Sour Beef

Vito A. Favarola of Jarrettsville asked if we could help her find a recipe for sour beef and dumplings.Yes, indeed. Many answers arrived and tester Laura Reiley chose one from Sally J. Breig of Severn, whose recipe "came from a German-Viennese cookbook." Others who responded with similar recipes included Chris Wirchert of Laurel, Jean Nohe of Forest Hill, Lisa Resau of Baltimore, Beth Hunter of Timonium and Deborah Scott of Belcamp.Breig's Sour Beef and DumplingsServes 63 pounds chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes2 medium onions, chopped1 1/2 cups cider vinegar1 1/2 cups water4 bay leaves3 tablespoons sugar4 tablespoons pickling spices, wrapped in cheesecloth and tied1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil12 gingersnaps1 cup waterDUMPLINGS6 medium potatoes, peeled, cooked, mashed and cooled1 egg1 teaspoon salt1/4 cup cornstarch2/3 cup flourPlace meat in a large glass bowl.

Run your hand along its Formstone walls or taste the sour beef, and you'll know the Stonebridge Restaurant is about as down-homey as an eatery can get.The little restaurant just north of the Stoney Creek drawbridge has a growing reputation among the locals of Riviera Beach and Pasadena for home-style cooking and modest prices.We made our first visit about 8: 30 p.m. on a Friday and were seated in the nonsmoking area -- a former screened porch, next to what the remodeling turned into interior Formstone walls.

MY TWO grandmothers and one great aunt never broke into a skirmish about their rival sour beef dinners. It was more of a polite, unarticulated competition among the three chefs on those damp Baltimore November evenings 30 or so years ago.Those were the nights when the kitchen windows fogged up as the plump potato dumplings came to a boil and floated to the top of the big round pots. The house reeked of vinegar and sweet spices, sparking your appetite as soon as you opened the front door.The family scurried around in anticipation of the big sour beef dinner nights.

The Police Department's firearms unit was recognized by the FBI yesterday for its proficiency in using a computer to compare distinguishing marks from shell casings to help identify shooting suspects.In 1992, the department was one of the first in the nation to get the computer called "Drugfire," enabling investigators to compare shell casings found at shooting scenes to any gun confiscated by police in the Baltimore-Washington region.Police said the system has helped link shootings that at first seemed unconnected.

In cable television ads and above its door, the 177 Diner makes a bold assertion that it features "the best home cooking in Pasadena.""Your friendly neighborhood diner" would be closer to the mark.Stop in for a modestly priced breakfast, and you can start up a conversation with just about anyone or eavesdrop on the chitchat about neighborhoods along Mountain Road (Route 177, from which the eatery draws its name).Furnished mostly with bench-seating booths and a small counter, a few hanging plants, a couple of vintage water-theme photos and mirror panels across the back wall, the diner's airs are about as unpretentious as the conversation.

For those whose fine-dining ideal involves folding chairs, crockery bowls and noisy acoustics, there is nothing like the bountiful fall fare of a warm church hall on sour beef supper night.Their idea of bliss is an evening heavy on the gingersnap gravy and homemade potato dumplings, along with a seat at a communal table filled with happy and satisfied eaters."I come to these dinners because the food is so good and I meet so many nice people," said Sarah McCardell, a North Baltimore resident who scans the sidewalks for church supper signs.

THE UNITED Methodist Women of Brooklyn Heights United Methodist Church, 110 Townsend Ave., will sponsor an Autumn Fest from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the church. Everyone is invited to browse and buy from the tables of crafts, jewelry, handmade items, baked goods, jellies and jams, children's clothes and other treasures.Lunch, consisting of homemade soups, sandwiches and hot dogs, will be served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Information: 789-3688.Sour beef dinnerLooking for a night out of the kitchen?

A restaurant that lists sour beef and dumplings under "Lite Fare" is always going to remain near and dear to my heart. This is Patrick's Restaurant and Pub I'm talking about, a place that went somewhat upscale after it was bought by Bill Grauel, the former owner of the Golden Arm -- but not too upscale to have sour beef.Grauel brought with him his chef, Tomas Sanz, whose resume includes stints in the kitchens of Tio Pepe and Thompson's Sea Girt House. Since he arrived at Patrick's last fall, Sanz has held Spanish weeks, an Oktoberfest celebration and -- when we were there -- his first French Week, all with fixed-price menus.

BALTIMORE'S SOUR beef and dumpling season isn't long. It follows the last of the crab feasts and darts in, and out, before the oyster roasts rule the winter.Most people here are not even aware of the sauerbraten days. Sour-beef eaters constitute a niche market within the niche market of Baltimore specialty dining. Those who crave the dish are passionate about its merits. Those who disdain it think it ought to be condemned. There's a huge batch of people in between who aren't even sure of what the dish is.It is, of course, a German specialty.

Gingersnaps always seem to disappear from Baltimore supermarket shelves in the last days of October.The vanishing cookies have nothing to do with an increase in snacking, or with Halloween. Crumbled gingersnaps are the preferred thickening ingredient in the beef gravy so liberally ladled over marinated sour beef and homemade potato dumplings at the tables of many a family in these parts this time of year.It helps to have had a German grandmother, but anyone can enjoy this most unpretentious of Baltimore comfort foods.

Bertha Sander, a longtime member of Zion Lutheran Church at City Hall Plaza where for years she helped prepare and serve at the church's famous sour beef dinners, died of a cardiac arrest Oct. 19 at Oak Crest Village. She was 101. Bertha Prag, the daughter of farmers, was born and raised in Jagstheim in the Swabia region of southwest Germany. In 1928, she immigrated to Baltimore, where she worked as a governess and during the 1930s in quality control at the old Calvert Distillery in Relay.

There's a magical Baltimore eating establishment that has nothing to do with a restaurant or family and friends' homes. This time of the year, I crave the church kitchen and those sour beef dinners produced by the hard labors of unheralded volunteer hands. Be warned. This is a difficult date. You must plan ahead; you must not postpone; there can be tiresome lines. And, most of all, you have to like sour beef and dumplings, maybe side dishes of green beans or red cabbage, all served on disposable plates.

Some are made with gingersnap gravy, some have red cabbage on the side, and all the versions come with dumplings or potato pancakes. Sauerbraten, or sour beef, is one of Baltimore's favorite Old World comfort foods. Here's the alphabetical list, with the prices because I thought the range was interesting. *I'm actually giving you 11 restaurants; at the moment one of them is closed for renovations: 1 Burke's Cafe downtown, $12.05 2 Dimitri's on Frederick Road, $16; lunch, $8.50 3 Eichenkranz in Highlandtown, $11.20 4 Josef's in Fallston, $17.95 5 Kibby's on Wilkens Avenue, near St. Agnes Hospital, $13.60 6 Old Stein Inn in Edgewater, $20 7 Parkside Fine Food & Spirits in Lauraville, $15 8 Patrick's in Cockeysville, $16.50 (currently closed for remodeling)

A smoky wood fire sends a clear message that it's time to get serious about the season. I grew up in the city in the 1950s, when wood-burning fireplaces were not common. Coal furnaces, on the other hand, were around but disappearing fast. The 11th month brought its own aromatic reminders in the kitchen, too. November is Baltimore's first true cold month of the fall-winter calendar, and the chefs who kept me happy as a child ratcheted up their menus with enthusiasm. I think crabs have overtaken oysters in Baltimore's popularity race.

It was a ritual on fall evenings when the sunlight disappeared a little earlier than the day before. Sour beef night at one of the four churches scattered around the harbor was an occasion when you skipped lunch and left work early. As is the case with so many things that Baltimoreans savor, the dinners weren't easy to find. A church door might have a small flier taped to it; if you were lucky, you might be on a mailing list. More likely, you heard it on the street. Sad to report, this fall three of the congregations that used to make sour beef and dumplings have given up this labor-intensive activity.

No review of Sanders' Corner can start with anything but its fine covered porch overlooking the woods and fields surrounding Loch Raven Reservoir. Not for nothing do the servers wear T-shirts saying, "Sanders' Corner: That Dam Place." Decked out with striped awnings, tile-topped tables, potted plants and ceiling fans, it's one of Baltimore County's best spaces for eating casually outdoors. A new owner, John Naudain, took over this spring, sprucing the place up and adding curbside pickup, valet parking, delivery and a lounge.

FOOD *** ( 3 STARS) SERVICE *** (3 STARS) ATMOSPHERE ** (2 STARS) Let's face it. Haussner's is a hard act to follow. Not so much because of the food. In its last years, I never heard people say the food was why they ate there. But Haussner's was one of the few restaurants that could be legitimately described as a Baltimore landmark. It was wonderfully fun to be sitting at one of the white-clothed tables, even if your fish was overcooked or the famous strawberry pie didn't have much taste.

It's not a humid morning, but the sidewalk air outside a Highlandtown church kitchen smells tantalizingly of vinegar, onions and cloves, the active agents of what Baltimoreans think of as their own South Conkling Diet. Only the toughest church volunteers would lay out the better part of two weeks for this: the transformation of 700 pounds of eye-round beef into the November sour beef and dumplings banquet that lures staggering lines of customers. An endearing Baltimore tradition? Yes. Also, sadly endangered.

Elli Hein scooped a small pot's worth of brown beef gravy out of a paint bucket and poured it over slices of beef simmering in a nearly full crockpot. She repeated the process yesterday afternoon until the huge oval crockpot, which spanned the width of a banquet table, was full of layer after layer of sauerbraten - sour beef - a crowd favorite at this weekend's 105th annual German Festival in Southwest Baltimore's Carroll Park. Hein is "kitchen chairwoman" of the Baltimore Kickers Club, a 45-year-old German soccer and social group.

The chopping, slicing and boiling have begun in the basement kitchen of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic Church, as volunteers prepare to serve more than 1,500 people a true Baltimore tradition Sunday and Monday - a sour-beef dinner. Once served in homes and restaurants throughout the city, sour beef, or sauerbraten, is part of the German heritage that still survives in East Baltimore. But it is such a time-consuming dish to make, families that hanker for this comfort food go to the church dinners like Sacred Heart's in Highlandtown or the few restaurants that keep it on their menus.