# Cincinnati Greek Chili **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2000, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219 "2000-09-23T01:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2000, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/21 "2000-09-26T15:31:29Z")
I am a native Texan who lived and worked in Cincinnati. Some coworkers took me to lunch at some “chili” parlor. Whatever that stuff is, it ain’t chili. I thought the best part of the experience was the little oyster crackers that were served on the side. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2000, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/22 "2000-09-26T16:02:16Z")
I’m pretty sure that unsweetened cocoa is a fairly common ingredient in authentic South American food. I haven’t tried it myself, though. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2000, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/23 "2000-09-26T16:32:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* > **…A chili has two requirements: ya put in chili powder and cumin, and ya slow simmer it.** I (and a zillion "chiliheads) disagree that to be called “chili” a foodstuff must only meet these minimum requirements. Once the “chili” is over-adulterated (the die-hards claim that ingredients as innocuous as beans or even tomatoes qualify as adulterants), it becomes some kind of stew or sauce that happens to have chile and/or cumin as ingredients. Also, the more chili-pure-of-heart won’t stoop to using chili _powder_, opting instead to create the sacue by simering dried red chiles (in water or beer for about an hour), then peeling them and pulverizing them in a blender (with garlic and comino) with some of the fluid they cooked in. Simply browning meat, flavoring it with chili powder and cumin, and adding tomato sauce with or without other blasphemous ingredients may make a mighty fine Sloppy Joe or “Southwest-style” Spaghetti sauce, but **it ain’t chili**. The “classic” Frank X. Tolbert and Wick Fowler procedure is: 1. Sear cubed or coarse-ground meat in suet. 2. Slow-cook meat in chili sauce (outlined above; cook chiles then blend with liquid). And that’s it. Tomatoes and beans are just being fancy. Anything else is an abomination. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2000, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/24 "2000-09-26T16:40:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\*I’m pretty sure that unsweetened cocoa is a fairly common ingredient in authentic South American food. I haven’t tried it myself, though. > \*\* Mole is an authentic Mexican/Aztec sauce that has just about everything that grows in Mexico as an ingredient. It’s mostly a chile paste, but Cocoa is one of the other big ingredients. Good stuff, especially with turkey. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2000, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/25 "2000-09-26T16:45:08Z")
In addition to chili, Cincinnati is known for their “hometown beer,” particularly the brew made by Hudepohl-Schoenling. These include Hudy Gold & Delight, Burger, Little Kings, and Christian Moerlein. They just recently started producing Burger in 12-oz cans (it hasn’t been on the shelf for the longest time). A coworker recently bought a 12-pack of Burger for $4.50, and I tried it for the first time last week. I thought it was quite good for a light Pilsner, and certainly much better than what AB puts out. More info: [http://www.littlekings.com/](http://www.littlekings.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/26 "2000-09-27T22:23:52Z")
Okay, **tater** …here’s the Sterns’ recipe for the basic sauce (serves 4) from SQUARE MEALS (Knopf, 1984): "1 pound chuck, ground FINE 2 medium onions, chopped fine 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup tomato sauce 2 tblsp ketchup 1 cup water 1 tblsp red wine vinegar 1 tblsp chili powder 1 tblsp paprika 1 tsp ground black pepper 1 tsp honey 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate, grated 1/2 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp marjoram 1/2 tsp allspice 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1/4 tsp mace 1/4 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp ground cardamom 1/2 bay leaf, crumbled 1 tsp salt Salt a large cast-iron skillet. Turn heat to medium and add meat, onions, and garlic. Cookuntil all meat is browned. Add tomato sauce, ketchup, water, and vinegar. As mixture begins to boil, add everything else. Adjust spices to taste, adding more salt is it needs perking up, turneric and cumin for a sweatier chili flavor, cinnamon, cloves, and mace if you want it sweeter, cardamom for more bang, unsweetened chocolate for body. Cover and simmer at very low heat for about 1 hour, stirring and tasting occasionally, adding tomato juice if it is getting too dry to ladle up easily." Instructions follow for how to construct a five-way. You don’t need that, do you? (Spaghetti-chili sauce-beans-onions-cheddar cheese) Frankly, I don’t think I’d be tempted to make this…Mace? Nutmeg? Allspice? ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/27 "2000-09-28T01:56:23Z")
Drain Bead indoctrinated me to Skyline Chili. With all due respect, she can keep it. I want spice in my chili. That stuff is more like an extra thick Ragu or something… Bleech. * * * Yer pal, Satan - Commissioner, [The Teeming Minions](http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/full/show?lid=39428&page=leaguehome) \*TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING: Five months, two weeks, four days, 23 hours, 56 minutes and 31 seconds. 6879 cigarettes not smoked, saving $859.99. Extra time with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 2 days, 21 hours, 15 minutes. \***“I’m a big Genesis fan.”-David B. _(Amen, brother!)_** ---
**Author:** ![tatertot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@tatertot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tatertot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/28 "2000-09-28T05:44:59Z")
Thanks, **Ike** that’s more like the recipe I used, but a lot more spices. The kidlets really liked the first batch so I’ll try this one too. Do you need a really good recipe for Sauerbraten or anything? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![yuppicide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yuppicide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yuppicide)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/29 "2025-03-16T09:42:53Z")
I know this is old, but it’s never too late to say this guy is a moron. He says “understood by anybody outside of Cincinnati” – lots of people know what this is and lots of regions have chili that’s similar… Rochester has garbage plate sauce, New Jersey has Texas Weiners, there’s Detroit style which sometimes uses beef heart for a more meaty flavor but contains many of the same spices, and also Michigan suace, not to mention the many areas that serve Coney Sauce. A lot of them are very similar in that they use cinnamon, cloves, allspice, etc. Multiple sources have states there is no chocolate/cocoa in Cincinnati chili. An author of a cincinnati book denies that it’s used. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/30 "2025-03-16T13:58:57Z")
Not sure why you needed to ca a posterf a “moron” on a post that a quarter of a century old, but I don’t find that particular statement about Cincinnati chili inaccurate, despite there being in fairly specific regional cuisine. “Coney sauce” or “hot dog sauce” are more evocative of what the stuff is versus “chili” which is largely understood to be something quite different. As for cocoa, it’s a common (mis)conception and included in many recipes incorrectly. I go into some research I did on it a few years ago: > [@Who likes chili mac / Skyline-style chili? Recipes?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-likes-chili-mac-skyline-style-chili-recipes/941842/21): > > There’s a number of snippets where it’s clear where the author is going: Johnny and Maria both strongly deny the presence of chocolate or cocoa in their recipe but do attest to about eighteen different spices in their blend. Many years ago, a food writer thought that he tasted chocolate and maybe even licorice in Cincinnati chili. In January 1981, the Cincinnati Enquirer posted a recipe for Cincinnati chili that included half an ounce of bitter chocolate It is possible that the sweetnes… ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/31 "2025-03-16T14:37:14Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I went to school at UC. After a night of drinking Hudephol, Little Kings, and Burger, we often found ourselves at one of the local chili establishments. I fully agree that Camp Wahington Chili has the best stuff around, especially after a night throwing back Cinci brews. Wow, those were the days. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/32 "2025-03-16T15:55:45Z")
[Moderating] > [@yuppicide](#): > > I know this is old, but it’s never too late to say this guy is a moron. Actually, it’s always too late to say that. On this board, we do not directly insult or attack other posters, outside of one single forum (the BBQ Pit). I encourage you to read our rules before posting further. This is an official Warning. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219/33 "2025-03-16T16:18:58Z")
Sorry for all the typos. Oh my! I was typing on my phone in an hurry, and it’s too late to edit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cincinnati-greek-chili/34219.md?page=1)