The 3-way Chili

In our house my husband reveres chili with passionate monogamy.  He is the only one who makes it and it has to be done in a very specific way.  Bastardizing it with pasta of any kind is near sacrilege.  (Interesting, because he's from Green Bay which touts its own brand of chili that includes spaghetti...which is how his mom makes it!)

When my Cincinnati friends told me about their chili that can be enjoyed as 3, 4, or 5-way, it caught my attention.  What on earth could this kinky, open minded chili be about?  Although it can be enjoyed as 3-way, it turns out that this chili with a cult following, also must be done in a very specific way.

If you've never heard of it, Skyline Chili is a chain of restaurants in Cincinnati, OH, founded in 1949 by a Greek immigrant.  The chili is a fine textured meat sauce with a very distinct flavor profile.  Although the official recipe is a highly guarded family secret, most agree that the sauce must contain chocolate and cinnamon which are common spices in Greek cuisine.  Because of Skyline's history and popularity, "Skyline" and "Cincinnati" style chili have become synonymous.

So what's this 3-way all about?  Cincinnati chili is traditionally enjoyed served over spaghetti noodles and topped with lots of finely shredded cheddar cheese. (Chili + noodles + cheese = three, get it?)  Sorry to disappoint any other notions of enjoying 3-way chili...though I can't imagine what that would even look like.  Add Red beans OR onions and now you have it 4-way.  Add both red beans AND onions, and now you have it 5-way.  If you can believe it there is even more to this madness.  Once plated it is common to squirt hot sauce across the top and cover the whole mess with salty oyster crackers.  Check out the Webner House blog for all of the specifics.

After consulting a friend of mine from Cincinnati, here is the recipe I use to make this wonderfully unique chili.  It is inspired by Skyline Chili Copycat from Food.com.

1 Qt water
2 lbs ground beef
2 med onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint (16 oz) tomato sauce
2 Tbls cider vinegar
1 Tbls worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp (rounded) ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 bay leaf
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne or ground red pepper
1/2 oz grated unsweetened chocolate or 3/4 Tbls unsweetened cocoa

Finely shredded cheddar cheese

1 lb spaghetti

Optional toppings:

Red Kidney beans

minced onion

oyster crackers

Sriracha hot sauce

1.  Fill saucepan with water.  Crumble raw ground beef in to pan of water. (Really, trust me).  It's okay if it's in clumps.  Bring water & meat to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat to a simmer.

2.  Add all remaining ingredients (except cheese & pasta).  Simmer uncovered 2-2 1/2 hours.  Remove bay leaf, skim off visible fat, and cool.  Best if left in refrigerator overnight before serving.  

I just added the beans right in to the chili before serving.

When ready to eat.  Cook up a pot of spaghetti noodles to al dente and drain.  Reheat chili.  Pile noodles on plate, top with chili sauce, followed by your choice of optional kidney beans and onion.  Finish off with a mound of finely shredded cheddar cheese.  Proceed with hot sauce and oyster crackers if you so desire and dig in!   

This chili can also be enjoyed in the same manner on hot dogs or over baked potatoes.  We enjoyed ours with a side of Stella's Hot Spicy Cheese rolls!

I make this chili when I have time to cook ahead and then portion it into freezer bags for use at a later date.  Makes it a quick and easy meal when you are short on time.  

**An important thing for you to know about me is that I am passionate about supporting local farmers and food producers.  Whenever I can I source my ingredients locally and will either list an item as such and include a link to the producer or put a list at the end of the post with the folks I bought my ingredients from.  If you ever want to know exactly where to get a food item locally, please don't hesitate to ask.  I would encourage you to give serious consideration to where your money is going and who you are supporting when you buy your food.  A smaller visible price tag on the front end is often NOT without a higher hidden price tag on the back end.  Another topic for another time, but if you want to know more in a fun way...watch Food, Inc.    (It's available on Netflix.)**

My sources for this meal:

• Ground beef- Jordandal Farms
• Onions & garlic came from my garden
• Spices- Penzey's
• Pasta- RP's pasta
• Cheddar cheese- Hook's Cheese

How to Survive Book Club and Throw a Great Depression party

I belong to a book club and it still astonishes me.  When my friend, Katie, invited me to join her book club a few years ago I said, "I would love to, but I don't read.  Thanks for thinking of me though."  Thankfully she encouraged me to come anyway, assuring me that not everyone reads the books every time.  I discovered that although many of the ladies do read the books, this was the most amazing group of women and I felt so blessed to have been invited to be a part of something so enriching.  Book or no book, I learn something new from these women every time we get together.  And, low and behold, I started reading.  I was quickly reminded however as to why I don't read.  My reading time starts after I've crawled in to bed for the night and it ends about two pages later when I fall asleep.  At this pace I would get through a book a year and I would have to go back and review periodically what I had already read, as I would start to forget the beginning.  So, I became an audiobook listener and it has forever changed my life.  I can now keep up with the fastest of readers and have shocked myself to be one of the members in the group who routinely finishes the book.  For you audiobook naysayers...you know who you are (E.I.S.)...don't knock it til you've tried it.  And, if you've tried it and still knock it, then, well, what can I say...it works for me.

As part of our monthly Book Club we all take turns hosting and the host gets to pick the book for her month.  I volunteered for November and the book I chose was "Rules of Civility" by Amor Towles.  It is set in 1930's-1940's and was a great read (by "read", I mean "listen").  I like to use my host months as an outlet for making lots of fun food to share with friends.  With our meeting date being just after Thanksgiving I was trying to build a menu around that...but I was having a hard time.  It just wasn't coming together and I figured no one really wanted to eat my Thanksgiving leftovers.  Finally a lightbulb went on and I decided to do a Depression Era cocktail party in honor of our book.  "Depression Era cocktail party" seems a bit like an oxymoron, but the truth is despite the devastation to so many, there was still a high society who had plenty of reason to drink more Gin.

I had a great time researching menus and foods from that time period.  I was astonished to see how many foods we are so familiar with were actually invented during the 30's & 40's.  The processed food era began much earlier than I realized...much to my chagrin.  I found The Food Timeline particularly educational and helpful in my planning.  And, believe it or not, there is a Great Depression Theme Party planning site out there.  Who'da thunk?

Now that I had some great ideas I got to work washing my grandmother's depression glass and polishing her silver serving ware.  I was admittedly nervous about actually using, and risking damaging, my precious crystal and glass antiques, but what good are they sitting on a shelf?  I'm sure  they were beaming with pride and smiling on the inside to be sparkling clean and being used in the way they were intended.  (Images of Disney's Beauty & the Beast now dancing in my head) I set the stage in our formal dining room complete with a lace table cloth, a side bar for classic Gin Martinis, and my iPod queued up with a couple of hours worth of Big Band music.  I even donned one of my favorite vintage 1940's dresses for the night.  It was shaping up to be a fun evening.

So what of my menu?  Well, here it is including links to the recipes I used.
Chicken Liver Pate (from B.A. Foodist)
Deviled Sardines
Deviled Ham spread (from Umami Girl)
Sherry Cheddar spread
Blue Cheese-Caramelized Shallot spread (made with Hook's Blue Cheese)
Apple-Salami Porcupine
Salmon & Caviar Finger Sandwiches (I made mine as open faced toasts)
Stella's Russian Black Bread & White Bread toasts
Celery
Assortment of Crackers
Assortment of olives stuffed with Hook's Blue Cheese, garlic, and pimentos
Death's Door Gin for our martinis
Maple Meringues (from Simply Sifted)
Gingerbread Cake  (see my Gingerbread post for my variations)


The food and drink was a hit and everyone had a good time.  We had a fruitful discussion of the book and our impressions of the lives of women of the time.  One such discussion was the idea of dressing your best no matter what you were doing.  The timeless vision of women from the 50's vacuuming in their heels and pearls.  Our grandmothers refusing to leave the house without lipstick.  Meanwhile, look how we've evolved.  Without intending to be superficial, I believe it's true that how you look on the outside effects how you feel on the inside.  This became ever more apparent to me as I was cleaning up after the party still in my swanky dress and heels.  I did have a soft buzz from the gin, but there was a new swagger in my step.  A kind of, hmmm, I feel kind of feminine and sexy, even though I'm picking up dirty dishes and packing away uneaten food.  Before the real dirty work began I doffed the dress and donned my fleece.  With the dress and heels went my swagger.  Not feeling so feminine and sexy in my baggy pj's.  Maybe there was something to all of the fuss of creating a beautiful and put together exterior, no matter what.  Although oppressive in some regards, I think my grandmother may have been channeling me for a moment to show me the unspoken possibilities the women of the time experienced.


One final thing to share with you is the book within the book.  George Washington's "Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation" is referenced and even read through in this novel.  It is worth your time to look it over.  I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned and reminded of.  Our world could use more of this.  Just a few more things I have learned from belonging to my book club.