Man, what a weather day, huh?
We’ve lost power here a couple of times already, thanks to our current 70° weather hitting the trailing edge of that vicious front, causing all the hate and discontent for everyone else. We were in a tornado watch, to boot. But once this sucker blows through this afternoon, our temps fall off a cliff and, while I don’t get treated to any frozen precipitation falling from the sky, the ground will be icy cold when the temperature bottoms out in the low 20s° or so early Monday morning.
Almost a 50-degree swing in less than 24 hours is enough to make anyone want something warm for the tummy.
And, as I promised last spring I’d share how I make my Cincinnati chili once the weather turned good and cold, well, it’s as if everything came together in perfect serendipity.
Brooklyn’s catching it.
Right now in snow covered Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/2q9QAi0fKh
— Heshie Brody (@heshie) January 25, 2026
North Carolina’s already gotten it and waiting on Round Two (little brother Crusader outside of Winston Salem is holding steady, thank goodness.).
Here is an update from Charlotte, NC after round 1 of the winter storm has moved through. Temps are dropping and the worst is yet to come. The Ice Storm Warning continues in effect until tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/6voUFtPVHI
— Aaron Jayjack (@aaronjayjack) January 25, 2026
As always, let prudence and your parents’ voice in your head dictate.
Don’t be out in any of this unless absolutely necessary.
The accumulating sleet, snow and some freezing rain has created problems for many of our western NC roadways. Please stay of the roads by all means possible. Most will see additional freezing rain before this all tapers of late tonight.#ncwx #cltwx #winterstorm #avlwx #boonewx pic.twitter.com/RgQlVSdypo
— Noel Rehm Weather (@NoelRehm) January 25, 2026
That goes for damn near three-quarters of the country. The temperatures are insane. And they are lethal.
📉 🌡Brutally cold air behind main polar front will completely freeze solid Tennessee by this evening with temperatures of 5°F in Memphis and 14°F in Nashville. pic.twitter.com/TeMqjQCYQg
— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) January 25, 2026
So think of any little animals you might feed around your neighborhood – a box sideways on the porch with old towels and turned away from the wind can be a good shelter, too, when a feral has nothing.
Get your chores done, stay inside, and, if you have the ingredients on hand?
Here’s what I just made.
It’s my riff on an decades old Saveur magazine recipe and will have the house smelling like a meat eater’s Christmas cookie. Wiki says that this version, so very different from the Southwest ones, originated when a couple of Greek immigrants tried something a little different to expand the customer base for their restaurant.
They took those traditional Aegean/Mediterranean spices often used in their dishes, and adapted them for a ‘soupier’ meat sauce they served over noodles.
Mine isn’t exactly traditional, but it is pretty God dang delicious. And if you’re intrigued, at least you’ll have an idea if it’s something you want to take a whack at. The innerwebs are full of other versions.
Amounts here are for one normal batch – I’m making a double because it freezes beautifully and I’m a working girl, I don’t care what David says.
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 med yellow onions, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I use a 93/7 mix)
- 2 T chili powder
- 1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
- 1/2 t ground allspice
- 1/2 t ground cumin
- 1 t dried oregano
- 1/2 t ground nutmeg
- 1/2 ground celery seed (mash the seeds if you only have whole)
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 2 cups tomato puree
- 1 T unsweetened cocoa
What I do is load all those dried aromatics into a small bowl and mix them thoroughly.
Start browning the hamburger, chopping up the chunks that form as it cooks.
In the meantime, get cranking on those veggies. I usually brown the hamburger over a medium-low heat, so nothing gets ahead of me on the stove as I wrestle with these frickin’ garlic skins.
If you want, you can go really fine with the onion, and it will almost disappear in the finished product.
At the point where there is still some pink in the meat, I drain off as much of the fat as I can. Even with the lean mix I use, there can still be ten to fifteen tablespoons to take out, and I don’t really want to waste any of the flavor on the.
So when you’ve got it drained off (if you need or want to drain it), dump the onions in first, mix them in good, and stir for a couple of minutes until they start to get that sweating look. Then add your garlic.
Get them all happy happy, working everything by moving them around every couple of minutes, plus keep breaking up those last chinks of meat that might have formed. You want the hamburger to be thoroughly cooked, almost to the point of being browned, and the onions will have become transparent, letting you know they’re done as well.
Now, the kitchen probably smells like a million bucks, but that ain’t nuthin’ yet. Take your little bowl of mixed up aromatics, and dump it over the meat mixture. Stir everything thoroughly together so that the heat will hit every last one of those spices. It will bloom the natural oils in them.
Once I’ve got it all mixed in – this was where major dad trotted into the kitchen with an ‘OMG something smells so good‘ – I do a couple of minutes of stir, let it sit, stir, let it sit.
You’ll see it start to come together, and then like magic it gets this shiny, lucious looking glow to it.
That’s your cue to grab the tomato puree, some water, the bay leaf, and salt and pepper.
I’ll dump the puree in first and then fill the empty can at least halfway with water. I don’t want to waste a single bit of that goodness, either.
Stir, stir, stir. Eyeball the consistency and see if you want to add more water. Now’s the time to add some salt and pepper to taste. Remember, it’s got to sit for a bit and burble away, so don’t overdo it on the salt at this point.
It should look really pretty already for you and smell like a million bucks.
Turn the temp to low, let it sit for a half hour or so with a cracked lid, steeping a bit to work all those flavors together, make sure to give it a stir once in a while, and it’s done.
Traditionally, they serve this over spaghetti noodles, topped with kidney beans, sometimes chopped onions, and mountains of shredded cheddar cheese. That’s how major dad loves his – I forgo the beans and onions, and double up on the cheese.
These are known as ‘the ways’:
We use a finely shredded cheddar jack.
If you’re into chili dogs, it also makes a whale of a topping for a great dog.
But it always tastes better when it’s had a chance to mature in the fridge for a day or two. This batch is going to feed all of us when Dr Alice comes over to watch Oak Island with me on Tuesday night. It should be damn near heavenly by then and perfect for a frigid North Florida winter evening in the mid-twenties. The rest goes into freezer bags for easy meals later.
I hope you enjoyed this winter break from rioters, illegals, and thieves, even if the thought of cloves in your hamburger flips you out.
I meant well – really, I did.
Here’s to all of you weathering the inclement weather safely, warm and in good spirits, and hopefully with only minor power inconveniences.
If you have to venture out tomorrow into the teeth of the East Coast portion or the ice left in your neck of the woods, our prayers for your safety go with you.
- Editor’s note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you want to join the conversation in the comments — and support independent platforms — why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!
