cooking chili and making sauce with a candy bar in pot?

Well, doesn't Gold Star put chocolate in their chili?

[Robin Garr]

Well, doesn't Gold Star put chocolate in their chili?

Cincinnati chili does not usually contain chocolate, Carla, although anything is possible.

The characteristic ingredient in Cincy chili, though, is usually an aromatic cinnamon/clove/nutmeg vibe that marks its heritage in Greek spaghetti sauce.

Almost every recipe I have seen for making Cincinnati chili contains unsweetened cocoa. Not actually chocolate, but it does have the presence. I love chocolate, but not in my chili and that is why I could care less for Cincinnati chili. BTW, I am in Pittsburgh right now and their chili is not Texas style, nor Cincy, nor the Ville style. But I do like it a lot. Especially with a piece of room temp italian bread smothered with real butter. Can you say Yummo?

The first thing I thought of was the cocoa. I always use a little cocoa in my chili, and I suppose a candy bar would do pretty much the same thing, although a candy bar might add a little something like creamy something, depending on the bar.

Cocoa adds a taste that doesn't have the same taste of something like a milk chocolate. Now, there are many types of chocolate bars. I prefer mine to be 70% cocoa or above. Throw that into chili and it "might" be good. Throw a Nestles in there and I say no way. Really, isn't this all about personal taste? No right, no wrong.

[Robin Garr]

Almost every recipe I have seen for making Cincinnati chili contains unsweetened cocoa.

May be so. People come up with the wildest recipe ideas, and sure, it would work. Think about bitter chocolate in Mexican molé sauces.

Trust me on this, though: The original, commercial Cincinnati chili parlors did not use chocolate. They were all Greeks and Bulgarians, and the "chili" they started selling as immigrants after WWII was Eastern European meat sauce for spaghetti. Aromatic spices, yes. Chocolate, no.

i don't know how or where it started but my family as been putting a chocolate bar in chili for as long as i can remember. i think it gives it a just barely noticeable sweetness. since i like my chili ALOT hotter than anyone else in the family i always just amp up the amount of chocolate according to how spicy the chili tastes. somehow it works!

Doogie - if the chili you had is like my Pittsburgh grandma's, the secret ingredient is whole cloves and s-l-o-w cooking. I still use her original recipe.

Doogie - if the chili you had is like my Pittsburgh grandma's, the secret ingredient is whole cloves and s-l-o-w cooking. I still use her original recipe.

I JUST ate some Pittsburgh chili at Primanti's. I mean this past weekend. May have had clove, but I didn't feel it. Is that real Burgh chili? Now, tonite I am making my own recipe chili, Yummo. No cloves, lotsa Bloemer's.

Almost every recipe I have seen for making Cincinnati chili contains unsweetened cocoa.

May be so. People come up with the wildest recipe ideas, and sure, it would work. Think about bitter chocolate in Mexican molé sauces.

Trust me on this, though: The original, commercial Cincinnati chili parlors did not use chocolate. They were all Greeks and Bulgarians, and the "chili" they started selling as immigrants after WWII was Eastern European meat sauce for spaghetti. Aromatic spices, yes. Chocolate, no.

Linkage, please. Almost everthing I find on the web has an unsweetened cocoa component as I stated earlier.

[Robin Garr]

Linkage, please. Almost everthing I find on the web has an unsweetened cocoa component as I stated earlier.

Sorry, got no link. This is actual knowledge as a local food writer since 1980, based on interviews with the principals.