I’m surprised no one has mentioned Cincinnati style chili.
As a kid, I just thought that was how chili was, and how it was typically served.
“Wendy’s style chili” was what the outlier was. Who puts beans in chili, anyway?
Colbert recently made fun of our chili, that we put it on top of spaghetti and top it with cheese. He was right to think that this was ridiculous, as he forgot about the Tabasco sauce and oyster crackers.
But really, that seems perfectly natural. Had some yesterday in fact.
Goetta, OTOH, is so regional that my spellcheck is trying to tell me that it’s wrong. That is a Cincinnati delicacy that I have always know was exclusive to the Queen City. My parents didn’t much care for it, and I only ever saw it as a kid at my neighbors’. Most people who try it think that you were trying to make sausage, and just didn’t actually know how to make sausage. Definitely an acquired taste. Has some of that last night as well. Goes great with eggs and toast.
Shoulda washed it down with a UDF shake and has some Graters, just to make it a really Cincinnati day.
I’ve not tried gotta, but since it’s basically scrapple made with oats instead of corn meal I say bring it on.
Growing up in southern West Virginia, a fully dressed hot dog was hot dog chile, yellow mustard , diced white onion, and cole slaw. I had no idea how hyper regional that was until college.
I was once invited over to a friend’s house to have some chili. When I arrived I discovered they were serving Cincinnati chili and I was so very much disappointed. It was the first time I had ever heard of it, this was back in 1996 or so, and I haven’t had it since.
I love Cincinatti style chili and make it a couple of times a year. I first had it in a chili parlor in Racine, WI. I had known about chili mac, but I was surprised when the macaroni turned out to be spaghetti.
Three things I’ve never heard of in 1 paragraph despite me having lived in several regions of the USA, traveled extensively to nearly every state, and liking to try the local {whatever} whenever / wherever I find it. Congrats on stumping the Traveling Gormand(r).
Folks have already explained Goetta, but what’s a UDF shake or a Grater? I could Google but it’s more fun to hear it from the locals.
My mother’s idea of spaghetti with meat sauce was so loaded with chili powder that it was basically Two-Way Cincinnati Chili. When I found that the dish had a following in Cincinnati, I realized my mom might have picked it up in her stint in Ohio. However, being from Texas, she’d never have called it chili because it would just confuse us. Texas chili is actually hot, not just spicy, and it’s never served on spaghetti. So, she just called it spaghetti.
ETA: And all that said, the family recipe came from a Californian. Still, it was hot enough to make most folks’ eyes water at the first bite. I have a different recipe now, but I still remember that one.
Hehehe, when I make Texas chili, I’m always lobbying for more moritas. I love them, and they bring a reasonable amount of heat. My wife and I usually compromise in the right place where we both enjoy it. But these days, we’re making New Mexican style green chili more often than Texas chili. Chili is certainly a dish that I was slow to realize wasn’t universally the same, but I’ve enjoyed just about every iteration of it I’ve had.
A long way back, I won a chili cookoff in Moscow. Chili helped me make it through many Russian winters. (Minnesota winters, too.)
When cooking from scratch, it took me a few tries to realize that cumin is an essential chili ingredient. Without cumin, it just doesn’t taste like chili.
They don’t. IIRC, all of the contestants at the cookoff were expatriates. The guy next to me was a Latino, but I don’t remember which country he was from.
Russians think chili is just a kind of sauce you pour from a jar. I made some of the real stuff at home for a couple of my girlfriends to show them what it’s like. (Individually, of course.)
You have to sample Central Asian cooking to get anything approaching chili in Russia. F’rinstance, the Uzbekistan restaurant in Moscow serves lamb dumplings in a spicy broth that are to die for!
Allow me to amend that last paragraph: There was (maybe still is?) a Mexican restaurant called La Cantina right in the center of Moscow, just north of Red Square. They served their own variety of chili, which was pretty damned good, along with enchiladas and a number of other dishes (probably more Tex-Mex than truly Mexican).
Back in the '90s, I also visited a Tex-Mex/Mexican restaurant on a sidestreet in St Petersburg, along one of its many canals. The food there was really good, too. (I suspect the cooks were in both cases expatriates as well.)
Hehehe, thanks. It’s good to know that I can get some good Tex-Mex even in Russia, even if home made chili hasn’t permeated the wider culture.
Though, I kind of take issue with trying to distinguish between Tex-Mex and Mexican. The border moved on the food like it moved on the people due to a series of poor decisions by Santa Anna. It’s been influenced by Texas being part of the US, but there’s a lot of crossover between northern Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, and Mexican cuisine is far from monolithic, itself.
I realize there’s been a lot of crossover, but I admit to not knowing much about how they differ. I sometimes watch Pati’s Table on TLN, but that’s about it.
I don’t think that anyone can truly explain Goetta. It’s definitely a bit different. Looks enough like sausage that that is what you are expecting, but it’s not, not at all. I was exposed to it a few times as a kid, and never cared for it. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned to truly appreciate it.
UDF is United Dairy Farmers. A Cincinnati based convenience store, and ice cream/shake shop. It’s basically a 1950’s ice cream parlor, as that’s what it pretty much became in the 1950’s and hasn’t changed since. There aren’t that many places you can get a truly handmade shake, using their own “Homemade” ice cream.
Owned by one of the richest families in Cincinnati. They do a lot of good and donate to a bunch of causes, but, due to their religious beliefs, they also do not sell contraceptives or lottery tickets in their stores.
Graeter’s (I spelled it wrong in my previous post) ice cream is a bit more unique. They use a different recipe and technique that is a bit more labor intensive, and doesn’t lend itself quite as well to mass production. It happens to be Oprah Winfrey’s favorite ice cream.
They do sell it in stores, mostly Kroger, which is also Cincinnati based, but it is best at an actual shop. There’s one almost across the street from the Skyline Chili I ate at.
If you happen to be in a Kroger, I recommend checking out their ice cream isle, and seeing if they have any in stock. It’s definitely a bit different, denser and richer than most other selections.
I’ve never heard of a Crown Burger (adding smoked meat to a hamburger reduces both), tried Geoduck or wanted to eat a Garbage Plate. But I’m pleased Cornish Pasties made it to Michigan. The Shandong Rolls sound as if they could be good.
When I visited my future in laws , in Indiana, in a diner they served chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes with green beans. My future husband said it was common in school cafeterias. Shutter…
It’s definitely a bit different. Looks enough like sausage that that is what you are expecting, but it’s not, not at all. I was exposed to it a few times as a kid, and never cared for it. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned to truly appreciate it.