Hamburger

ClarificationWhen making the hamburger sausage recipe published Dec. 12, be sure to cook it in a 175-degree oven for six to seven hours. The alternative method listed with that recipe, the 140-degree oven, should not be used, according to Gerald M. Cooper of Morton International, the company that manufactures the salt used in the recipe, and Mark Kantor, food and nutrition specialist at the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Service at College Park....

Doris Jenny Ireland, former owner and manager of Doris' Tavern in Wagner's Point and creator of its Polish hamburger, died of heart failure Sunday at University of Maryland Medical Center. She was 73. Born Doris Jenny Savage in DeSoto, Mo., she moved to Wagner's Point in 1936 when her father went to work at an oil refinery. She was a graduate of Baltimore's Southern High School. In 1948, she married John A. Skrzesz, and together the couple owned and operated Doris' Tavern. He died in 1983.

BETHEL, Conn. -- Pull into the parking lot of the Sycamore and flash your lights. In a jiffy a carhop will be at your car window. Place your order, and a few minutes after that, out comes the carhop once again, this time toting a tray full of food to attach to the window. Turn up the radio and dine in style in the comfort of your front seat.Welcome to one of the last genuine drive-in restaurants, where the service is swift and the cuisine is classic. Name your burger, and they make it here: with or without cheese, smothered with onions, stacked up double-decker style, plain or fancy.

IS THERE a healthy hamburger in our future?Nutrition experts are skeptical, noting that foods high in saturated fats have been shown to contribute to heart disease and the risk of certain cancers. And a typical hamburger today is 20 to 30 percent fat.But Americans love their beef, and they're not likely to give it up, especially not ground beef. Indeed, 44 percent, or about 3 billion pounds, of the beef consumed in this country each year is ground beef, according to the Beef Industry Council.

Den Fujita, 78, a charismatic businessman who established the McDonald's fast-food chain in Japan as well the country's branch of Toys "R" Us, died of a heart attack Wednesday, a company official said. Mr. Fujita was long praised for his innovative entrepreneurship and marketing acumen. He gained fame for introducing Western-style businesses when they were rare in Japan during the decades after World War II, resorting to his knowledge of American and Japanese cultures to adapt new businesses to local lifestyles.

We're only through three days of CBS's Winter Olympics telecasts and there are more than 100 hours of coverage still to come over the next two weeks, and yet, we already have a clubhouse favorite for the worst broadcaster to hold a microphone in these Games.That honor unquestionably goes to snowboarding analyst Jim Rippey, whose work during last night's men's giant slalom was so laughable that it made the contrived "Broadway meets basketball" hokum of the NBA All-Star Game over on NBC look like high drama.

Have you noticed that no matter where Bill Clinton -- our next president, also leader of the free world -- chooses to jog, healmost always winds up at McDonald's?Let's consider this phenomenon. He jogs because:A. It's healthy.B. He actually thinks chunky people look good in running shorts.C. Hillary has told him he can never bring another Big Mac into the house.You know the answer. Clinton, like many law-abiding Americans, is a fast-food addict. We don't need support groups. We just need the occasional burger our way, large fry and Coke (OK, diet Coke)

H&S Properties Development Corp. plans to push its Harbor East development east across Central Avenue with an expanded Whole Foods Market, a possible department store and apartments on two sites, baker-turned-developer John Paterakis Sr. said Friday. The developer will convert the one-story, brown-painted H&S Bakery distribution center into one or two floors of retail space, with apartments above, Paterakis said. H&S Bakery revealed intentions last month to move the center to an East Baltimore office park, freeing up the real estate by the end of 2014, he said.

Remember the hamburger? I'm talking a plain old hamburger, the kind that says nothing about its local sourcing, its prime ingredients or its house-made toppings. This is not the kind of hamburger that could headline its own boutique or draw the attention of food and travel shows. And not a fast-food fantasy burger either but just a hamburger. Think of it as a baseline hamburger. I found such a hamburger, right across the street from the Baltimore Sun offices, at Kim's Deli Express , which is kind of like the de facto staff lunchroom.

Lillie Chappell was up about $50, then down about the same, and was into her third hour playing a video game — pressing a button on the computer screen and watching tumbling four-leaf clovers, bars, horseshoes, numeral sevens. Compared with slot machines she'd played at Delaware Park, she said this was "pretty much the same. " Chappell, a retiree from Catonsville, wasn't playing at a casino but in a game room at Patapsco Bingo in Baltimore — one of several that have opened in the area in the past year offering cash winnings on computer games.