How to Make Cincinnati Chili – Round 3
It’s actually a little chilly here in Texas and that means it’s time to make some chili! After going through all the Christmas goodies we received, I decided that I wanted to try another Cincinnati Chili recipe . The feedback from the previous two recipes (Round 1 & Round 2) was terrific and I decided to use a combination of all the recipes left in the comments and some of the tips as well. The resulting recipe goes like this:
- 1 med. white onion – chopped
- 6 cloves garlic – minced
- 2.5lbs ground beef
- 1 can (14oz.) low sodium beef broth
- 1 can (6oz.) tomato paste
- 1 can (8oz.) tomato sauce
- 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
- 1 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground allspice
- 1 tsp. ground tumeric
- 1 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. ground cardamon
- 2 bay leaves (Turkish)
- 2 tsp. ground cumin
- 6 tbsps. chili powder
- 2 tbsps. worchestershire
- 4 cups water
- Salt (to taste)
Raw meat soup: not looking good yet.
Add everything else to the pot
After stirring in everything, looking better – smelling great.
After 4 hours of simmering
On spaghetti
Close up
We have a great chilli restaurant in my area, Hard Times Cafe. They serve 4 kinds of chilli, one being Cincinnati. That is the only 1 I don’t like. I believe its the cinnamon taste that is unusual for me.
YeeeHaww, it’s chili time !!!
Buddah, there are a ton of chili recipes here, I’m sure you’ll find one you like. We have made a cpl, enjoyed them all.
[Comment ID #120699 Quote] Buddah, I worked at Hard Times in Old Town Alexandria, VA, for a few months back in the mid-80’s – just long enough to learn their recipes to enjoy at home. I had to guess the spices because they came pre-blended and shipped in large sacks from a secret location. But, after 20 years of tinkering, my “Cincy chili” recipe is as good as theirs, if not better.
Cincinnati is the ideal hot dog chili, but also my favorite over pasta, as shown above. Nick, you mention the rather gross part of the process when you have “raw meat soup”. I was making 10 or 20 gallons of this stuff at a time – would break up the meat in the soup with a wire whip as long as my arm. I don’t know how my wife could stand the smell of me after I came home from 9 hours of slinging chili 6 nights a week.
One more tip for the Cincy lovers – the heavily vinegar-based hot sauces are best on top.
SM
[Comment ID #120723 Quote]
Nice
Cincinnati is a good dog chili, and the vinegar based hot sauces do accent them quite well, I mean as well as a “Hot Dog” could be accented!! That says a lot to me. Thanks!!
Nice work! I’ve enjoyed reading about your attempts to make Cincinnati chili. I too have been undertaking that. I just got back from the midwest with 16 cans of Skyline chili. I plan on using it to help compare to my attempts at perfecting a recipe for Cinicnnati chili with Skyline being my target.
You can take a look at my attempts here: http://www.beergeek.com/?cat=4
My plan for the next one is to tone way down on what I would call the savory spices and up some of the sweeter spices. Also, plan on adding sweetened chocolate (probably use Hershey bar as the sourness might help) and more mace.
Best of luck — I’ll keep watching!
Cheers,
Jeff
I’m with you Al- the only chili in the world I’ve found to be inedible is Cincy. Cinnamon is for toast, jerk, & pumpkin pies, NOT chili (my opinion). And, if’n I wanted spaghetti, I’d make spaghetti.
Each to the devil in their own way though 🙂
[Comment ID #120752 Quote] Jim, I understand your not wanting to be swayed, but I offer the following story anyway, which traces the origin of Cincinnati chili. (excerpted from a longer story to be found at http://www.inmamaskitchen.com):
Cincinnati Chili is unique and quite different from its western cousin. In fact, about the only relation it has are the meat, cumin and chili powder it contains. After that, the recipe takes an interesting twist. Cincinnati style chili is also unique to the area (you can’t find it too far outside the greater Cincinnati, area, although I did hear that one company was considering opening a store in Phoenix, Arizona) and unique in the way it came to be.
In 1922, a Macedonian immigrant, Tom Athanas Kiradjieff settled in Cincinnati with his brother, John. He opened a hot dog stand, which he named ‘Empress’ and sold hot dogs and Greek food. He did a lousy business because, at that time, the large majority of the inhabitants were of German heritage, and nobody in the area knew anything about Greek food, and weren’t thrilled by it.
Tom was not to be defeated. He took a Greek stew, maintained the Mediterranean spices of Cinnamon and Cloves, changed the meat to ground beef, and added other spices, such as chili powder, to the mix and began to sell this stew over spaghetti and called it ‘Chili.’ It proved to be a successful experiment.
SM
[Comment ID #120842 Quote]
You are just full of facts….. i love it keep them coming
A big thank you to Nick for posting his trials (and errors) on this blog. It has helped me immensely in tweaking my Cinci ctyle Chili. To a certain extent , this process could go on forever (thank God!) I love using the info to help tweak my own recipe. But I go back to Cicni Chili Round 1 to bring up an important part of the recipe brouht up but never fully answered to my satifaction, And that is the issue of CHEESE! One blogger asked several times about the make-up, specifically the ULTRA FINE shredding of the cheese and where to find this type of cheese. To me, while I’m sure it hase something to do with the fine grate of the cheese, you can find very fine grated cheese’s in your supermarket. To me the problem with them, unlike cheese on a real bowl of say, Skyline chili, is they MELT TO MUCH!. To me a great 3-way is digging thru the unmelted, finley shredded cheese, and wrapping that along with the chili and spagahetti arond your fork. The texture of the unmelted, finely shredded cheddar and ? cheese in your mouth with the chili and pasta is a key part to Cinci style 3-way chili. And even if you let that 3-way stand for 15-20 mins in front of you while you eat it all, that cheese for the most part doesn’t melt down into the pasta. Somewhat but not alot. My question is do they process that cheese with something that helps it hold up to the melting, or is it a different kind of cheese, like the mexican queso fresco that is a crumbling cheese that is put on alot of authentic mexican tacos and doesnt melt like cheese on an American style taco. The finely shreddded cheese is a deffinent part of the TEXTURE of Cinci chili and I have a tough find finding one that doesnt melt after 5 mins on the plate and eating
I haven’t been on for a while.Your right about the cheese. I generally use medium sharp cheddar cheese that you buy in blocks. If you have a Cuisinart use the shredder blade to shred your own. I bought the blade with a finer shred to get the thinner shreds for my chili, it does make difference. You can also purchase pre-shredded cheddar that is finer in many markets now. It’s not the same as fresh shredded but it does work.
Having grown up on Cincy Chili, I can state that it becomes an addiction. I now use ultra lean turkey rather than beef when making my own. It browns up really well and stays grainy when you brown it using a half cup of water per pound of meat. Using this method, you avoid the meat soup. The meat does not taste browned, which would destroy the unique Cincy taste. Also, you can avoid salt and eat the hell out of it because there is almost no fat. I have to admit that I have been cheating by using Gold Star Chili’s packaged mix. It is low sodium and fat free. Tastes the same, too.
I’ve enjoyed reading about your Cincinnati Chili attempts. As a native Cininnatian, I think you have done a good job. There are many different Chili parlors around the city and no two are exactly the same. Skyline seems to be the city’s favorite (and you can order cans online) but many of the small parlors have great chili as well. One thing I will tell you based on your pictures, is you are not putting enough cheese on top, other than that I think you did a good job.
Also Skyline has its own hot sauce which is excellent. It is more vinegar based and is somewhat similar to original Tabasco with more flavor.
Thanks for the recipe ideas. The only other place in North America devoted to the same Greek chile is Winnipeg, Canada. Here the use is on top of homemade heavily spiced burgers or fries. Locations have been here since the late 50’s.
I found this site by accident and have to say I’ve enjoyed reading all the blogs and viewing the recipes for Cinti chili. I too am a native of the chili capital of the world. I have eaten at many chili parlors myself. This is addictive stuff. We all have our favourite parlors, but I have been making my own for years. My recipe came from an old friend who once owned his our place down town. I don’t know the name of his parlor but I left the recipe for you all in ROUND 1 in comments 41 & 42. Of course it has been scaled down to a home portion. I have been loath to share it for years, but what the HECK, everybody deserves such a simple and satisfing recipe to enjoy. As a matter of fact that’s our dinner tonight. I know the cheese is a big issue; we just use medium cheddar, and I own a commercial shredder and put it to good use. We make this chili about 1 time weekly, and never tire of eating 3 ways and coneys. I viewed some of these recipes with additional spices, but I never felt the need to change the recipe except to add some chocolate, to kinda round out the flavours. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have for these past 34 years. Good cooking and Good eating.
Here is my recipe for Cinti Chili I left in Round 1. It was ACTUALLY IN COMMENTS 44 & 45.
Its true as stated by you folks from Cinti, all chili parlors have their own twist on the chili they serve. I don’t recall ever having bad chili, but some are better than others.
This is for Nick Lindauer; you have been workin hard, and all of you Cinti Chili lovers. This a was given to me 34 yrs ago by an old Greek friend who once owned a chili parlor in Cinti. He had retired and sold the place. It was scaled down to home sized batch by him.
Cincinnati Chili
1 46 oz. can tomato juice
2 lbs. ground chuck {don’t use any more}
4 tbsp. chili powder {I prefer Franks chili powder}
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground alspice
1 tsp salt {kosher}
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper { I use 1/2 tsp}
1/8 to 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
4 to 5 dashes Lea & Perrins worchestershire sauce
5 whole bay leaves
1 large onion, whole but peeled
{2 tbsp cocoa or 1 square of Bakers unsweetened chocolate optional} The cocoa was not in the original recipe, but it adds some richness and mellows out the heat.
In a heavy bottomed pot place the tomato juice and turn on the heat. Add the chuck and stir with a fork to break up the meat. After the meat has been broken up add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a slow simmer. Cook for 2 hours stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. After 2 hours remove the onion and bay leaves and discard these.
Serve this chili over regular cooked spag-the kind that cooks up in thick strings. Ladle chili over the spag and top with shredded cheddar cheese for the 3-way. Diced white onions go between the chili and cheese for the 4 way. And if you want beans use Joan of Arc “purple” canned kidney beans that have been rinsed and drained. These beans are meaty and slightly sweet. These would go under the chili then the onions and finally the cheese for the 5 way.
They all build their 4, and 5 ways differently.
Serve oyster crackers along with this.
For coneys use a good quality bun lightly steamed., add a good hot dog. I put mine in the cooked chili to get them hot. Top the hot dog with good yellow mustard {French’s} and onions and top with shredded chedder cheese.
About the hot dogs, Skyline grills theirs, but I remember Park Chili dropping theirs into the deep fryer for 30 seconds. Also to get that smaller dog: trim the nubs from the ends. Cut the dog in half, and you have the right sized coney “dog”. No big secret just a Greek original method!
After you make this I don’t think you’ll be ordering on line to get chili any longer. Hope you all enjoy!
These are some of the Chili Parlors I used it frequent back when I was single some years ago. Starting with my childhood. These were all in Cinti except for Dixie Chili.
Park Chili { Northside}
Kay’s Restaurant { Northside} You could 10 coneys without cheese for $1.00 that was in 1969! I loved their Chili!
Hazels’ Restaurant { Northside}
Angilo’s Chili { Northside}
Blue Jay Restaurant { Northside}
Elmwood Chili {Elmwood}
Mitroupoulo’s Chili {Northside} owned by Pete & Connie I loved their chili as well. They were related in the Camp Washington folks, and RESONABLE PRICES.
White Oak Chili {Groesbeck} Great chili and HUGE double deckers
Chili Time { Roselawn} Theirs chili was spicey! And Huge double Deckers
Atheniean { Sharonville}
Dipsy Doodle {Deer Park}
Pleasant Ridge Chili { Pleasant Ridge}
Blue Ash Chili { in Blue Ash on Kenwood Road}
Camp Washington Chili { Camp Washington} I think theirs set the Standard!!!!
Pete’s restaurant { Price Hill} owned by Pete and Connie
Price Hill Chili { Price Hill} GREAT CHILI as well.
Dixie Chili { Northern Kentucky}
Skyline { their chili is watery, but with a unique spice blend
Gold Star { theirs is a little greasey, but Good}
These are the ones that I mentioned because you could count on decent and consistent 3 ways and coneys.
There were others, but these were the places I ate at starting with the ones from my childhood, and did eat at on a regular basis.
Do you folks from Cincy remember these places?