Cincinnati Chili

Beef

Soups and Stews

April 12, 2023

“The story of America on your plate.”

— Anthony Bourdain

Blue-plate connoisseurs describe it as “one of America’s quintessential meals”, food pundits claim it was “the most perfect fast food”, and Smithsonian appointed Cincinnati chili as one of “20 Most Iconic Foods in America”. Climbing up from humble ranks, this dish now has taken up a very sophisticated spot in the food fare of Cincinnati and deserves every bit of glory and adulation. Simply put, people love this food.

But.….there is an issue, its name.

Had the Greeks, who invented it nearly a century ago, called it anything other than chili, they would have saved us all a lot of confusion, mistaken expectations, and serious quarrels from chili zealots. Believe it or not, even food gets political and controversial. Not that Radd and I care for fanatics of any kind, but it’s easy to see how a simple misnomer can cause a lot of problems especially when this food has absolutely no resemblance to it chili con carne, you know, the actual chili from Mexico.

All nitpicking aside, Cincinnati Chili, with its Mediterranean spices, meat sauce, and dark chocolate is absolutely positively, thoroughly, completely, and affirmatively scrumptious and having chocolate as an ingredient has a lot to do with it. Everyone, especially chocoholics must try. As a thick, gooey, stew-like dish it gets ladled over spaghetti or hot dog (coneys) on a “five-way” system (plain, added cheese, added cheese, and onions, added cheese+onions+beans) and is served on a shallow oval bowl. Just to let you know, we broke that rule and served it in a bowl. It seemed more practical at the time.

That’s basically the story of America’s melting pot in one messy and delicious plate. Let’s dig in.

Cincinnati Chili

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 2

Total Time 2 10

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Ingredients

For the Cincinnati Chili

1 large yellow onion quartered
3 cloves garlic smashed
2 ripe jalapenõ peppers roughly chopped
2 ripe serrano peppers roughly chopped
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. extra-lean ground beef
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 ounce grated unsweetened chocolate
1 15- ounce can of tomato sauce
1 TBSP tomato paste
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
2 cups beef stock
1 16-ounce package of spaghetti pasta, uncooked, dried

Toppings

Sharp cheddar cheese shredded
Yellow onion chopped
1 16-ounce can of dark red kidney beans

Instructions

Place the onion, garlic, and peppers into a food processor with the olive oil and pulse until a paste forms.
Put a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. ass the processed paste into the pot and cook until the color darkens while stirring constantly.
Add the coriander, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, unsweetened chocolate, tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, and beef stock. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove from heat.
Cook the spaghetti until al dente. Portion onto individual serving plates or bowls.
Ladle Cincinnati Chili mixture over the spaghetti and serve with toppings of your choice.

Keyword chili