Smoke 'em if you Half 'em....

In the Flutter's never ending quest to seek out the exotic foods from all corners of the….well, in all honesty we face the daily “what shall we eat tonight?” decision, often resorting to the European model of “buy it on the way home”. So yesterday MFO shows up with the following package:



Of course we knew there was such a thing, because carts (like the Leonardtown “hot dog guy") feature them, and you hear about them but we never knew you could just go out and buy them. And why should they have an image of the capitol on them?

Well, a cursory investigation turned up the following facts about “half smokes”:

They are allegedly “native” to the DC region
They date from as early as 1930 accredited to a Raymond Briggs
There are varying theories as to the genesis of the name “half smoke”
1)it was originally made of half beef and half pork and the preparation
involved smoking
2)the smoking was only done “halfway” (whatever that means)
3)many places prepare them by splitting and grilling them
After Briggs sold the meat packing business the quality declined
Ben’s Chili Bowl has become linked (pun intended) with a Half Smoke, normally served smothered in chili.

I noted that the package we had was from Virginia, but okay, let’s give them a try. First, take them out of the package



Then, start the miserable excuse for a grill and get it hot (which in this case means “as warm as possible”.



Lift the lid occasionally and see how they’re doing, remembering they are loaded with fat



when charred to your liking, bring them in the house



Our “serving suggestion” turned out to be a top sliced bun with standard “hot dog” presentation, i.e., mustard, onion, and ketchup. They were actually pretty good, fairly spicy, very dense. I think given a choice unless I could find Mr. Briggs, I would rather go to the (Johnsonville) Brat (prepared a la Bill).

Back to the Shore for a minute:

Funny how these things work. After the trip to the ES we got our latest issue of “Washingtonian” delivered and guess what? There is an article called “Bargains by the Bay”, which highlights dining in Talbot County, covering Oxford, St. Michaels, and Easton, and if you bring the article (during April) you can get a special deal. The restaurants in Artful(sic) Easton are: Bartlett Pear Inn, Scossa, Mason’s and Hunter’s Tavern in the Tidewater Inn.. We’re not so dumb..I feel another trip coming on…where we of course would be

DFD

Stuff -

The Doo Dah Deli space in Leonardtown will apparently be a steak/seafood affair

Check out "Google" today. click on the logo. they had me going until i remembered the date today. Speaking of which, since today is the day it is, the year is a quarter over... good heavens!!

At noon today is another Piano talk by Brian Ganz in the usual place (St. Mary's Hall). Has to do with Chopin's Birthday