William F. Yurasko

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Cooking with William & Erica vol. 9: Capitol Half-Smokes Sausages

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by

wfyurasko

Capitol Half Smoke Sausage
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — I was at the Kenmore Ave. Magruder’s on Saturday morning to get a few items for brunch when I noticed a package of Capitol Half-Smokes Sausages. I mentioned it to the Ombudsman, who was down from greater Boston, and a store employee interjected that they had just been stocked. I was not familiar with the brand (Ben’s Chili Bowl apparently uses Manger half-smokes; Brigg’s made the original) I figured, why not, let’s try them.

Capitol Half Smoke Sausage on the grill 1

I sliced the half-smokes so that they would not get too tough. I had the cuts exposed for most of the grilling. I had them on the grill at about 350° for about ten minutes with 7 or 8 being the exposed center and 2 or 3 being the exterior. I also had some hot dogs on the grill for others– they all took about the same time. We did not have any chili, but my wife minced some onion and I added ketchup and mustard. The verdict — WIN. I found these half-smokes to be a little sweeter than a Ben’s half-smoke. The spice wasn’t immediately apparent, but came on with just enough kick at the end. I liked that since were were eating them sans chili. Prior to this, I had only eaten a chili-less half-smoke once and that was at Eastern Market (which sells packaged ones too) and it was okay. I assume that one was a Manger. This Capitol Half-Smoke was better, though it could be debated whether it is a true half-smoke because there is no beef in it.

Capitol Half Smoke Sausage on the grill 2

The Ombudsman was a fan and wondered why I would ever buy hot dogs again. Former Pentagon City Bureau chief Fritz also approved. By the way, this half-smoke does not count as one of the 3 I owe him for 3 seasons of the Phillies taking the season series with the Nationals. That will be taken care of tonight at Nationals Park.

A package of 5 Capital Sausage half-smokes retails for $2.99 at Magruder’s. I don’t know of their availability elsewhere yet, but I will keep my eye open.

By the way, the most thorough history of half-smokes is this 2007 CityPaper article, The Missing Link. I can’t believe I don’t have that linked.

Cooking with William & Erica is series that occurred a lot more often when we didn’t have a kid and were constantly scrambling around just to get dinner on the table.