I was going to post this before I left for the weekend, but time was short. So please read this like it was last Thursday or Friday!
Everyone is getting sick of chili in the house. This is the fourth version in the past two weeks. I made a buffalo chili this week, but didn’t like it so I’m not going to post about it. Not that it was bad, it was just not exciting in the least.
If you missed the first two versions you can find them here – Springfield Chilli & White Bean & Chicken Chili. Keep in mind that all three of these recipes are adapted from Cooking Light. They are not the full-fat versions!
We’ve continued to work on the business plan for the new restaurant and are almost done with the list of restaurants we are going to visit in San Francisco this weekend. There are so many cool places we want to visit to get inspiration for the interior of the new place.
I’m very much looking forward to visiting my friends, Diane and Brain’s, very cool, very unique candy store in San Francisco called The Candy Store. You can check it out here. Diane and I used to work together in the city back in the Internet hay days! Diane was one of my best friends in the city and I’m so excited that their store is successful. It had been a dream of hers for as long as I’ve known her, but the cost and expense of doing business is San Francisco is so high. She persevered and finally last year they were able to swing it. If you are ever in San Fran go take a look, it will be well worth it! And tell Diane Joe sent you.
As to my other major endeavor, keeping myself in shape…I’ve decided that I’m not going to worry about exercising or eating right until I come back from the city this weekend. Then I will get myself back on track. Though this chili is from Cooking Light so that’s helpful. Another picture below!
I did blow it big time last night. This will either make you queasy, laugh or make you feel sorry for me, but about six months ago we ran out of milk. We always have the fat-free variety in the house, so I decided to use some half and half. I loved it! Now I know that the caloric content is about 10 million times more so I don’t often do this, but every once in awhile I break down and have cereal with half and half. Last night was one of those nights. Two bowls at 9:00pm of a very cool Canadian cereal called Shreddies (my wife grew up in Canada) and a fair amount of cream. YUM! I’ve even tried it with heavy cream once, yes 40% fat, but this was a bit too much!
So how about more chili? This version is from Cincinnati and has pasta of all things. According to the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, Cincinnatians consume more than two million pounds of chili each year, topped with 850,000 pounds of shredded cheddar cheese. Wow, I guess I need to put A LOT more cheese on this next time. I did a Google image search and found some crazy pictures with so much cheese I couldn’t even begin to believe it. I guess this is fast food in Cincinnati.
Anyone from Cincinnati who can set me straight on what the real deal is let me know!
I liked it, not as much as the Springfield Chilli or the Chicken Chili, but it was a completely different taste profile and meal. Give it a try and let me know what you think. It was well worth the minimal effort to put it together.
Cincinnati Five-Way Chili (serves 4)
(adapted from Cooking Light Magazine)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1/2 pound ground sirloin
- 2 1/2 cups chopped onion (about 2 medium), divided
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 3 tablespoons spicy barbecue sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can tomato puree
- 3 1/2 cups hot cooked spaghetti (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)
- 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed, drained, and warmed
- Oyster crackers (optional)
Heat oil a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add both the turkey and the sirloin to the pan and cook for 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble.
Add 2 cups of the onion and all of the garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally.
Stir in 1 cup water along with the ingredients on the list up to and including the tomato puree. Bring the mixture to a boil then cover, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
Make the spaghetti when the meat mixture is almost done. Heat up the kidney beans in the microwave for one minute.
Place about 3/4 cup spaghetti into each of 4 bowls. Ladle 1.5 cups chili into each bowl. Top each serving with some onion, cheese, and beans. Serve with crackers and devour!
PS – I just picked up a cool Greek Cookbook. I’ve been wanting to try some Greek recipes for a while, not many good Greek places in Reno, so stay tuned. I think I will make pastitsio next week!
This chili looks great! We ate a lot of chili in Texas but I really enjoy exploring the regional variations. Where I’m from in KY we had chili similar to the Cincinnati style, with spaghetti and kidney beans, but it was more souplike with a lot of broth.
This looks VERY tasty! We had chili last week too, just seems to be the meal to make right now🙂
coming to you straight from cincinnati…. i actually just had skyline (the best cincinnati chili) for lunch. the actual chili is very runny. there are no beans in it. it’s almost soup like. there are 3 varations of it. a 3-way is simply spaghetti with chili and cheese. a 4-way is spaghetti, chili, beans or onions, and cheese. a 5-way is spaghetti, chili, beans, onions, and cheese. the cheese has to be very finely grated and piled high! the chili has a very unique taste to it. no one knows exactly, but it is chocolate, cinnamon, and allspice. sooooo good!
Great recipe, thanks. I want to point out that your links to the two previous chili recipes, though, go to the same page.
That looks delicious. I love spaghetti with more grated cheese than you’d think possible, so putting chilli in the way sounds good to me too!
Chili spaghetti is one of my guilty pleasures back in the day.
can I have mine without onions?
Erin is right on the money. Skyline is the best in the business (http://www.skylinechili.com/) but there are others that cincinnatians swear by (Gold Star is a big one, as are Acropolis and Camp Washington) There is a very good reason why you always serve skyline with spaghetti: it’s more of a sauce than the meaty, all-alone in a bowl with cheese and crackers type of chili. They do claim that Chocolate Cinnamon and Allspice are the vital ingredients (I’ve taken to dropping a hershey kiss or two into my own chili lately).
As far as the cheese is concerned, that’s pretty much the only way to eat a three-way. And the key to eating it is to CUT THE SPAGHETTI WITH YOUR FORK. No stirring everything up or twirling the noodles, you have to cut bites out of the plate (Plate, not bowl) so you get a nice mound of cheese in every bite.
Another must is the Oyster Crackers. While there aren’t many brands out there that can rival the unique crispy-salty deliciousness of Skyline Oyster crackers (neverending bowls of oyster crackers are complimentary at every skyline), most store brand crackers are an adequate substitute.
I’m also a big fan of Franks Red Hot on top of the Three-Way (and in little drops on top of individual crackers YUM!).
Skyline is also famous for their cheese coneys. A small hotdog with skyline chili, a line of mustard and some onions, covered in a heaping pile of cheese. Three cheese coneys and a glass of water and I’m set!
I know it’s not for everyone, but if you ever see a skyline chili in your travels (or even a can of skyline will do in a pinch), you’ve gotta stop by. If the restaurant is in Cincinnati, it’ll be even better!
Wow – I’ve never heard of spaghetti in chili before – I guess I need to take a trip to Cincinnati!! This looks wonderful!
Erin covered most of what I have to say, but for what it’s worth:
Cincinnati chili is very watery, and often spiced with nutmeg and/ or cinnamon. While it is the extreme, in terms of texture, chili in the midwest is nothing like that which is served in the southwest.
The chili experience in Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and all the great chili cities is best summarized by what is known as a five-way, for that is the standard way to order chili.
You get a bowl of spaghetti, topped with pinto beans, atop of which is ladled a healthy scoop of chili. That is topped with enough shredded cheddar cheese to completely cover everything else. Chopped onions are the fifth ingredient, and are either served on the side, or sprinkled over the cheese. Sour cream and oyster crackers usually accompany an order of chili, but for whatever reason they aren’t counted as a sixth or seventh “way.”
My favorite chili in the U.S. is not in Cincinnati. It’s in Milwaukee, at a place called Real Chili. The Camp Washington Chili Parlor is my favorite in Cincinnati.
This unsweetened chocolate intrigues me. I always thought the Secret was nutmeg. (Since Skyline founder was a Greek immigrant) – but I am going to make this with chocolate!
How bad can that be?
I love your chili series! I had never heard of Cincinnati chili until recently – it looks very odd – but I’d give it a go!
ps. shreddies rule!
Holy ingredients batman! Is that how they roll in Cincinnati?!
Okay, LOL about you and your half and half! Yeah, not too easy on the hips there, but I’m sure it does taste good and very rich!
Also LOL about this being the 4th chili in two weeks!
How was SF? Hope you had a good trip!
I am always looking for new chili recipes to try and this one looks really good.
This chili looks so good, so much better than lots of the other recipes out there. Definitely going to try it.
This is the only way to have chili – but I like to also put a piece of cornbread at the bottom of the bowl before heaping the remaining ingredients on top. Looks like it is time for another pot of chili at my house.
YUMM – This chili looks and sounds GREAT!! Thanks for the recipe…. Alvin
For us die-hard Skyline fans, and those that wonder how it tastes, you can buy the cans at any Kroger.
Key for me is the cheese – freshly shredded melts nicely into the hot chili. Tasty!!
I can’t wait to try this recipe and see how it compares!
that is not cincinnati chili. I was looking around for places near me (in chicago, i moved here a few years back and yearn for it), and that is not cincinnati chili. Turkey, nope. pure ground beef, and only that. mixed, no way. it needs to be layered, like a parfait, and you need about 4 times as much cheese, thinly sliced, more surface area to soak up the sauce. also its runny, not thick, the meat is a sauce. Also you should let it sit and simmer for way longer than 45 minutes, closer to 1.25 hrs. slow and seady wins the race
Hey Brain, this is a COOKING LIGHT version man. It’s okay.