Grumpy Beer Geek

I made some major changes this time. Reducing the spices and adding a few new ones. The result was pretty damn good. Closer than ever, I’d say.

Read more for details and the recipe.

Cincinnati Chili Batch 12

(Make sure you read the tasting notes at the bottom before making — this batch had a problem)

Cincinnati Chili (Skyline Style) attempt 12

2.5 lbs lean ground beef (extra fine grind if possible) — 80% lean
6 cups cold water

1 can tomato paste - (6 oz)
1 can tomato sauce - (8 oz)

.5 oz bitter chocolate
3 whole cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cumin
1.5 tbsp chili powder (dark)
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper (powdered)
5 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp ground black pepper
4 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp of yellow curry powder
2 Tbsp active dry yeast

Place water over medium heat and add the ground beef. Stir the ground beef into the cold water. Continue to stir as the water is heated. The ground beef will nearly dissolve into the water developing into almost a paste. Once dissolved, increase heat to high.

If you use frozen ground beef, let sit in the COLD water until it is matched the temp and it is no longer frozen. Failure to do this will result in lumpy chili.

Once the water is nearly boiling, add the other ingredients and continue to stir until the chili comes to a strong boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer.

Let simmer for 2 hours.

Serve as traditionally served or as you wish. I prefer over spaghetti with shredded cheese (3-way).

Notes on this recipe:

The texture was just perfect. I can’t stress enough how important it is to let the beef sit in the water — and to stir it to get it into tiny bits, like a slurry of beef. Mmmm beef slurry.

The color was right on. In general, I reduced the amount of the spices almost by half. And this recipe is the best yet.

First tasting:

The ginger and molassas (via brown sugar) were good suggestions. Next time I will up both of them by a little bit. (Thanks JeffW)

The curry adds a heat that the tumeric alone does not. It might also add something else. But I think yellow curry powder is just tumeric, salt, pepper, and cayanne. Next time I will only add one of the two. Probably curry and skip the cayanne and tumeric. (Thanks Josquin)

The strongest flavor is tumeric. Need to reduce it.

Second tasting:

Ok, the curry was way too much. I’d reduce it to maybe 1 tsp instead of a Tbsp. It is definitely more than just tumeric, salt, pepper and red pepper. This recipe has a way too strong curry flavor. Perhaps letting it sit overnight in the fridge helped bring that out. Or perhaps it floats to the top and I only got the top layer.

I think I would reduce the curry to 1 tsp (or 1/2) and eliminate the tumeric and cayanne alltogether.

Other than that it tastes pretty good.

Suggestions anyone?

— Notes from jvx1 —-

I’ve been working with your recipe # 12 and although very close - still not perfect. The flavor is right there but the finish is always off - almost a bit chalky. Any ideas?

Some things I have done that I think work:

Omitted the curry powder - even a small amount overwhelms it the next day
Pureed a medium onion and 3 cloves of garlic in a blender with 1/2 cup of water.
Dropped the turmeric to 1/2 tsp
Dropped the yeast to 1 Tbsp but activated it prior to adding it in a small bowl of warm water.
Upped the brown sugar to 2 Tbsp
Upped the salt to 2 Tbsp
Used cider vinegar instead of white.

I added a 1/2 tsp of nutmeg but I’m not sure if it made much of a difference.

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