Cincinnati chili is a regional style of Chili con carne

Chili con carne

Chili con carne is a spicy stew. The name of the dish derives from the Spanish chile con carne, "chili pepper with meat". Traditional versions are made, minimally, from chili peppers, garlic, onions, and cumin, along with chopped or ground beef. Beans and tomatoes are frequently included...

 characterized by the use of unusual seasonings such as cinnamon

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...

, cloves, allspice

Allspice

Allspice, also called Jamaica pepper, pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or newspice, is a spice that is the dried unripe fruit of Pimenta dioica , a mid-canopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now cultivated in many warm parts of the world...

 or chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

. It is commonly served over spaghetti

Spaghetti

Spaghetti is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta of Italian origin. Spaghetti is made of semolina or flour and water. Italian dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina, but outside of Italy it may be made with other kinds of flour...

 or as a hot dog

Hot dog

A hot dog is a sausage served in a sliced bun. It is very often garnished with mustard, ketchup, onions, mayonnaise, relish and/or sauerkraut.-History:...

 sauce

Sauce

In cooking, a sauce is liquid, creaming or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...

, and is normally of a thin, sauce-like consistency, unlike most chili con carne. While served in many regular restaurants, it is most often associated with several restaurant chains such as Empress Chili, Skyline

Skyline Chili

Skyline Chili is a chain of chili restaurants based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1949 by Greek immigrant Nicholas Lambrinides, Skyline Chili is named for the view of Cincinnati's skyline that Lambrinides could see from his first restaurant , opened in the section of town now known as Price Hill...

, Gold Star

Gold Star Chili

Gold Star Chili is a restaurant chain based in Cincinnati, Ohio, that sells Cincinnati chili. The original restaurant was established in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Mt. Washington in 1965 by four brothers from Jordan...

, and Dixie Chili

Dixie Chili and Deli

Dixie Chili and Deli, originally Dixie Chili, is a chain of three Cincinnati chili restaurants located in the state of Kentucky. Greek immigrant Nicholas Sarakatsannis founded the first location in 1929 in Newport, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from the city of Cincinnati...

. Restaurant locations are found pervasively in the greater Cincinnati area with franchise locations also throughout Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 and in Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, and Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. Restaurants that feature Cincinnati chili are frequently called "Chili Parlors."

According to the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, Cincinnatians consume more than two million pounds of chili each year, topped by 850,000 pounds of shredded cheddar cheese. Each September, the city celebrates "Chilifest" at Yeatman's Cove on the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

, with food and entertainment.

Cincinnati chili basics

Ordering Cincinnati chili is based on this series of ingredients: chili, spaghetti

Spaghetti

Spaghetti is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta of Italian origin. Spaghetti is made of semolina or flour and water. Italian dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina, but outside of Italy it may be made with other kinds of flour...

, grated cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese is a relatively hard, yellow to off-white, and sometimes sharp-tasting cheese, produced in several countries around the world. It has its origins in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset....

, diced onions, and kidney beans. The number before the "way" of the chili determines which ingredients are included in each chili order. Thus, customers can order a:

• Bowl: chili in a bowl
• Two-way: chili and spaghetti
• Three-way: chili, spaghetti, and cheese
• Four-way: chili, spaghetti, cheese, and onions
• Five-way: chili, spaghetti, cheese, onions, and beans

and optionally, the:

• Four-way bean: chili, spaghetti, cheese, and beans (beans substituted for the onions)

The preceding basic menu is entirely traditional. Some chili parlors have altered the traditional menu method, declaring on their menus that a Four-way is chili, spaghetti, grated cheese, and either diced onions or beans. Other parlors have added ingredients to the traditional mix. For example, Dixie Chili offers a "Six-way" with the addition of garlic

Garlic

Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...

.
Oyster crackers are usually served with Cincinnati chili, and a mild hot sauce

Hot sauce

Hot sauce, chili sauce or pepper sauce refers to any spicy sauce made from chili peppers and other ingredients.-Ingredients:There are many recipes for hot sauces - the common ingredient being any kind of peppers. A group of chemicals called capsaicinoids are responsible for the heat in chili peppers...

 is frequently used as an optional topping.

When served on a Coney-style hot dog

Coney Island hot dog

Coney Island hot dog refers to a natural casing beef hot dog, topped with an all-meat beanless chili, and diced or chopped white onions with one or two strips of yellow mustard. The variety is a fixture in Jackson, Flint, Detroit, and southeastern Michigan...

, dubbed the "Cheese Coney", the chili is also topped with grated cheddar cheese. The default coney also includes mustard and a small amount of onion.

Origins and history

Cincinnati chili seems to have originated with one or more immigrant

Immigration to the United States

Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...

 restaurateur

Restaurateur

A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of the restaurant business.-Etymology:The word...

s from Macedonia

Macedonia (region)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...

 who were trying to broaden their customer base by moving beyond narrowly ethnic styles of cuisine. Tom and John Kiradjieff began serving the chili in 1922 at their hot dog stand, next to a burlesque theater called the Empress, after which their Empress chili parlor took its name.Tom Kiradjieff invented the style by modifying a traditional stew and serving it over hot dogs and spaghetti. The style has since been copied and modified by many other restaurant proprietors.

Empress was the main chili parlor in Cincinnati until 1949, when a former Empress employee and Greek-immigrant, Nicholas Lambrinides, started another chili restaurant called Skyline Chili. Gold Star Chili came along in 1965, started by four brothers who were originally from Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

.

Empress has almost eliminated their locations and has basically franchised their recipe to local cafes and restaurants as well as making their product available in stores. Since 1971, Skyline, Gold Star and Dixie however have been aggressively adding new franchised stores, creating over 150 chili parlors in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area.

Many privately owned chili parlors in the Cincinnati area have created their own historic following and have been covered on network news stories through the years such as Camp Washington Chili, Price Hill Chili, Chili Time in St. Bernard and Blue Ash Chili, to name just a few.