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.
I’m pretty sure that unsweetened cocoa is a fairly common ingredient in authentic South American food. I haven’t tried it myself, though.
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:
- Sear cubed or coarse-ground meat in suet.
- 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.
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.
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:
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?
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
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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? 
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.
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:
Wow, those were the days.
[Moderating]
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.
Sorry for all the typos. Oh my! I was typing on my phone in an hurry, and it’s too late to edit.