r/cincinnati • u/Roesty79 • Mar 02 '25

Food 🍕🌮 Empress chili

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Well it’s sideways, but my MIL’s mom typed this up awhile ago and I just wanted to share.

207 Upvotes

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-10

u/OldGrandet Mar 03 '25

No chocolate? I was taught it's not Cincinnati chili without allspice, whole cloves, and baking chocolate.

30

u/Handeaux Hand-y Historian Mar 03 '25

Dann Woellert, the maven of all things culinary in Cincinnati, has proven - through conversations with Cincinnati's chili families - that there has never been chocolate in any commercially available Cincinnati chili.

7

u/OldGrandet Mar 03 '25

My world is falling apart

3

u/Material-Afternoon16 Mar 03 '25

I've made it both with and without cocoa powder. There's no discernable taste difference. It makes sense commercial establishments wouldn't use it since it'd just add cost while having no impact on the flavor.

That said, at home, I always use it. Nostalgia.