One of the best 'cincy-substitute" chili recipes I've seen. I know skyline uses a mild cheddar but I've found if I use a bar of Kraft medium cheddar very finely shredded it somehow taste more like the real thing. Oyster crackers are a must and I used a bit less chocolate. I like my chili 5-way so I used a lot of onions and kidney beans too. Yummy! I wish people would understand that it is meant to taste the way it does- it is based on a greek recipe. It is delicious and to me I can't even make regular spicy chili without at least a dash of cinammon- it is not chili w/ out it. Skyline does serve hot sauce on the side so if you are into really hot chili just add some tobasco and it is still counted as authentic. Also true Cincy chili is meant to be served in your choice of 3 4 or 5-way. A basic 5-way is this: make the recipe. Heat some Kidney beans. Cook some spaghetti. Put spaghetti on plate and top with kidney beans add "sauce" (this chili recipe) top with finely shredded mild or medium cheddar and finely diced onions. Subtract toppings to arrive at a 3 or 4 way chili. Serve with oyster crackers and tobasco. That is how this recipe is meant to be used and it is great as is. I guess you have to be a Cincy native or frequent visitor to get it... You can take the girl from the City but the cravings are always with you. So thanks for this recipe it will keep them at bay until my next visit:).
You should not brown the meat. Place raw ground meat directly into cold water. Use a whisk and blend the meat into the water so it's like soup. The chili is supposed to be watery, that's why it served with oyster crackers. So don't boil it down too much. Also the spaghetti is over cooked on purpose. Cook a good 20 minutes and do not rinse. Do not add oil or butter to the noodles. I know this seems wrong, but that's the way it's served.
I made this chili for a chili cookoff at work; thinking if I made something "different" I might actually win or place well. Boy the only thing I was is sorry. This chili is terrible; the spices over power anything else. I was very disappointed as it smelled so good when it was cooking. The longer the chili cooks the more powerful all the spices become. I will not make this again.
The spices in this recipe over power the chili to the point that you can't enjoy it.
As a Cincinnatian I serve this chili over spaghetti with chopped onion and kidney beans! Yum!!!!
My husband is from Cincy I lived there for a couple of years before we moved away. I had to cut the recipe in half to fit my ingredients and messed up slightly in execution. This recipe is very close to what I remember as Skyline's taste. Gold Star is somehow sweeter. My husband says 'there's still something missing' but it was really good and the smell drove me nuts all day while it was cooking. Will definitely do this again when I have the right ingredients! Note: This is not tex-mex chili. If you expect to find beans and green peppers or habaneros look elsewhere. This is much more like a sauce you'd find in a Greek dish. If you're not from Cincy it's an acquired taste for sure. When I first tried it I called it 'dessert chili'.
Definitely a tasty recipe! To those who complained about the spices you have clearly never tried Cincinnatti style chili! It is delicious and original and has become my favorite "style" of chili. The recipe is meant to taste different than your average chili and if you are expecting the "same ole same ole" chili try a more common recipe. Cincinnatti chili can't be beat:)
I grew up in Cincinnati eating Skyline Chili EVERY Friday night. Since then I've become a vegetarian but still longed for my Cincy Chili fix every now and then. I used this recipe without altering it aside from using Morningstar Farms "crumbles" in place of the ground beef. It came out great and definitely what I remembered from all those years ago. Thanks Lauren for sharing your recipe. I'm going to go pig out on a bit of nostalgia 3
This was very good stuff! I think I made a version of this a few years ago and don't remember being all that impressed. But this time with this recipe I enjoyed it a lot over four days. I think I'll still always prefer the Tex-Mex blazing hot kind of chili but this really grew on me. I used 96% lean ground beef and a little over 2 lbs. of it (2.13 to be exact). I used two medium-sized yellow onions and cut a 1-oz. baking chocolate square in half. I put it all in a slow cooker and since it only has high and low settings (no medium-low) I cooked it on low for the full 5 hours. I served the results over spaghetti. The chili was pretty spicy and watery but that's the idea I gather. The sheer variety of spices might have been lost on my particular palate but it all tasted good. I'm going to make another batch tomorrow!
