THE CINCINNATI SKYLINE: Is delicious! And a much milder taste than when I've tried to make it at home (the recipe seems to involve half my spice rack, so I may be overseasoning.) Didn't finish my pasta though--when you combine the spaghetti with the bag of oyster crackers they give you it turns into a carbohydrate time bomb. Which is particularly deadly to Atkins dieters.
Really wanted to try this place. Or this place, which offers a six-way: pasta, chili, beans, onions, cheese, and for the coup de grace: chopped garlic! Wasn't in walking range of my hotel though, and my minders seemed fairly ambivalent about the local chili in general so there was no way to get there. But if ever I am in Cincinnati again it will be mine.
For quite awhile I prided myself on the spiciness of my chili. Then one day I thought, "There are ingredients in this. I would like to taste them." And I dialed the spices way back.
ReplyDeleteHard Times Cafe is our local purveyor of Cincy-style chili. (They also do Texas chili and a red - tomato-y - chili with the Texas-ish name Terlingua Red.) But their besetting vice is salt - they use way, way too much of it.
And when you overspice Cincinnati chili it just gets weirder, and somewhat unpleasant. Using just the right amount of cinnamon and chocolate appears to be crucial.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my brother (in DC) said he got a five way the other day, he must be going to Hard Time. Re: Texas chili--I have this idea that the true distinction between Texas chili and other chilis is not beans or no beans, but tomato product or no tomato product, with "pure" Texas chili containing no tomato product. Haven't done enough research to conclude if that's really true though. Chili cooking is really a lifelong activity...