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!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:232]
“Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.”
– Francesca Reigler, artist
Submitted by Jenny. Click here to submit your quote. Don’t worry if you think your quote may have been submitted before, that just means it bears repeating!
I LOVE Cincinnati Chili as I was raised in Northern Kentucky. When I moved away for grad school I always missed it b/c there was nothing like it in the New Jersey area I was living, so when I’d go home I’d get tons of cans and bring them back with me.
That was UNTIL my new boyfriend found a recipe online and read through 300 comments to get it perfectly right! The recipe is VERY similar to the first one posted above but includes 2 tablespoons coco powder. To get the right consistency which is very fine what you do is you use a potato masher and mash the meet in the beef broth while its cooking which creates the fine texture. Cincinnati chili is not chunky at all and this is the best way we’ve found to get teh consistancy right.
Now 4 years later I’ve kept the boyfriend and he always tells me its only for this chili, which could be true 🙂
Thanks for sharing all the tips Carla! I am glad to hear you kept the boyfriend!!
I’ve been doing this since I was a kid! Yum yum. Good with canned chili or homemade chili (made from your recipe, got a lot in the freezer because it’s so good!). I do intend to make Cincinnati chili sometime soon.
Here’s another recipe for Cincinnati Chili. Sweet Carol126 is correct in that it can be served by the terms, 2 way, 3 way,4 way or 5 way.
Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 8oz. cans tomato sauce
4 cups beef stock
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tspn Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 and 3/4 tbsp cocoa
1 tspn cinnamon
1 tspn ground cumin
1/4 tspn ground allspice
1/4 tspn ground cloves
1/2 tspn kosher salt
1/2 tspn cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
Condiments / Toppings:
spaghetti noodles
shredded cheddar cheese
white onion, diced
kidney beans
oyster crackers
your favorite hot sauce
Preparation:
In a large pot, brown the ground beef and onions over medium heat.
Add the beef stock and bay leaf to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 3 hours with pot almost completely covered.
Remove the bay leaf.
Serve chili over hot spaghetti with your choice of toppings
2-way: bed of spaghetti topped with chili
3-way: bed of spaghetti topped with chili and shredded cheddar cheese
4-way: bed of spaghetti topped with chili, shredded cheddar cheese, and diced onions or beans
5-way: bed of spaghetti topped with chili, shredded cheddar cheese, diced onions and beans
Someday, I would like to visit Cincinnati and try their homemade chili firsthand.
This is not Cincinnati chili oe likat all. Cincinnati Chili is a greek chili and it is served as 2 way, 3 way, 4 way or 5 way. It comes with oyster crackers. The chili is on top of spaghetti but you can add beans, you can add onions (oh yes), you can add cheese as well as the spaghetti under the meat chili. The chili in Cincinnati chile has cinnamon in it as well as the chili powder and other spices including garlic. It is a treat that one does get used to and the spaghetti is thin spaghetti not thick as in the photo, more like vermicelli. My daughter has a recipe for Cincinnati chili. While any chili can be put on top of Spaghetti or vermicelli. My sister orders the packages of spices to add to the sauce and skips the recipe. There is a place near me in FL where i get my Cincinnati chili. The hot dogs with cheese and onion does not appeal to me as much as the Cincinnati chili. For chili cheese dogs, I prefer the Beach Buns in Deerfield Beach, FL.
PS Robert – Steak n Shake’s 5 way is amazing! Hands down the best around in Ohio. Mmmmmmm.
Ruby, both my and my husband’s family eats PB sandwiches with chili. I have several friends who do, too! I’m not sure where it started, but it’s good!
Gotta agree with you, Christy. I love the method of serving chili over spaghetti, but I do the same and make my own recipe. Cinci-style chili just doesn’t make sense to me. Blech!
You know…I’ve never thought of getting a couple orders of Wendy’s chili but that’s a fabulous idea! Especially with it being so inexpensive. Never thought of it but you can bet I’m going to try it! Thanks!!!
FYI – the TRUE Cincinnati Chili recipe (at least the Skyline one) is a closely guarded secret! All the chili is prepared at their main commissary and shipped to the restaurants. Only a very few are privy to the exact ingredients and proportions. So any recipe you find online is only attempting to duplicate the taste. Oh – and very important when eating Cincinnati Chili – NEVER TWIRL like you would with spaghetti! You must cut and use the forklift method to keep the layers intact. I can always spot a first timer at the restaurants because they are twirling it! =D Used to be posters in the restaurants with the precise eating instructions on it!
Thanks for sharing Haley!