Am going to fix this in a few minutes - but will prepare the way Tom in Minnesota did. Prep meat with everything but water - tabasco - but let sit in frig., overnight for flavors to marry - then finish tomorrow. Will eliminate chocolate & hot sauce. Will serve with onions & hot sauce on side. Sounds wonderful. Can hardly wait to begin this.

Had my first taste of Skyline in Dayton just today! Loved it! Started looking for the recipe right away and was so happy I found you guys. Learning a lot here. Thank you!! Gonna give it a try.

It has been a LONG time since I had the original but my daughter is moving to Cincinnati so I thought we would try to conjure up some new tastes of "home" for her. I followed most of the directions with a few variations and the end result was exactly as I can recall. Granted, it has been a long time and I am not a Skyline expert but it sure did taste as I remember. Here is what I did differently:

1. I mixed the UNCOOKED 80/20 beef with the tomato sauce, allspice, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, ground cloves, chili powder, vinegar, cinnamon, Worcestershire sauce, and finely grated unsweetened baking chocolate. I pre-mixed all of this and left it in the refrigerator for 2 days so the flavors could mix. I do this with other chili recipes and I think it really enhances the flavor. I believe it worked particularly well for this recipe.

2. When I was ready to cook the chili, I added the water and the uncooked seasoned meat and simmered everything for about 6 hours. I stirred constantly and skimmed some of the fat off from time to time. I did NOT add beans or the onions to the cook. I reserved those and made them optional when serving.

3. I cooked the chili down to a medium consistency similar to what I remember.

4. I did not add the salt or tabasco during the cook. I do not regret withholding the tabasco as that can be added when the chili is served. I do regret not adding the salt as it think the finished product would have been a little better with some salt.

5. I served the chili over Nathan's Famous hot dogs. I made the beans, onions, and cheese available as optional garnishes for my guests.

As I said, it has been a long time since I had the real deal but the fact that the finished product tasted just as I remembered is saying something. I like the recipe and will make it again when the occasion arises. Thanks for a great recipe!

Why would you put chocolate squares in chili?

My Cincinnati Chili recipe calls for 2 tablespoons cocoa powder instead of chocolate. Don't know why but it sure is delicious! Been planning on making a batch with my recipe. I freeze it in 1 cup glass freezer jars to have handy when I'm hungry for some.

In place of the 2 quarts of water, I would add three 20 oz. bottles of Coca Cola as the liquid. Use room temperature Cola and don't use diet Coke. The chocolate squares in your recipe will be complemented with the Coca Cola....

Delicious! This tasted just like the Skyline Chili at the restaurant. I was hesitant on boiling the hamburger but thought if I am going to try the recipe I need to make it the way the directions say. It makes a big batch so we used 1/2 right away and froze the other 1/2.

This looks like a standard chili recipe, but with cinnamon and chocolate, and without beans. I was in Cincinnati once and tried the chili shops. It was fantastic. I add cinnamon to all chili that I eat at home, canned or home made. That seems to be the key ingredient to the Cincinnati chili.

I lived in the Cincy Dayton area for years and I was a Skyline fantastic. This is a close as it gets and way better than the canned stuff.

I have a recipe that I got from my husband's Aunt up in East Liberty. This recipe calls for allspice and no chocolate. I would post it but I haven't unpacked all my recipe books since moving to Texas. My husband just presented me with 2 cans of chili.

Close and tasty but not Skyline. l will save this one. You definitely do not boil ground beef. lt is browned on the stove but over done. Then placed in pot of water in cooler allowing the grease to separate and solidify for easy removal. The remaining cooked beef is the base from which Skyline chili begins. As l make at home just strain and continue with the cooking process. For you Dinks arguing about what to put where. Onions beans and even the cheese are added separate and called ways. There is no 2 way because Cincinnati style chili is chili on a bed of spaghetti simply ordered as spaghetti chili. The numbers start with the additional toppings. 3 way is spaghetti chili and cheese. 4 way is a 3 way with the addition of onions or beans. It's a given if a 4 way is ordered onions are the item of choice unless the customer makes the change. Top a 4 way with beans to make it a 5 way. My question is can anyone send me a dozen Steak Hoagies from Pasquale's in Newport,KY. on Monmouth St. They were the best...

Great forum, just found you guys. I'm obsessed with duplicating this recipe!!! Is the "deep red in color liquid" tomato juice? beet juice?, cherry juice? pomegranate juice? Hawaiian Punch??? Red wine? Rose petal water? Guinness Stout? -- (trivia: actual color is red).

I have been making a batch of "Cincinnati Chile" every week for 5 months now. I'm driving my wife crazy! I have found that just when I think I have it, I'll try to tweak it a little more and ruin the batch to the point where I can't undue the damage from the last ingredient. I was convinced that the spice Mace was in it, but sadly I'm wrong. Thanks for all your help!

I bet the red liquid is red wine.

This is the closest recipe I've tried yet! Having knowledge of some of the real recipe (definitely not the entire recipe) I do know that there is no chocolate and they use granulated onion, not fresh. Something not stressed in this version is the importance of getting the proper consistency and the key is how the beef is handled prior to heating. There are a couple ways to make sure it comes out perfectly:

1) Place the beef in a stand mixer and slowly beat with the paddle or whisk attachment and slowly add the cold water, continuing to mix until it is a sloppy mixture with no clumps at all, several minutes.

OR:

2) Combine the beef and water in the pot (no heat) and mix like crazy with a wooden spoon or whisk and let the mixture slowly come to room temperature mixing occasionally.

The above methods will then allow you to start the cooking process with the absolute-fine consistency just like in the restaurants. It's a must!

I am a Cincy born Skyline Fanatic. This is a really good copycat! And no, beans are not part of the recipe ever, for Skyliners (Chili Dogs). The beans ate an after add always.

Haven't tried this recipe yet, put plan to. Just wanted to say that Cincinnati Chili is American-regional, and American immigrant food at its absolute finest! The Mediterranean immigrants to Cincinnati who invented this mashup of American ingredients with flavors from their homelands created absolute genius! Thanks to the Cincinnati natives and Skyline employees for sharing their ideas on flavors and ingredients! I plan to try all of them! Living in Seattle, we don't have a Skyline -- but one bar (Mike's Chili Parlor) has gotten famous recently for its version of Cincinnati Chili. Thanks again for sharing!

A couple of things here. For the Cincinnati natives that are all over the country, the seasoning packets will work. The Cincinnati Recipe packets distributed by Skytime is the original Lambrinides spice mixture. Whether you use this recipe which is very close or the spice packets the preparation is the key part. Most people don't know this but the chili in the recipe comes in large frozen blocks. It is added to if I remember correctly what is basically a large pressure cooker. I have used this recipe and the packets and cooked them in a pressure cooker and the taste is very similar. The key is to not brown the meat first. I break it up with a fork and then use an immersion blender to get the final consistency. We have a few locations here in Florida and what we make at home ends up tasting pretty much right on with theirs if we use tap water. If we use filtered water from the fridge it tastes more like home(Cincinnati). The Kahn's hotdogs really make a difference if you are making coneys. If you are making chili or coneys the thing that will be hardest to find is that electric orange cheese that they use. If you are following this recipe or using the packets the taste differences will be negligible. The real difference will come with the cheese. I haven't been able to find that stuff anywhere in the country and I have tried. If anyone else finds the cheese, please share.