Cincinnati Chili

Ingredients

• 2 lb minced beef, 80 percent lean
• 4 cups cold beef stock or water
• 1 large onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 6 oz tin tomato paste
• 2 tbsp chilli powder
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 lb dried spaghetti
• 12 oz mild cheddar
• 1 medium onion, to serve
• 14 oz tin red kidney beans
• Oyster crackers, to serve

Before you cook

• Peel the large onion and grate it on the coarse side of a box grater.
• Peel and mince the garlic.
• Peel the second onion and dice it very finely for serving.
• Grate the cheddar on the finest shredding blade you have, so it melts on contact.
• Drain and rinse the kidney beans.

Steps

1. Put the minced beef in a large pot and pour the cold stock over it.
2. Break the meat apart with a whisk or your fingers until it is completely dispersed in the liquid with no lumps left.
3. Set the pot over medium-high heat and bring it to a boil, stirring often.
4. Stir in the grated onion, garlic and tomato paste.
5. Add the chilli powder, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, cumin, nutmeg, bay leaves, cayenne and salt.
6. Lower the heat until the surface just shivers.
7. Simmer the chili uncovered for 2 hours and 30 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes.
8. Watch the texture: it should end up as a loose, spoonable sauce, not a thick stew, so add a splash of water if it tightens too far.
9. Stir in the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce in the last 10 minutes.
10. Skim the orange fat off the surface with a wide spoon.
11. Fish out the bay leaves and taste for salt.
12. Boil the spaghetti in well-salted water until just tender, then drain it.
13. Warm the kidney beans in a small pan.
14. Coil a nest of spaghetti onto each plate and ladle the chili over it.
15. Spoon the beans over the chili and scatter the diced raw onion on top.
16. Bury the whole plate under a mound of the finely shredded cheddar and serve with oyster crackers.