Skylike Chili - Skyline Chili Copycat

Tornado Ali's Note:

A copycat of Skyline Chili, true Cincinnati chili, except it's less greasy! I combine all the dry spices times ten and keep the "Skyline Spice Mix" in a jar cannister. One batch of chili will use 3/8 cup of spice mix. The spice mix is also tasty as a meat rub for steak, pork and chicken.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 4 cups beef stock
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 2 -3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• ½ ounce gratedunsweetened chocolate or 2 ¾ tablespoons cocoa
• 2 teaspoons instant minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground red pepper or ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 bay leaves or 1⁄8; teaspoon bay leaf powder

Toppings

• chopped onion (optional)
• finely shredded cheddar cheese (certainly NOT optional)
• kidney bean (optional)

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef and onion.
2. Drain.
3. Add beef stock to beef mixture and simmer 10 minutes.
4. Add remaining 13 ingredients, simmer uncovered 1 hour.
5. Remove bay leaf, skim off extra fat.
6. Serve over hot spaghetti, or hot dogs in buns for chili dogs.
7. Top with plenty of cheese and other optional toppings.

Reviews

[Chef #714794]

A good Cincinnati chili but not Skyline. I've been transplanted to the left coast from Cincinnati and lived on Skyline while there. I made a 3 lb batch using 93/7 ground beef and these are the changes I made. In a crock pot, 3 lbs of 93/7 ground beef, 5 cups beef stock, 3 cups grated onion, 3 (8 oz) cans of tomato sauce, 5 TBS chili powder, 5 TBS unsweetened cocoa, 1 TBS granulated garlic, 3 tsp seasoning salt, 4 TBS soy sauce, 4 bay leaves. The rest of the ingredients of Tornado Ali's recipe I followed for a 2 lb batch. I just threw it all together in the crock and cooked it for 4 hours stirring every half hour to keep the consistency of the ground beef grainy and soupy. That's the way Skyline is. Oh, and by the way, a family member came up from Cincy who lives off Skyline and rated the above adjusted recipe a 9 out of 10. Thanks, Tornado Ali, for posting this. There will be lots of Skyline Copy at my place.

[ARathkamp]

We are native "Cincinnatians" and have the pleasure of having Skyline whenever we want. This chili, however, is VERY close to the original. The only change I made was to put the browned beef and onion mixture (after it cooled) into the food processor and just pulsed it a few times to get the right consistancy (there should not be any lumps). Spouse (the spice lover) suggested more cayenne or cumin as he felt the original had a spicier after taste, but I thought it was great as is. We'll make often!

[sonyach]

Not exactly skyline, but definitely a great substitute. I made a few minor changes to suit my taste. I used beef broth instead of stock, nutmeg instead of allspice, doubled the salt, added 1 tsp of paprika, a bit of extra chili powder (maybe 1/2 tsp), added two 14 oz can drained kidney beans directly to it. I browned the ground beef and threw everything into the crockpot and cooked it on high for four hours. If I made it again, I'd cut down on the beef broth by 1/2, to make a thicker chili. I served it over spaghetti with finely chopped onions and lots of shredded cheddar cheese. My husband who grow up in Cincinnati, gave it the thumbs up. This is definitely going into my regular dinner rotation.