Damned good popcorn.
Now that my gut has been fixed via surgery (two times, thank you very much), I can enjoy two of my favorite foods again – nuts and popcorn. Yes, I’ll say it one more time, POPCORN.
It only took a short visit with Orville Redenbacher’s microwave brand to awaken my distate for microwave popcorn. So, on our bi-weekly trip to Wegman’s, I picked up a house brand bag of popcorn for under $2.
All I did was follow the instructions on the back of the bag for the stovetop method, make some adjustments according to my taste and cooking equipment, and inhale. Here are some cliffs’ notes:
* Use about 1/8 to 1/4 cup canola or peanut oil – better to err on the side of using too much. You’ll learn with experimentation. Add 3 kernels of popcorn, and crank your stove’s heat; when you hear those three kernels pop, add only enough popcorn to cover the bottom of the pan; no more!
* My cheap-ass grocery store saucepan worked better (and faster) for making popcorn than my big Calphalon saucepan; I suspect it has to do with the thinner bottom which allows the oil to heat up faster.
* You HAVE TO KEEP SHAKING THE PAN as soon as you add the popcorn to the pan. Try the pattern of 5 seconds on the heat, 5 seconds off, shaking the whole time. It will be short order before the popcorn starts popping full-bore; when it slows to what you’re familiar with as the ‘turn the microwave off’ point (about one pop every three seconds), turn the heat off and take the saucepan off the burner.
* Melted butter always makes a great topping, but go easy on it. Cooking the popcorn in the oil and adding butter can make it overbearing quickly. Another great topping is tamari sauce applied from a spray bottle. You can also put the popped popcorn in a brown paper bag with whatever seasonings you’d like. Suggestions: ground cumin, curry powder, Parmigiano Reggiano, chili powder w/salt – you get the idea.
Enjoy. There is no comparison between real popped corn and microwave. The best analogy I can come up with for you is brewed coffee vs. instant coffee.
