Listening to: Cowboys From Hell- Pantera
Cowboy candy is pickled candied jalapenos, but you could use any chilies that float your boat, like serranos, habaneros, or bird’s eye chilies. They’re a great snack and the syrup makes a great meat marinade. Any time you feel like overwhelming your sense of smell and water your eyes, give this a try.
Cowboy Candy- Yields 8 half-pint containers
- 3 lbs firm fresh chilies
- 2 cups apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)
- 6 cups sugar
- 1/2 t turmeric
- 1/2 t celery seed
- 1 T minced garlic
- 1 t cayenne pepper (optional)
0. Get your water bath ready: In a large stock pot or canner, boil enough water to cover your jars by at least 1 inch.
1. Slap on some gloves for this activity unless you’re feeling particularly brutal and don’t mind burning your bits. Remove and discard the stems from all the chilies. Slice them into 1/8-1/4 in rounds as uniformly as possible and set them aside. Knock the seeds out if you want, but I like them.
2. In a large pot, bring the rest of the ingredients to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add the peppers and simmer for 4 minutes. At this point in the album it’s probably going to be Heresy, listen to most of that track for this step, if it doesn’t make you want to jump out of a window.
4. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them into the the clean jars, fill leaving 1/4 in headspace.
5. Bring the syrup to a hard boil for 6 minutes. Do some air guitar while you wait and make your best Phil face.
6. Ladle the boiling liquid into the jars. Knock air bubbles out of the chilies and adjust the headspace if needed. Give those guys a lil’ rim job and fix the two piece lids to finger tightness. Process in the rolling boiling water for 10 minutes for half-pints, or 15 minutes if you’re using pints. Lift them out of the water and listen to those sweet pings of glory.
You can eat them right away or wait a few weeks for the flavor to settle, they become milder over time. Adapted from a mommy blog, but apparently has the best recipe out there.
I’m on a few canning groups and forums and everyone is always posting this recipe. I was skeptical of the hype, but it’s pretty good. They’re great as snacks or as a condiment in whatever dish you feel like.
Cowboys From Hell was my first Pantera album, if I could relive listening to that album for the first time again, I’d probably cry. It was one of the most magical moments of my adolescence. It was a time of many first listens to classic heavy metal albums and this one in particular energized me and made me want to tear through the house breaking things, which I definitely did not act on.
I don’t support Phil Anselmo and his shitty views, I always make sure it’s a non-affiliated Youtube link when I do partake. Metal has historically had some unsavory folks make a bad name for us, but we don’t let those people take over the genre. Let’s not be dicks to each other and keep metal inclusive for everyone. That shouldn’t be a controversial stance. RIP the Abbott brothers.