Bama Chili, served Cincinnati Style :)
First of all, let me say a few things about Cincinnati style chili and I want to apologize to all Cincinnati folks for not making it exactly like yours is, but I needed to adapt it for us non-native peeps so everyone could see how brilliant your serving method is.
True Cincinnati chili (which this isn’t) is a very unique flavor and unlike anything I have ever tasted before. I can fully see how, if you were raised on this stuff, you’d be left with a craving that only Cincinnati chili would fill. If you weren’t raised on it, though, you may need time to acquire a taste for it. This is what I experienced when I first took my family to Mullin’s Drive In in my hometown of Huntsville. I sat there with my hamburger and grits happy as a lark and the three of them forced down their meals while looking at me like I was crazy. Sometimes you just gotta be born there to appreciate it :).
But I guess I’ll start this post with how I ended up getting to try Cincinnati Chili. You see, it all began with my husband and myself agonizing over what to do for a family vacation and my son chiming in with “I know! Why don’t we go to Kentucky?”. We ended up heading out in that general direction with no particular destination in mind and came home having spent four of the most wonderful days together as a family. I am publishing a scrapbook of sorts on our Kentucky trip at the same time I’m publishing this recipe so be sure and click here to go visit that post and check out all of our Kentucky adventures.
Now, lets go back to the chili…
Although I’m gonna stick with the flavors of the chili I grew up with, the manner of serving this chili is absolutely brilliant and I couldn’t wait to make it at home with plain old Bama chili.
You’ll need: Tomato Sauce, Cumin, Chili Powder, and some ground beef, which we’ll see in the next photo.
I brown my beef all at once so it is sitting happily in the freezer just waiting on me whenever I need it.
Place all of your ingredients into a pot.
Fill up your tomato sauce can with water and add that as well.
Now give all of this a good stir and bring to a very light boil before reducing the heat and cooking, stirring every now and then, for about an hour, or until nice and thick.
Like this.
Serve over freshly cooked spaghetti noodles with toppings of your choice. Some suggestions are chopped onions, crackers, or…
A whole lot of cheese!
I LOVE how the noodles seem to take to the chili sauce perfectly and they are great for balancing out the chili spices. I can’t wait until fall gets here so I can have a big chili dinner for some friends!
Okay and to make this even easier…I had an idea of just going and buying a few cartons of 99 cents chili from Wendy’s and then making spaghetti. ~giggle~ Ain’t no shame in my game!
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Looks yummy! I LOVE Cincy Chili~but then I grew up on it:) However, I think just about any kind of chili is great served over spaghetti.
Since I no longer live in OH I have to make my own chili. Here’s my fave Cincinnati Chili recipe:
http://myblessedlife-lora.blogspot.com/2009/03/cincinnati-chili.html
I personally do not like the cloves, nutmeg or cinnamon in my chili. I leave those for apple and pumpkin pies. I do like chili as we made in the north before being transplanted to Florida over 30 years ago. I add onions with the hamburg. Also add light red kidney beans. Serving over rice is great and you can even mix it all together- kids love it and especially if served with peanut butter and bread. Bet no one has ever done that. I guess that started as a joke many years ago and then my husband always wanted peanut butter and bread with his chili. He preferred no rice.
This is the only way we eat chili at our house. Discovered it when we lived in Florida. Go figure. Your recipe looks fantastic.
We always serve our chili over mashed potatoes. I wont eat it any other way!! YUMMY!!!!!
The way you make this is exactly the way a favorite restaurant of mine back home does it. Okay, I will say it and hope I dont get in trouble Steak N Shake does a chili 5 way just like this, spaghetti, chili, beans, onions, and cheese. It is WONDERFUL, and making my mouth water thinking about it.
Robert!!!! Haven’t seen you in ages!!!!!! It’s so good to have you back!
Yay!! I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who has taken Cincinnati chili and put my own spin on it. I’m not a huge fan of true Cincin chili because of the texture of the meat in it, but I love the flavors. So I came up with my own version (http://thisitalianfamily.wordpress.com/recipes/recipe-book/cincinnati-chili/) and oh my gracious, I fell in love with it, haha! I also love Bama chili, though. My mom was from TN, but her chili recipe is very similar to yours. Love how you have combined the two! We have “chili pasta” some nights when we are in a hurry which is literally a can of chili tossed on some noodles. 😉 Great minds think alike! Going to check out your other classic Southern recipes now!
I hope you enjoy them!!
I will certainly have to try Chili over Spaghetti. Don’t knock it until you try it I always say. A favorite way to eat Chili at our Southern Home (southwest GA) is over a bowl of mashed potatoes with Cheese, sour cream, and chopped vidalia onions on top. I also enjoy making jalapeno corn bread and put the chili and toppings over it. Chili is even good over macaroni and cheese! Don’t care for cinnamon and cloves with meat-so probably wouldn’t make the Cincinnati chili but would try some if I didn’t cook it and end up wasting it.
Enjoy seeing new and different recipes each day from Southern Plate!! 🙂
Cincinnati chili is definitely an acquired taste!! I’m not fond of cloves that much and am definitely not fond of them in my chili with cinnamon!!! I do like my chili with some finely chopped jalapeno in it with lots of cheese on top and I will try it on top of spaghetti. That does sound pretty good!!