North America · Volume 36, The Fish Fry, the Curd and the Kettle
Cincinnati Five-Way Chili
Cincinnati, Ohio
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 2 hours
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
As tradition built it
Cincinnati Five-Way Chili
Serves 6 · 2 hours
Ingredients
- 1kg minced beef
- 1 litre water
- 2 onions, finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp chilli powder
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 30g unsweetened chocolate or cocoa
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
- to taste salt
- 500g spaghetti, cooked
- to taste grated cheddar, diced onion, kidney beans, to serve
Method
- Place the raw minced beef and water in a pot and break the meat up thoroughly with a whisk while bringing to a simmer, so it cooks into fine, sauce-like strands rather than clumps.
- Add the onion, garlic, chilli powder, cinnamon, chocolate or cocoa and allspice, and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for at least 1½ hours, until reduced to a thin, deeply savoury sauce.
- Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and vinegar, and season with salt.
- Serve over spaghetti, building up as a two-way (spaghetti and chili alone), three-way (add cheddar), four-way (add onion or beans) or five-way (add both), per the Empress's own original ordering system.
What a modern chef changes
The sauce's texture and spice depth controlled with more precision.
Method
- Toast the whole spices, cinnamon stick, allspice berries, briefly in a dry pan before grinding, in a dedicated spice grinder, rather than using pre-ground spice straight from a jar, for a noticeably deeper, fresher spice character in a sauce that otherwise leans entirely on its seasoning for identity.
- Pass the finished sauce through a chinois before serving, for the genuinely smooth, clinging texture the dish is meant to have, rather than the coarser, more rustic result a home pot alone tends to produce.