Chef John’s Cincinnati-Style Chili

Description

You’ll love this chili if you tend to like foods from the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Greek food, or Indian food, because of the spices and flavor profile. If you don’t, you won’t. If you finish this dish off with some diced onions and grated Cheddar cheese like I did, you’ll be enjoying what they call in Cincinnati a “Four-Way,” because of the four components, but feel free to serve as you like.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • ¼ cup chili powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • ⅛ teaspoon allspice
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 teaspoons white sugar
  • 3 teaspoons kosher salt, or more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 6 cups cold water
  • 1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
  • 1 tablespoon diced onion, or to taste
  • 4 cups grated Cheddar cheese, or to taste

Instructions

  1. Combine beef and tomato paste in a large pot. Rinse out tomato paste can with a couple tablespoons of water and add to the pot with garlic
  2. onion
  3. chili powder
  4. cumin
  5. cinnamon
  6. cayenne
  7. allspice
  8. cloves
  9. black pepper
  10. bay leaf
  11. sugar
  12. and salt. Add apple cider vinegar
  13. Worcestershire
  14. and cold water. Mash and stir with a potato masher or a large whisk to break up the meat into fine pieces.
  15. Place the pot over medium-high heat; bring to a boil
  16. stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until flavors come together and chili reaches your desired thickness
  17. 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
  18. Meanwhile
  19. bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water
  20. stirring occasionally
  21. until very tender
  22. about 12 minutes. Drain.
  23. Taste chili and adjust seasoning. Remove and discard bay leaf. Ladle over spaghetti into serving bowls. Top with onion and Cheddar cheese. Cut and scoop the noodles up with a fork like you’re eating a casserole.

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 1 hr 5 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins

Servings: 8

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