Recipe File: Vegetarian Cincinnati Chili.

Whenever I cook at home in 2013, I'm taking the ancient recipe cards and transcribing them for future reference. Sometimes I'll post these recipes here. As often as possible, I try to cook with beer, so expect it. Also, most of the recipes I cook on a regular basis are vegetarian, or have been been changed to exclude meat. 

Vegetarian Cincinnati Chili

4 – 6 “medium” servings

This recipe is from my mother’s file, via her next-door-neighbors (the Mulloys), and revised extensively by me. Kidney beans take the place of the ground beef, so if you take your Cincinnati Chili without beans, this recipe may not be for you.

Chili fixings

Olive oil or other cooking oil

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

12-16 ounces beer … malty beers work better: Red Ale, Brown Ale, Doppelbock and Dark Lager are examples, but if you have some Rauchbier taking up space … feel free to get creative.

1 & ½ teaspoons apple vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 & ½ teaspoons allspice
1 & ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 can Rotel (habanero; 10-oz)
1 can Rotel (green chili; 10-oz)

3 cans (16 oz) of dark kidney beans, rinsed

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Saute chopped garlic and onions in oil until tender.

Add the remainder of the ingredients except kidney beans. Bring to a boil, then lower the temperature and simmer for two hours.

After two hours, add beans, again bringing chili to a boil before reducing temperature to simmer. Cook for another 45 minutes.

To serve

Boil and drain a box of spaghetti
Grate some cheddar cheese
Chop a couple of onions
Have on hand some hot sauce on the Tabasco model and a box of oyster crackers

Serve the chili atop the spaghetti and dress it out.