Yesterday I worked very hard on house cleaning, something I should do more often so it isn’t such a big deal when I finally get around to it. And last night I just plopped in my favorite chair and stared at baseball games, because I deserved it after all that hard work!
yummm…
Let’s talk about popcorn! Popcorn is one of the favorite snacks around my house. We eat it with movies and tv, we eat it for dessert, and we eat it for between-meal snacks. Over the years I have perfected the easiest way to make popcorn and it’s tasty, too. So, in keeping with yesterday’s post of food tips and tricks, I will share my recipe for easy-peasy dee-lish popcorn:
2 parts popcorn (I mix white kernals with yellow kernals, usually. The white kernels pop-up a bit smaller and are a little sweeter and, to me, less fluffy in texture to the yellow kernels.)
1 parts oil (I use popcorn popping oil that is kind of a yellow-orange color; other oils are great, too, and some are tastier.)
Popcorn salt (It must be very fine popcorn salt! Do not be fooled with some brands that are small crystals, the real stuff is nearly like dusty sand and it is easy to find.)
1- Preheat the pot. Use a medium to medium-high setting to preheat the pot. (The heat setting will be increased for the actual popping.) It will take a few minutes and it should become very hot and ready to pop some corn! The best method I have found to check the readiness of my preheated pans is to drop a little bit of water into the pan/pot when I think it may be hot enough and if the water ball sizzles AND dances all around the pan/pot surface, then it is ready.
2- Pour oil and corn into the pot at the same time. (If this somehow seems daunting or dangerous, just pour the oil first then immediately dump the corn.)
3- Place the lid on top and, using hot pads for your hands, give the pot a little shake back-and-forth.
4- Turn the heat to high.
Now wait. The corn will begin popping. It should increase in popping-intensity. It will sound amazing and terrifically raucus! As the popping slows it will continue to pop more of the kernals. Hang in there. Using hot pads for your hands, give the pan another, bigger, shake back-and-forth.
5- When the popping is separated by a about a second or less, turn off the heat and, using hot pads for your hands, quickly remove the pot from the stove and turn it over and dump the popcorn into a bowl (or bowls) big enough to hold it all. Sometimes a little bit of popcorn hits the countertop or floor, oh well…
6- Salt the popcorn while it is still warm.
We have these exact popcorn buckets!
That’s how I make it and I teasingly brag that “it’s as good as movie popcorn!” It really is nearly as good and it’s so easy. You will quickly discover the exact temperatures and amounts and methods to customize the process to your kitchen. (For guidance: I use about a cup of corn and half-cup of oil in an 8 quart pot; a little less than a half-cup of corn and 1/4 cup of oil in a 3 1/2 quart pan.)
Enjoy!
