Find TV Listings
Listen To Our Radio Show
Follow Us
From America's Test Kitchen Season 5: Regional Classics
This Midwestern diner specialty is an unusual marriage of American chili and Middle Eastern spices. For an easy weeknight meal, we wanted to pare the list of ingredients down to the essentials without compromising the distinctive character of the dish. The beef in Cincinnati Chili isn’t sautéed like the beef in other chilis, so there is no way to remove the fat. To avoid greasiness, we blanched ground chuck for half a minute, which got rid of most of the fat but still left plenty of flavor.
The spices used in this chili vary from recipe to recipe. We settled on a limited palette starring chile powder, oregano, cinnamon, and cocoa powder, which we bloomed in hot oil for more depth of flavor. Water and tomato sauce are the traditional base for the sauce; we added chicken broth for balance. Vinegar and brown sugar livened things up. After a long simmer, the chili was ready to be served, and we couldn’t think of a better way to do it than “five-way”—over spaghetti, topped with cheddar cheese, chopped onions, and kidney beans.
Serves 6 to 8
Choose a relatively plain tomato sauce-nothing too spicy or herbaceous. To warm the kidney beans, simmer them in water to cover for several minutes and then drain.
Start Your 14-Day Free Trial Membership
Get all 13 years of America’s Test Kitchen:
Dear Friend,
It is hard to believe, but 2013 marks the thirteenth anniversary of the America’s Test Kitchen television show. Since our very first season, we have been public television’s most watched cooking show and have shared hundreds of our best recipes, equipment reviews, ingredient taste tests, and cooking techniques with our viewers. And, AmericasTestKitchen.com is the only place you’ll find everything we’ve ever featured on the show — every recipe, equipment rating, and taste test since the very first episode of America’s Test Kitchen.
As you may know, America’s Test Kitchen is the home of “Recipes That Work,” and our mission is to be your trusted source for recipes that work every time you use them. Our test cooks spend their days obsessively testing recipes until they offer consistently great results. As we like to say here, “We make the mistakes so you don’t have to.” So, try out our website for a 14-Day, No-Hassle Trial Offer. Whether you are new to America’s Test Kitchen or have been an avid viewer for years, I think you’ll find AmericasTestKitchen.com to be an invaluable resource.
Thanks for your consideration,
Christopher Kimball
Founder and Publisher
