Hotel. What we need is the 1865 City Directory for D.C. We know that the D.C. Historical Society has/had one and so does the Martin Luther King Public Library's Washingtoniana Room. However, getting anyone from either of those two institutions to respond to questions has proved useless.

Researching in D.C. with all its wonderful archives used to be much easier fifty years ago. You actually had wonderful personnel who were eager to help. I guess some like that still exist, but it's frustrating when you can't get anyone to help you.

No Twisting this time, 1865 Henry Rathbone Capt. USA
R, 15 th West c H

1865 Hon. Ira Harris, Senator
R. 15 th West c. H North

No separate addess for Mama (Pauline) or for Clara
Can you make anything out of this?

[Jim Garrett]

Wow John. What city directory is that from. Obviously it has Ira & Henry at the northwest corner of 15th & H St. N.W. I wouldn't be surprised if Pauline and Clara are not listed because they were women? Those were the days.

[John Fazio]

Hello Everyone:

I'm not sure who lived where, but I can say with near certainty that Rathbone and Harris were delivered by carriage to the White House and that the presidential party (all four of them, plus the coachman, Francis P. Burke, left together for the theater. Here are the proofs:

1. Michael Burlingame, Ed., Lincoln Observed---p. 188 (Noah Brooks)

2. Forbes's Affidavit, 1892, in Good, We Saw Lincoln Shot , p. 102

3. Clara M. Laughlin, The Death of Lincoln, p. 40

4. Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: the Prairie Years, p. 580

5. Katherine Helm, The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln, pp. 242, 256

Thank you.

Additional material or corrections are welcome.

John

[Laurie Verge]

Thanks, John. I think we had pretty much established that the pair did go to the White House instead of the Lincolns picking them up en route. Our debate now is where Henry lived, Clara lived, and mom and stepdad. I'm getting the feeling that Henry had purchased his own home on the Square, and that the rest of the melded family was on the corner of 15th and H nearby.

That would make sense if Henry and Clara were truly engaged at this point. I would think that social propriety would suggest that the fiances be separated in their daily life. Perhaps Henry walked across the Square to the Harris house and waited with Clara for the ride to the White House? I know, a trivial detail, but...

[Gene C]

Do we know whose home they took Henry to when he left the Peterson House?

[Laurie Verge]

Excellent question - anyone know?

[RJNorton]

In Thomas Mallon's book the author writes that Clara asked a couple of the soldiers to take the injured Henry to her father's house (p. 195).