Fire shuts Binkert's German food shop

Blaze halts production of prized delicacies

"I was making frankfurters," Weber said as he walked through what would have been a spotlessly clean work area.

A day after the fire, he pointed to the ruined pureed meat that still sat in a stainless steel bin. On a better day, these frankfurters would have left the store and be resting on a grill. Weber, 52, was born in a small village near Baden-Baden, Germany. He and his wife, the former Sonya Binkert, met while they were students at Freiburg University. He was once a high school teacher of biology and geography but changed professions to enter the Binkert family sausage business in 1987. He and his wife assumed ownership in 2000 when the elder Binkert retired.

"The contents label of our sausages has maybe four items. The label on most commercial sausage is so long with additives you can't read it," Weber said yesterday as he led an informal tour of his damaged kitchen. "We smoke our meats with burning sawdust instead of using liquid smoke the way so many other places do."

He spoke of his German clientele who did not want meats containing hormones and other additives.

Weber also pointed to a new piece of meatpacking equipment he recently imported from Germany. He said it had cost him $100,000 - but he was heartened that the heat was not great enough to damage it significantly.

"I get my meats from Hatfield - a slaughterhouse that buys from Pennsylvania Dutch farmers," Weber said. "We buy our meat deboned in 50-pound boxes. If the animals are stressed when they are being transported, the meat will be full of moisture and the sausages will turn out soggy. We do not use that type of meat."

Word of the fire spread throughout Baltimore's German community yesterday.

"I heard the news this morning," said 84-year-old Alfred Zeller, who lives on Mary Avenue in Hamilton. "I thought, 'Oh no!' Binkert's made very good sausage. Maybe now I'll be forced to order from Milwaukee or New York."

[e-mail]