Cincinnati Style Chili with Yak

JHZR2

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Folks who have passed through western Ohio through approximately Indianapolis have possibly run into Skyline or Gold Star Chili. I like the Cincinnati style chili, and make it for us at home now and again. We decided to make some for friends who just had babies, and so we made it with six pounds of meat. In the end, we were too busy to take a picture of the final product, but one can see how it is served up at Chili Parlors via other pics online.

We ended up using a mix of regular ground beef and Yak meat. Why Yak? Its high in Omega-3 and other nutritious fats, grown locally, and adds some difference in taste to the end product.

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Because I didn't want all of the ground beef fat in the final product, but wanted to retain all of the Yak meat fats, I first cooked the ground beef with excess water. Then I poured off the water/fat mix, added a bit of olive oil back in, and cooked the Yak meat in too.

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For the six pounds of meat, I used six onions and twelve garlic cloves, all pulled right from our organic garden and chopped up.

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I added about 45-ish oz of tomato "sauce" from our tomato harvest. NJ tomatoes are the best, but since many can't get them, I hear that San Marnzano tomatoes are good because they are less acidic. Cook the tomatoes, garlic onions, etc all together. Also add ~1T blackstrap molasses, 6T unfiltered apple cider vinegar, and a bit of Worcestershire sauce in and mix. Continue heating, stirring frequently.

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The spicing is what gives Cincinnati Chili an interesting flavor that I like. Key to it are Cinnamon and Cocoa. We never use Hershey's, instead, we use Wilbur cocoa powder. It used to be produced in Philadelphia, but now is in Lititz, PA. We really like all their chocolate better than most anyone else's.

So we combine:

~3oz Wilbur cocoa
~3t cinnamon
~1t ground cloves
~1t allspice
~1/2 c. Chili Powder (Penderey's)
~1t cayenne pepper
~3t salt (we use a combo of potassium salt, black and pink salts to add mineral content)
~3t ground cumin (Penderey's)

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After mixing, we slowly add to the meat, ensuring that it wets the spices without clumps. The mixture takes on a delightful darker brown color.

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Simmer for about 1hr. Add some water if need be to keep it fairly liquid, also add a touch of brown sugar if the tomatoes added too much acidity, or other spices/salt to taste (we added a bit more chili powder to ours today). I didn't cut the onions and garlic particularly fine, so we used an immersion blender to get it smooth, as the authentic product is usually fairly liquid and consistently smooth. Its not chunky like a Texas chili.

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In a Cincinnati style parlor, this meat is served over spaghetti, and usually has a good amount of shredded cheddar cheese on it. A three way would just be the macaroni, chili and cheese, a four way adds onions or brand, and a five way adds the other of those two. I always take the five-way.

As I mentioned, we didnt have a chance to take a picture of the final product, but we served it up tonight as a four-way with onions.

This picture isn't mine, but is a fine example of what the finished product looks like... The only difference in mine is that I usually put the onions on top of the meat, under the cheese, and I usually add a bit of a thin, hot sauce on top too.

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Please share your Chili DIY and recipes here if you have good ones. Any style is great. Since it is winter time, I like to try lots of different soups, stews and chills.
 
Down here I call that "Red-eye". Ate it at my grandmothers growing up. She always served it over sphagetti.

I have yet to make chili. Thought about it with that blast of cold Canadian air we received, but was too busy. I cube up chuck, then brown it to develop fond, then remove meat, add chopped onions and diced green chilis and a bit of dark lager to deglaze. I also add a bit of veal demi-glace for depth, richness and a deep flavor. I also rehydrate dried anchos, purre in a blender, then press it through a sieve to remove the skins. Then this chili sauce is fried with other spices, then everything is combined with other ingredients and simmered for a few hours. I also like to add some wild boar when my neighbor shoots one. It gets cubed up and browned like the beef.

The colder it is, the better it tastes!
 
That looks great, and the rationale for your recipe makes absolute sense...can't get yak, but do get grass fed free range beef, so should be OK...cocoa is great.

Thanks for putting it up.

And it makes more sense when we were over there, my daughter was after "chilli dogs", and I didn't see beans...which is Oz culture for chilli...I add a dollop of butter to mine.

And also Kudos for the homecoming dinner. It's a tradition that we experienced coming home with our children from neighbours who were ex military..big pot of lamb shanks or slow cooked lamb forequarter chop braise.
 
love cincy style chili, i believe it's also called 4 way or 5 way chili, depending on how many layers of stuff you use. i'm trying to eat less red meat lately, made a bangin vegetarian chili earlier this week. I:

soaked red black and white beans over night. cooked the beans in plain water until soft. peeled, deseeded, diced up coated with oil salt and pepper and roasted until brown a butternut squash . sauteed diced onions, peppers, celery, carrots in big pot. after 5-10 minutes on medium added some chopped garlic, cook 1 minute. add pomodoro tomatoes (these are high quality canned italian plum tomatoes). the tomatoes were pulsed quickly in a food processor to chop them up a bit. to the tomatoes i added chili powder, cumin, black pepper, kosher salt, paprika, crushed red pepper, and canned (diced) chipolte peppers. also finished witha pinch of brown sugar to balance a little of the heat from the chipoltes. cook for about an hour or until the flavors begin to come together. i put the beans in about half way through, but waited until the end for the squash, because it will disintegrate if cooked too much more.

served with brown rice, shredded sharp cheddar, fresh chopped onion, fresh chopped jalapenos, sour cream. over angel hair is also a favorite with all the toppings!
 
I'm having a couple of pieces of Granny Fi's Scottish shortbread from Oregon. Great stuff if you like Scottish shortbread. It has very buttery taste and fine texture. Great with a cup of black tea.

 
What is yak meat ??? Where do you get it I havnt seen it down here in florida .
 
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