Movie Night
The rain this time of year teams down and makes me want to stay in the house, on the couch with my blanket and a great movie. A great movie requires really great movie snacks, there are a ton of choices but I like to stick with the classic – popcorn. We love popcorn in our house; in fact I will admit that occasionally it is even a meal, not just a snack. Like other things I tend to obsess about for me there really is only one kind of “proper” popcorn…that’s the kind cooked in a big pot on the stove top with hot oil and a couple handfuls of kernels tossed in. I am sure you remember the dance from childhood – put the oil in the bottom of the pot, wait for it to start to shimmer – add the corn and put on the lid…shake, shake, shake! You will hear the first kernel explode and hit the lid and then like the inside of a giant firing range they start to let loose. Shake, shake, shake – you don’t want it to burn…and that line, it’s so fine. You have about a 20 second window from perfectly popped popcorn to burnt smoky tasting popcorn. Take if off the heat, remove the lid and dump the whole load immediately into a large bowl. And, don’t forget the best part, the melted butter, real butter – not some weird buttery flavoured topping or something called “butter buds” out of a shaker, and then of course the salt. You need to have the right butter to salt ratio – don’t over butter and if you don’t add the butter first the salt has nothing to stick to and ends up in a sad pile at the bottom of the bowl. Once you have achieved that balance you will have popcorn perfection, grab a napkin and get back to the sofa.
Now as you read this I am sure you are thinking about the popcorn of your youth and like me wondering how and when the transition to bad popcorn really began. The sad thing is that it happened over years without our noticing it, we just accepted it. Somehow actually popping corn on the stove top became such a chore that we resorted first to the hot air popper. Surely you remember that, it sounded like a super speed dust buster and sent the popcorn flying out of the little chute at 5 million rpm’s – so fast and so random they never even seemed to hit the bowl. You were supposed to use the little cup on top of the popper to melt your butter but really it only melted a tablespoon and with all that super dry popcorn you had to pick up off the floor, the tablespoon of butter wasn’t going to save it. Then, there is microwave popcorn, the kind with the bright yellow buttery flavoured oil product that as it cooks fills your house with the most hideous smell in the world, a smell that mysteriously seems to take forever to go away. So if you think about it for a minute you will remember the difference between really great popped corn and the stuff you should be using as packing material. You will be motivated to take out your largest pot, add some oil, a handful of kernels and start shaking; it really is worth the effort.
We can blame Jiffy pop popcorn! I remember my mother would pack us up to go camping at Cultas Lake or Harrison and she would always bring Jiffy Pop for the campfire. I honestly don’t remember anything about the taste because our smores always stood out in my head so much more.
I do love stovetop popped popping corn and have a soft spot for making salty carmel corn, as carb loaded as it is. I personally had to change that bad habit into drizzling some olive oil, sea salt, sesame seeds, dried kelp flakes and if handy lemon zest.
It’s quite nice, but there is most definitely nothing like salt and butter, but not in that order of course.
Cheers
Liesa
Our family LOVES popcorn! Our favourite machine is the whirly pop! We love it made with Olive oil, and sea salt, and parmesan!
Sometimes butter and truffle salt/and or butter!
It is often our main dinner source!
right with you on this one…
And Movie theatre popcorn is among the worse thing possible for you … especially in those odd giant tubs.
Better to make a moderate amount the right way and enjoy!
We just had this discussion yesterday in my coffee group. One of the guys just bought an old fashioned style stove top popper with a crank handle and says it works fabulously. I have given up on my dome shaped one. It is such a pain to clean and the plastic dome just never gets clean with an oily residue cooked into it.
Sweet yummy butter and salt. Maybe a bit of parmesan. You can also smoosh a glove of garlic and add it to the butter while melting then remove the garlic. Delish.