Cincinnati Chili: Not Your Father's Chili

Not long before I moved out to California, my mom started making this newfangled dish called Cincinnati Chili. It was a departure from the chili I had grown up on, the Boy Scout Chili my dad often made on the weekends that warmed us when we came in from a cold winter day, full of kidney beans, chunky tomatoes and chili powder. My mom's new style chili contained no beans, only a small amount of tomato sauce and, to my palate at the time, an unusual blend of spices. Also, it was served over spaghetti. Being the spaghetti head that I am, I thought it was great, just a different version of spaghetti sauce. Fine with me!

I had never been motivated to make it myself though until a couple years ago when my parents were visiting and my mom brought a baggie of the spices with her. This time, I saw the chili with new eyes and tasted it with a whole new palate. It was a savory, fragrant and meaty concoction with so many layers of flavor, no one flavor standing out above another, just holding hands and singing in harmony like a tasty Peter, Paul and Mary. It reminded me of the Moroccan Chicken Stew that had made it's way into my repertoire, so the next time I had occasion to make a hearty chili I got the recipe out.

I decided to look up the origin of this crazy dish and Wikipedia tells me it originated in 1922 in Cincinnati (surprise!) where two Greek immigrants used their native Mediterranean spices to make a meat stew which they served over spaghetti and hot dogs. I had a feeling there was a Mediterranean origin to this dish...after all, what's the chance the people of Cincinnati in 1922 used a lot of coriander and cumin in their daily cooking? If Ohio is anything like Minnesota, it's slim to none.

I cook it in a slow-cooker all day, like my mom does. When you get home you can't believe how good the house smells. So that brings me to the preparation of the final dish. You can simply top cooked spaghetti with the slow-cooked sauce and you've got Two-Way Chili. Add cheddar cheese and you've got Three-Way, onions and you're at Four-Way (my favorite), kidney beans and you're at Five-Way Chili. Also, oyster crackers can be thrown in and they help soak up any extra water that tends to accumulate after cooking with the lid on all day. You could leave the lid off for part of the time I suppose, but some people say the watery-ness is by design for the purpose of softening the crackers.

How much cheese? I tend to go light I guess because some of the photos I saw online looked like spaghetti with a cheese toupée. I go for a handful of cheese, with a good scoop of raw onions. You make it however you like though, if you like a cheese toupée who am I to judge?

So here's my mom's recipe. (Mom, you'll have to tell me where you got this.) Keep in mind that, like any chili, there are as many variations as there are cooks. I have to say the spice list is a little intimidating, requiring 10 different dried spices, plus salt, pepper, sugar and a bay leaf. But the good news is once you get it all in line, you'll be able to make the chili for a long time, unless you're really enthusiastic about replacing your dried spices every year, which I'm not. Also, I had many of them already from making regular chili, Moroccan Stew and Thanksgiving dinner.

(Beautiful rainbow, huh? It's helpful to portion all the spices into a bowl before you start cooking so that you can just dump them in the pan when you're ready.)

Cincinnati Chili

2 lbs ground beef (I use ground turkey--dark meat, not white)

2 medium onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 8-oz can of tomato sauce

2 c. water

1 T. red wine vinegar

2 T. chili powder

1 T. paprika

2 t. black pepper

1/2 t. cumin

1/2 t. marjoram

1/2 t. allspice

1/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. cloves

1/4 t. mace

1/4 t. coriander

1/4 t. cardamom

salt to taste

1 dried bay leaf

1 t. honey or sugar

Brown the meat with the onion and garlic, then add the spices. Let it cook for a minute until they become very fragrant and then add all other ingredients. Transfer to a slow cooker and set it for at least 6 hours, or simmer in a heavy pan on the stove for at least 2 hours on very low heat, covered, stirring frequently. Take the lid off towards the end if you want it to be really thick.

That's it! See prep instructions above and get down with your bad self!