Zweigles Hot Meat Sauce and Chili Mix

This has directions to make both Hot Meat Sauce and Hot Spicy Chili. If you're making meat sauce you combine this with meat and water. Pretty much everything you need is in the packet. However, if you're making chili there's a lot more stuff involved. You only use half a packet, diced tomatoes, ketchup, chili powder, beans, salt, and of course meat and water. I didn't buy this to have to get my own spices out. I think the only recipe I'll make is one that's all inclusive in the packet.

I didn't have high hopes for this because there's not much in the way of interesting spices in the ingredients besides cinnamon. Cutting open the package that's pretty much all you can smell.

It wanted me to brown 1.5 pounds of meat, but the package was 1.18 pounds. I left a little grease in even though it said to drain. As a result of the under weighed meat, this came out a little spicier than it normally would have, but I think it would have still been spicy even with the right amount of meat.

The cook time is 20 minutes, but I think it needed to go longer to cook out some more of the water. It's a little bit thin of a sauce.

Flavorwise all I can taste is cinnamon and heat. It could use some more salt. It could use something else to balance out the flavor besides cinnamon.

Ingredients: cayenne pepper, chili powder, (chili peppers, cumen, oregano, garlic, salt), cinnamon, salt, onion, black pepper, garlic.

PS - They spelled cumin wrong on the package, not me.

Steak 'N Shake Chili with Beans

Opening the can this really smells like Hormel (that's a bad thing). The color kind of looks like vomit. It's not meaty brown, it's not red from the spice or oil, it's more like a medium dark tan or almost rust colored. You can see chunks of meat and lots of beans.

After cooking in the microwave it's two colors.. part of that vomit color (which is the less hot portion) and the outer part of it is dark like diarrhea (the warmer cooked part).

Flavor is average at best. There's a mild heat that you can notice from the peppers. Nothing exotic in here like cinnamon, cloves, or other stuff like that. Pretty straight forward chili. Mushy texture, not quite as thick as a milkshake, but it made me think of one.

Going to the website on the back of the package one will notice how extremely bad it is. News button? Gives an error message. Contact button? Reports a fatal error. Administrator button? Why would an end user need to see that.

Not something I'll be ordering again. This pretty much follows my thoughts about actual Steak 'N Shake locations. I wrote a rant on Yelp! about one that opened up in my area. You can order through their website.  They advertise a bunch of burgers.. Guacamole Steakburger? Jalapeno Crunch? Western BBQ? Yes please. They have NONE of that. They only have burgers and burgers with cheese. Maybe bacon also, but none of the cool burgers they advertise. I checked in 2016, and also in 2017 and they still haven't fixed their menu. False advertising. More like Steak and Fake.

Ingredients: water, beef, beans, modified cornstarch, chili seasoning (chili peppers, spices [including paprika and spice  extratives], cumin, dehydrated garlic, salt), salt, soy lecithin.

Backpacker's Pantry Cincinnati Style Chili

Cincinnati Recipe Original Chili

If you've seen my review on Skyline Chili, this chili is very similar. Most of what I said there applies here: similar texture, color, smell, etc. It was less spicy than Skyline and I had wished Skyline to be spicier. I must say this chili didn't make me feel bad afterwards.

Someone pointed out to me that these might be made in the same plant so that might be why they're so similar. Their website says Cincinnati Recipe Chili, Inc. and I find some reference to Skyline Chili, Inc Doing Business As Cincinnati Recipe, Inc. Missing the world Chili in there, but darn close.

If you're ever in Cincinnati, I think Blue Ash makes a better chili and they have a few locations, but as far as cans of Cincinnati chili that I've tried so far, this one has my vote.

Ingredients: beef, water, tomato sauce (water, tomato paste), 2% or less of the following: corn starch, salt, dehydrated onion, spices, dextrose, modified corn starch, paprika, natural flavors.

Woodward Ave Michigan Style Hot Dog Chili

I like that this has a pull top. At first glance I noticed what appeared to be lots of meat, some large tomato chunks, and you could see the spices throughout. Looked like this was going to be pretty tasty.

After heating, I poured it into a bowl to eat with chips and have a second can I want to try on hot dogs. It has a good consistency and is definitely a meaty taste. You can tell it's a mix of beef and something else. It's flavorful without being over powered or gritty with spices. It doesn't taste overly salty either, which is good. The only thing I would have liked was a little heat. I would rate this very mild. That's not going to stop me from ordering a few more cans in the near future, though.

I like that the serving size is one can, not that it matters, because either way I'm definitely finishing this.

Ingredients: water, beef and pork, diced tomatoes in juice (tomatoes, tomato juice, citric acid, calcium chloride), modified food starch, textured vegetable protein (soy protein concentrate, caramel color), salt, chili powder (chili pepper, spices), spices, sugar, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder.

Texas Tailgate Hot Chili Sauce

Palmetto Cheese - Original

This spread is fantastic. It's cheese with pimentos, mayonnaise, and spices. A tad salty would be the only draw back. It has a nice thick consistency and spreads on a hot dog roll nicely.

The supermarket I went to also carried Price's. I would highly recommend this brand over Price's. Price's has salad dressing in it and tastes absolutely disguisting. Price's does make a "Southern Style" which has mayonnaise as well, but I've never tried that one.

Ingredients: sharp cheddar cheese (cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes, annatto color, potato starch, corn starch, powdered cellulose, natamycin [a natural mold inhibitor]), mayonnaise (soybean oil, water, whole eggs and egg yolks, vinegar, salt, sugar, lemon juice, natural flavors, calcium disodium edta [to protect quality]), cream cheese (pasteurized cultured milk and cream, salt, stabilizers [xanthan, carob bean, and/or guar gums]), pimentos, contains 2% or less of: onion, maltodextrin, cultured dextrose, sodium diacetate, salt, nisin preparation, egg white lysozyme, spices, potassium sorbate [preservative].

Helmbold's Hot Dog Sauce