During the early years of my life, my mom and I shared some good memories. Granted, I was young then and don't remember so much of it, but the ones I remember generally involve food - other than the time I wet the bed in the middle of the night. But let's stick with the food-related memories, okay?
The list of foods I ate as a child might horrify some people, but I have such happy memories sharing these culinary delights with my mom: Cheetos (a habit started in my by my mom), uncooked brownie mix, Circus Fun cereal (probably discontinued due to astronomical amounts of sugar, but whatever), Lays potato chips with mayo...and lots of microwave popcorn.
Microwave popcorn is perfect. It's convenient. Self-contained. It creates no dishes. It's nicely buttered.
You can imagine my shock, dismay, and even horror when I moved out here and discovered that microwave popcorn was expensive and hard to get. There's nothing worse than planning a movie night and the store has no popcorn.
That's when my friend Rachel suggested to me that I make my own.
Let me just say here and now for the record: I love Rachel. Knowing her has enriched my life by leaps and bounds. But I very nearly severed the relationship upon this point. She insisted -insisted - homemade popcorn was just as good as microwave stuff. I was baffled at her ignorance; she's normally such a well-read, thoughtful person. How could she be so unaware of the superiority of microwave popcorn?
Well, several years later I'm making some slight retractions. Due to store shortages, Rachel's insistence and other factors, I started making homemade popcorn. It was not love at first bite. But over time, our family has come to love it. And we love it in such a way that I will be surprised if I ever go back to the microwave stuff. (Of course, I could get to America and walk down the popcorn aisle and totally change my mind, but we'll cross that bridge later.)
So I thought I'd post a public apology to Rachel for doubting her intelligence and also let you know how we make popcorn here in our house. It seems so quaint and rustic to me that people actually make their own popcorn, and that I, in fact, am one of those people. Please permit me to indulge the fact that in this one area I am quaint and rustic. Here goes:
You need something to cook it all in. Something with a lid - a glass lid is nice so the kids can watch the kernels pop, if you like letting them sit near the hot pan. =) I use a wok since it's what I have around.
Let it get hot. Not burning hot, but nice and warmed up.
Start with 1/2 cup of kernels. This feeds my family of four (only four eaters of popcorn, I mean) pretty well, though I don't eat much.
Use between 2-4 Tablespoons of butter or oil. I've recently used butter, because I only have one life to live. If you want to be healthy, use 2. If you also only have one life to live, use 4. Let it melt, but not brown.
Throw in your kernels and salt away. Properly salting your popcorn is what can make or break this homemade process. This is the easiest time in the procedure to salt. So - add salt. Stir it all around.
Put the lid on and let it sit for a minute. Once it starts popping, pick up the pan and shake it around a few times. I don't know why exactly, but I always do. I'm trying to teach you right!The end result is a nice, big bowl of popcorn. It apparently is so good, it shows the essence of God's goodness to my children. Amen.
If anyone out there also makes homemade popcorn and you have tips or variations, please feel free to share. I am such a popcorn amateur!
If anyone out there also makes homemade popcorn and you have tips or variations, please feel free to share. I am such a popcorn amateur! And mom, even though I've left you on the microwave popcorn issue, I'll love you forever for the rest of those things we shared.
12 comments:
Rachel, Thats the only way my dad will eat popcorn. No Microwave for him. We started shaking the pot as soon as the seeds went in the pan until the end. Its really good with some melted carmel pour on it. Love Ya Debbie
I LOVE homemade popcorn and much prefer to make it that way. Good for you!
First of all, I'm tempted to end our friendship over the notion of potato chips and mayo. That's just disgusting. But I'm glad you've discovered the joys of "real" popcorn. It's been more than two decades since I've had any but it's one of my few happy memories of my dad from my childhood. I honestly don't even know if I like the way it tastes but the process was beautiful. We had a special popcorn-making pan and I would stand there and watch him do his thing, shaking the pan back and forth ever so gently over the flame. The pan was way too old to have a glass lid but he would put enough in that as the popcorn would pop it would fill up the pan and then slowly raise up the lid until it was about an inch off the top and not a single kernel would ever fall out. Ahhh....thanks for the trip down memory lane.
OK..I don't want all the bloggers ganging up on me. ;0 I made homemade popcorn, Rach, when I lived at home with nana and until microwave popcorn came out. We even had an Air Popper when I wanted to reduce calories..you know..so I could eat brownie mix and lays. :)
All I know is daddy and I are currently channeling... Orville Movie Theatre popcorn. Mimi and G will be sending some..give the children a say, eh? :) Just kidding, but I will send some in the next box and you can just give the kiddos a heads up on what they'll get when they stay at our house.
I love you...
Mom
Rachel,
A random fact I learned while teaching is that you can, in fact, put regular popcorn kernals (just a few tablespoons) in a brown paper lunch-size bag, fold the top down, and cook them in the microwave like store-bought microwave popcorn. I have only done it to use for projects, so I don't know if you could put the butter and salt in the bag or if you'd have to add it after. It is handy when you need plain popped corn and don't want to mess up a pan! (Think popcorn garland, measuring activities, popcorn balls, etc.)
Jayne
I have tried it all - there was a time that all we ate was stove popcorn - because we couldn't get anything else. But you know, I never had a recipe, I just threw ingredients in the pan and shook. The result was always too much popcorn for my pan. An overflowing mess.
But I have to admit - the chocolate popcorn we can buy here is a favorite for me. And my kids love the strawberry flavor.
We have also done the microwave popcorn in a paper bag. It was when I was little and my mom had new-to-her living room furniture and did not want our buttery fingerprints on the arms of the couch. The paper bag microwave popcorn was as plan and dry as the paper bag itself.
Have fun eating popcorn.
Dear rach,
Thank you for the public apology. I forgive you, well, maybe just this once. I was cracking up! Thanks for a good laugh this morning.
And just for trivia's sake, I use 5/8 cup corn oil, (no butter, and yes, that's a lot of oil) to 1 cup popcorn and salt it at the end. This makes enough for our family of five voracious popcorn eaters, usually with a bit left over to munch on the next day. Last time I used Lawry's (departing from my usual tradition of only plain salt and lots of it) and it was also surprisingly delicious!
Mmm, now I'm hungry for some popcorn!
I love popcorn, but rarely think about making it. The best I ever had was when I was a teenager on a Missions trip to Cyprus, and the family I stayed with had family night every Friday. They made vast quantities of popcorn, then cooked it in the oven with butter, caramel, and who knows what else. It was HEAVENLY. And definitely the one-life-to-live variety.
WOW!!! I was going to post about this at some point. In the last 4months we have made the switch....since walmart has discontinued Orville Redenbacher here. WE, however, were love at first bite!! I make mine a little differently, but it is oh so good. My tip?? Add some of your ranch powder to the popcorn....we are addicted!
Oh, you have made me so hungry for microwave popcorn! I was in the middle of making a wish list for a care package from my sister, and you KNOW what is making the list now! :) We too live in a land of ridiculously overpriced microwave popcorn (if you can find it!), so I occasionally make my own. Still haven't adapted the taste buds completely though. When I make it, I use canola oil instead of butter, but I think I'll try butter next time!
I suddenly have a craving for popcorn. I haven't made it on the stove ever. If you like kettle corn you could try adding sugar to your butter and salt combination, yielding that tasty blend of salty and sweet. : )
Rach,
If you must know, the much beloved Microwave popcorn evolved from a TOO busy household that didn't have enough time or energy to make it from 'scratch' (or would that be make it from 'pop'?). But although I popped corn using a regular old pot (the same one we made mac and cheese in, the same one we made green beans in) the truth is for many years we had a popcorn maker (all houses had them) that looked amazingly LIKE a wok, and you put oil in it (up to the line), plugged it in, put in ONE kernel and waited for it to POP (oh the anticipation of it all!) Then, you dumped in a predetermined amount of popcorn, and even put butter in the huge yellow plastic cover, to drip down over it. THEN, you flipped the whole thing upside down, and the big yellow lid becomes the Popcorn Bucket. I'm surprised you can't find an old one in some random shop down the street from your home...you just probably know it if you saw it. We probably have one in a box somewhere (along with a hot air blower...real bad invention). But for years, that's all a microwave was really good for, so rather than steal its 'reason to microexist', you HAD to make popcorn in the microwave...and bake potatos in them. Not because they tasted better...just faster; easier; more convenient; and proof that we had evolved from pan-shaking, greasy finger-licking cave men. But we haven't...we're just too tired too hunt, kill, skin and roast. It's easier to whoop through the drive-by and let the clown do it.
Dad (G-Pa)
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