This Food in History #20 Cincinnati Chili
Note: I forgot to mention, because I probably rushed this a bit too much, that the common reason a chili is a chili is the use of chili peppers.
Hello and welcome to another episode of This Food in History! I’m Soph and this month we are visiting a food that can start fights in some places in Ohio, Cincinnati Chili! A minced meat chili that seems closer to an Italian bolognese than a Texas bowl O’ Red, Cincinnati chili comes served on hot dogs, spaghetti, fries or in a simple bowl. A heated question in Southwest Ohio is if you prefer Gold Star or Skyline.
So where did this come from, and is it chili?
Let’s first talk about what a chili is. In America when we say chili, we are talking about a dish of stewed vegetables, meats, spices and more, not the pepper. Chile peppers are from the American continents though! I have found multiple sources citing that chile peppers were domesticated and harvested by native tribes. I have found multiple sources stating this as early as 8000 BC, to as late as 6000 BC. One states modern day Argentina, some say the Andean region of Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. Most sources state in Mexico, but all seem to agree that it was the ancient Mesoamerica civilizations that started the domestication of chile peppers. Mayans and Aztec cultures both consumed chile peppers and they included the peppers in important religious rituals and ceremonies.
Chile peppers were found to have medicinal and supernatural properties and became bred to enhance these traits. The spicy heat of the peppers caused this association and beliefs that it could ward off evil spirits, act as a conduit between humans and gods, as well as provide protection. In Aztech mythos we can find their god of fire and creativity, Xiuhtecuhtli (she-wa-teh-KWA-tlee), associated with chile peppers.
It seems Old Chrissy Columbus is to thank for the spread of chile peppers after this point to places all over the world after his arrival in 1492. Chile peppers were added to trade routes and started making appearances in places like China, Korea, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, the Middle East, Africa, and more.
Now that everyone is trading and cooking chile peppers, let’s jump ahead to chili’s birth.
This part is equally mixed. I found a few different major origins people point to so let’s unravel what we can.
Rather than a documented start of chili, we have local legends and stories that lead to different sources of chili. These also seem to battle for true origins centered on different definitions of chili.
We have origins that come out of Mexico and South America due to their access to chile peppers and cooking stews with them. We do have evidence of this as far back as ancient civilizations as mentioned with the domestication of chile peppers, but these are often considered flavorful stews, mole, and more while not being chili exactly. We can at best, consider these dishes to be precursors that allowed for the creation of chili. This is especially prevalent when comparing the Texas bowl o’ red chili that is considered the definitive chili origin for this region and is the birth of modern day chili. It’s also the State dish of Texas as of May 24, 1977. Chili con carne is a Tex Mex dish that has a couple key parts for its origins.
The oldest Southwestern lore calls on the mystic Lady in Blue, Sister María de Ágreda. She lived in Spain and is said to never have left but she claims to have used hypnotic visions to evangelize people in the New World. In 1692, Jumano Indians from the desert in West Texas told stories of being baptized by a lady in blue that came to them. They were also taught a fiery red stew which can be identified as chili con carne. Spanish priests were against this stew and called it the Soup of the Devil and preached against indulging in it. However it had the opposite effect by being suppressed and lead to the version eaten on the trails by cowboys.
Historian Everette Lee DeGolyer points us towards those cowboys made of Natives/Mexicans and the Forty-niners seeking gold on their trails towards California in the mid 1800s. A journal entry was made by one such gold seeker about a dish the Mexicans made on the trail:
I will tell how beef is prepared for a long journey. Take twenty-five pounds of beef and pounds of lard and of pepper, and procure the assistance of one or more Mexicans, and they will, by the process of cutting and pounding, so mix these articles that no fear need be apprehended of its preservation in all kinds of weather, and salt and pepper and lard become useless, as those ingredients are already a part of every meal you make on this mixture. A small pinch of this meat, thrown into a pan or kettle of boiling water with a little flour or corn-meal thickening, will satisfy the wants of six men at any time; and it is a dish much relished by all. In George W. B. Evans’ book, Mexican Gold Trail: The Journal of a Forty-Niner.
On these trails chili bricks were made which were just starters for chili’s. Boil them and you'll have your meal. This is similar to bouillon cubes for soups today. Chili was a perfect hardy meal for making these long trips so it makes sense as an origin. The addition of Mexicans teaching the dish leads credence to the ranchers as the origin since we know that stews and sauces from Mexico are a credible source thanks to their years cooking with chili peppers.
Other sources point to San Antonio for the origin of chili con carne. It is said immigrants from the Canary Islands brought chili with them in the early 1700s. J. C Clopper wrote about this San Antonio chili in 1928 and described it as “a kind of hash with nearly as many peppers as there are pieces of meat – this is all stewed together."
We can also find origins claiming a group of women called the lavanderas (washerwomen) travelled with the Mexican army in the 1830s and 40s doing the washing and cooking for soldiers. The legend says their washing pots served as cooking pots as well and they made stew with venison and goat.
In 1860 we also have inmates of the Texas Prisons claiming they created chili con carne. Their gruel on the inside was made with the cheapest ingredients so beef was hacked fine and spices and chile peppers were boiled in to make it edible. Called Prisoner’s Plight it was a status symbol and inmates rated jails based on the quality. It’s said that some freed people would write in to get the recipe as they missed the taste.
While various sources point in different places for the origins of that first chili con carne, the idea of how chili became popular and spread is a lot less varied. There are three main sources I see pointed to for the wide spread adaptation of chili that also leads to many variations across the United States.
We can first look at the Chili Queens. Mexican women had stands in Military Plaza, San Antonio and sold chili with tamales, beans, and tortillas. A historian Robb Walsh says ‘Soldiers, travelers, cattlemen, and others congregated at the plaza for the dish.’ These outdoor chili stands were fixtures in San Antonio until the government shut them down. The last ones closed in the 1940s.
One of these chili stands however took part in the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. This introduced people outside of Texas to chili and allowed it to spread across the nation with variations on the Texas Red, chili con carne. We also see the spread attributed to Lyman T Davis who founded Wolf Brand Chili sold in cans and William Frederick Gebhardy who made the dried chili blend of spices.
As said, this spread of the idea of chili helped regional variations pop up. Springfield style adds beans that you will never find in a true Texas chili, and plenty of fat is kept on the meats in their chili.
We see Spanish influences in chilis with the addition of tomatoes and frying the vegetables beforehand (called sofrito), and introduction of cumin, oregano, onions, and garlic to the spice mix.
So we finally come to the topic of today’s video, Cincinnati Chili. It was popularized by Macedonian immigrants Tom and John Kiradjieff when they arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio and opened the Empress which would eventually lead to the famous Skyline Chili. Here they served their meat sauce on top of coney dogs and added spaghetti to the mix.
What sets their chili apart from the other chili parlors open at this time is the spice mix in the resulting chili that is served. Using their roots, this chili was actually a popular sauce back home called Saltsa kima. This is a tomato and ground beef sauce with cinnamon, allspice, and cloves that is closer to an Italian bolognese. Makaronia me kima is this sauce served on spaghetti. The brothers used their home to include paprika, and chocolate in the sauce.
**The family claims there is no chocolate in their recipe despite many believing it, according to the book "The Authentic History of Cincinnati Chili" by Dann Wollert. Pick this up if you'd like a really in depth look into the business side of Cincinnati chili, the many different parlors in the area, and more!**
It is said that when they sold this as Greek food, they did not get any takers, but calling it chili allowed for the business to grow.
While chili on coneys wasn’t a new recipe either, with Michigan and New York City selling these as well, the Empress was the first in its area selling this type of sauce which was unique from the more traditional chili parlors. That said, even the Cincinnati 3 way wasn’t unique to the Empress as it can be found on menus in other restaurants around the same time and before the Empress offered cheese to top their spaghetti and chili. An interview with Tom Kiradjieff’s son Joe tells us that a customer asked for the cheese to be added, as it was served in other parlors like the Weinand’s Chili also on Vine Street. Weinand’s Chili was German in origin but sold what they called authentic Mexican chili. Down the street another German, The Manoff family owned Hamburger Heaven and their chili recipe would become Gold Star Chili (Skyline’s main competitor in Southwest Ohio) and the Manoff Family sold theirs as Mexican Chili in the 40s and 50s.
The Empress adapted for local taste and the local names for their dishes and it took off and grew in popularity in Cincinnati and eventually became a staple type of chili. This version of chili even took off in places like Oklahoma when a Greek immigrant brought it to Tulsa and served coney’s at Coney Island, later named Coney I-Lander. We can also find Cincinnati chili in Washington at Mike's Chili Parlor as seen on Guy Fierri’s Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. The founder is also from Greece and brought their sauce to Washington.
So does this make Cincinnati chili, chili? Well, its origins are completely outside the path of other, more well known chili types. It did not originate from Mexican or Texas natives. It does not use the same spice palate or rules. The main thing it has in common is the cooking method and the name. You’ll easily find people that do not consider it an authentic chili, but heck some say that any chili with beans isn’t a real chili either. One of the first chili cook off contests in Texas in 1952 has the rule that no beans could be in the chili. Joe E. Cooper, author of a definitive book on chili called, “With or Without Beans – An Informal Biography of Chili” chaired the event and was quoted as saying this rule was to “ restore chili’s lost prestige in things gastronomic. The noble institution of a bowl of chili must not be abandoned to perish on the vine. Real, sure-enough Texas-style chili must have the strength to chin itself and possess the authority of a Marine buck sergeant.” Since Cincinnati chili lacks beans, it would have qualified.
The cool thing about chili is the variations that we have which are influenced by their region and access to ingredients. Chili has taken a life of its own to grow with the needs of the people who want a warm meal, stewed together with ingredients and spices that give it depth of flavor and a kick in the mouth. Cincinnati chili continued the tradition of blending cultures together in a pot and helped grow the uses of chili while keeping the simple bowl always present.
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Cites:
https://www.allrecipes.com/longform/history-of-chili/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CH041
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https://historycooperative.org/origin-of-chili/
https://news.ua.edu/2024/11/ua-research-traces-chili-pepper-roots/
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/where-was-chili-invented
https://www.casichili.net/history-of-chili.html
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https://www.seriouseats.com/guide-to-chili-styles-types-of-chili-recipes
https://www.xlntfoods.com/cookbook-recipes/a-brief-history-of-chili-con-carne
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https://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/01/19/a-brief-history-of-chili-con-carne/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltsa_kima
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https://dannwoellertthefoodetymologist.wordpress.com/2020/10/02/who-really-invented-the-threeway/
https://www.heatsupply.nl/en/where-do-the-first-chili-peppers-come-from/
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https://freerangeamerican.us/chili-queens-of-san-antonio/
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