Cincinnati Style chili is very good.

@toggery: It's not sweeter though, I mean it can be but mine is always spicy.

What's highlighted: 'shit is good'. Nope. In all seriousness, I have no idea. This reminds me, you know what's good? Frito pies. I didn't even know what it was called until I saw someone mention it on Giant Bomb, but I've had it since I was a kid, and it's one of those go-to good dinners if nothing else comes to mind. I think it's probably because my brother picked it out of a recipe book when we were kids, but we always call it Tom's stuff. It just stuck I guess; I don't know where it came from in actuality.

I feel like there are lots of Cincinnati area giant bomb fans. It seems like too many people have tried the chili and there's always podcast emails from cincinnatians. I really liked skyline as a kid. Moved away for 7 years and came back and I just can't eat em like I used to. They're just about white castle levels of greasy and made with such cheap ingredients.

Also LaRosa's is definitely NOT as good as I remember

Cincinnati chili sure does get tons of hate. Whatever, I love the stuff.

When I was a kid, we had a Russian exchange student stay with us for a few months. He brought Cincinnati chili with him when he returned home. A few weeks later, he contacted us asking if we could send some to his family in Russia, because they really liked the stuff.

Also, cinnamon by itself is not sweet. When I think Cincinnati chili, sweet isn't anywhere in my description of it. I'm pretty sure that most recipes don't include added sugar.

Checking out the ingredients, I am trying to come up with a way to say and fail pretty much saying how the combination when cooked together wouldn't possibly be at least pleasing to the palate. Looks like a cheesy heartier version of Spaghetti with mild sweetness.

Guys, we made the front page of Giant Bomb.

I'm not sure that this is actually an affirmation of the quality of Cincinnati chili as much as it is an indictment of generally terrible Russian food.

@darth_navster: I have a new respect for Mary Kish after that.

I've always lived in the Tri-State area and, as such, have always had a fondness for Skyline. It's a tasty chili based on Mediterranean recipes. Most people just get kind of pissy about it because they mistake it for chili con carne, despite the fact that there are different types of chili. It's the same as refusing to call anything pizza that isn't Neapolitan pizza.

This was the best on the shelf store bought chili I've had, and the only that remotely tasted and had the texture of homemade. Too bad they discontinued it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xzzCOg3NRM

As someone who lived 15 minutes from a Skyline Chili I just wanna say:

Fuck Skyline Chili

Cincinnati Chili is closer to a molé and it is stupendous

I nearly shat myself. Dude it's made with the leftover hamburgers, and it is super gross.

@ragnar_mike: Are you calling people from N. Jersey nasty?

Looks like bland mid west food. I'd eat it.

I agree with Crazy, Wendy's Chili is pretty good.

@disco_drew22: I grew up in Cincinnati and have eaten it all my life. It always used to give me, um, intestinal problems. At some point though, I must've built up an immunity.

Skyline is so very good.

here in the uk there’s really only one kind of chili, but i was curious after hearing bombfolks talk about american chili. so i took a skyline chili copycat recipe off the internet, added buffalo sauce, some kidney beans, black beans and dumped it on some nachos. it rules

@drbroel said:

It's about the cheese. It's less cheese than it looks like. It's shredded in way to make it as fluffy as possible. Its very hollow on the inside.

WOW That's a lot of damn cheese. How do you even...?...?...?

Don't get me wrong I'd try it. But I feel as if years are being taken off my life just looking at this picture.

The right answer to "which is better Skyline or Goldstar?" is Camp Washington Chili or Blue Ash Chili. I miss Cincinnati chili since I moved to Columbus. The canned stuff and my homemade attempts just don't measure up. Nothing better than stopping at Camp Washington Chili after a concert at Bogart's and getting a 4-Way with onions and two cheese coneys.

Cinci chili is good. Skyline is the way to go on that one. The secret ingredient in Skyline is a little bit of cinnamon. The secret ingredient in Goldstar is a little bit of chocolate.

Adding buffalo sauce would probably help a great deal in making it less bland. Also, dumping it on chips instead of noodles is a good idea to spare it from being the broke-ass spaghetti that Cincy chili is. What you're doing there is closer to a Frito pie, and Frito pie is fucking rad.

Let's further take note of the fact that it's pretty self-evident of the crappiness of Cincy chili that you can improve it dramatically by basically adding random crap to it in ways a college student with three ingredients in the pantry to work with would. (Not trying to take away from your recipe modifications, because I could see myself actually eating and enjoying what you made; just making a point.)

You can't truly enjoy Cincy chili without hot sauce and oyster crackers.

Fuck Cincinnati chill and fuck everyone who likes that filth.

That is filthy Pittsburgh talk!

Here's the thing... real chili doesn't have beans, so this stuff is actually more chili than most "chili".

Putting it on pasta, though? Fuck right off.

As a swede with an insatiable interest for american fast food, I’m simmering a batch right now. This is going to be interesting...

I find spaghetti as fast food weird. But I guess it’s all about the cheese and meat in the end.

I really don't want fine members of the international community getting the wrong idea about America, in case we need yall's help in some future war or something. but Cincinatti chilli is most certainly not "American fast food." Its a greasy, disgusting hot dog topping, mixed with cinnamon and dumped on top of pasta because, hell, why not, we're cheap and we already have it. If you super have the desire to enjoy food that is "sort of" popular in Cincinatti (which, for the record, is like the 4th coolest area in the 38th coolest state, so take their traditions with a grain of salt), by all means try away. But please do not besmirch an entire nation because of one city's mistakes.

We don't hold the whole "fermented herring in a can" thing against all Swedes, please do not make such broad assumptions yourself.

@cornfed40: Ohio is a terrible state I admit that. I can't agree with Cincinnati being the fourth best city in Ohio. I was born in Cleveland, raised in Cincinnati, briefly lived in Chillicothe, returned to Cincinnati, and now lives in Columbus. I rank Cincinnati the second best place Ohio. Columbus takes first, Cleveland third, Chillicoth and most of Ohio taking fourth, and Youngstown dead last.

...isn't that just a spin on bolognese sauce? I have no idea how anyone could be mad at that, other than the terminology of calling it chili.

Sounds pretty good to me.

Actually, that description isn't too far off. But people are hardcore about what is chili and what isn't.

I would admittedly take far less issue with the stuff if they didn't try to call it chili. It's annoying as all hell because chili isn't served on fucking noodles. That's like putting beef on sandwich bread and calling it a taco. It's a fundamental failure to remotely approximate the food it's claiming to be. If they called it "midwest spaghetti" or some crap, I'd be fine with that. However, it is not fucking chili.

I'm not even really a "no beans in chili" stickler like many are, either. Hell, that's not an entirely ridiculous/ruinous addition. Where Cincy "chili" massively faceplants is in largely replacing the actual chili of it with bullshit like cinnamon/allspice and then further neutering the dish with Worcestershire and vinegar. It transforms the entire dish from something deliciously spicy to this bland/semisweet crap. As if that weren't enough, they randomly toss it on pasta and dare to incorporate that as a required component of their "chili" recipe.

So, let's recap. First Cincy takes away the defining property of chili, then adds noodles to it like some goddamn hobo meal. Oh, but it's "chili"? Fuck that. Fuck everything about that. It should have been crystal-clear how shitty the whole concept was the moment it wasn't good enough to be eaten on its own in a fucking bowl, but no, Cincy just doubled down on this nightmare and just decided to insult another quality food in spaghetti bolognese by barfing their garbage on top of noodles, and they've been trying to convince the world (and themselves) that it's not a pile of shit ever since.

Thankfully, most aren't buying what they're selling.

I grew up in Columbus. Cincinnati chili is the worst. I am continuously shocked any Skyline can stay open in Cbus. Wendy's chili is amazing. Ohio is an adequate state.

@notnert427: Dude.

I'm rolling at god damn hobo meal. That is so good.

skyline is the best. it isn’t even really sweet and actually tastes best when spiced up. needs onions, oyster crackers, and mayb some mustard as well. there are also options for adding beans for the chili purists.

Skyline Chili is garbage food from a garbage city in a garbage state.

You want the best chili to put on top of things, you come to California and you go to Tommy's.

I went to college in Ohio and they had this stuff at a branded station in the dining hall and I'm pretty sure I never got it. Looked like it was for crazy people.

Skyline Chili > all other forms of chili. Though I have some family from Ohio and they absolutely can't stand it. I'm guessing if you grew up near it Skyline isn't a big deal.

I feel like Skyline chili isn't even really chilli at all. It's like sauce.

Cincinnati Chili rules

Skyline is not chili, it is a bad meat sauce.

Cincinnati chili is great, and LaRosa's is fine.