How do you like your popcorn?

Rather than further digress on my Thai food topic, I'll ask for contributions here:

How do you like your popcorn?

Cathy and GWiv are trying to encourage a return to coconut oil and finish with butter.

I'm going to put forth our SOP as a champ: 2/3 corn oil, 1/3 extra-virgin olive oil, 1/2 white kernels (for crunch and flavor), 1/2 yellow (for fluff and bulk), made in a Stir Crazy popper.

I'm an old fashioned do it on the stove kinda girl.

I just use canola oil, good yellow popcorn (used to love Black Cat popcorn but I haven't seen in for sale in awhile), a good saucepan and some shaking motion. I've never tried any olive oil -- does it have a discernable taste when you use it?

I usually take a half stick of butter and melt it in the pan when I'm done -- pour on top.

I sometimes, if I'm feeling in the mood, will grate some parmigiano on top...

Mmm...popcorn. that sounds fab...

shannon

Butter + parmagiano-reggiano

or

Butter + Old Bay

Butter (or clarified butter), louisiana hot sauce and popcorn salt.

It's buffalo wing popcorn.

Ideally, white popcorn, but for some reason I couldn't find it for a while

Canola or vegetable oil

A small amount of unsalted butter melted separately

When the popping is done and the butter is melted, I typically add it to the bowl in three steps; after each step I add salt, butter, and the Spice House's powdered cheddar cheese and toss. I've tried parm-reg and it's a little too strong for my popcorn preferences.

Goose fat, with a tablespoon of butter, Orville Redenbacher popcorn, Whirlypop popper, light melted butter on top and salt.

Gwiv's Chili Oil to cook popcorn

I like cooking in the Whirlypop with peanut oil with salt in the oil. Often the final product is sufficiently seasoned without more. But I've been known to pour on melted butter and add more salt as well.

Last year I bought some popcorn from a flea market in Gnaw Bone, IN and it was the best I've ever had. Does anyone know if there is a vendor selling home grown popcorn here in Chicago?

I use olive oil and Chesapeake Bay Seasoning (at least until I use the 1# can that I bought in 1985).

This thread just reminded me of something I used to do when I was a kid (10 or so).. I would melt butter for popcorn, and sprinkle in parmesan cheese (the kind in the green can) and it would toast. Then that would be tossed with the popcorn. My brother and sister thought it was gross, but it was fabulous. Now I want to try it with some better cheese!

In mid to northern Indiana, there are a lot of popcorn farms, and a lot of pig farms. That of course means, a mixture of butter and bacon fat, on good Indiana popcorn. Try it, you will like it.

The Norwood Theatre in Chicago Heights (long gone) used to make their popcorn with coconut oil and finish with butter. We used to go there just for the popcorn and the owner told us many people didn't even show up to go to the movie, just got their popcorn fix and left!

It was the best movie popcorn I ever had.

We rarely make popcorn at home, but when we do it's white popcorn cooked in a little peanut oil, with Jane's Salt or Hot Salt on top (or both). No butter.


Suzy

Hi,

Since this topic reared its head, I have been looking around for how-to make popcorn of the coconut-butter-(palm) oil variety. Instead I find all the reports of how bad it is for you and why. Does anyone know how I could accomplish this? Could I use the solid coconut fat found in cans of Coconut Milk-Cream?

How do I like my popcorn? We have two poppers: a stir crazy and an air popper. If the popcorn is really fresh, then air popping pop corn is ok. If the popcorn is even a tiny rancid/stale, then air popping highlights this. Stir Crazy is our favorite corn popper, we really like the rotating wire evenly rotating the kernels. We are probably on our third one over the years.

Popcorn: my Dad likes white popcorn (or similar) that has a small crunchy kernal. He doesn't like fat, fluffy that yellow popcorn produces. Since he is our lead at making popcorn, we almost always have white. If I make yellow, he still eats it while complaining how white is so much better.

Buttered popcorn is the standard. If I am by myself, then I will sprinkle parmesan along with the butter. My Mom has been known to spray I-Just-Can't-Believe-It's-Butter, which I have checked out to find it passable.

At movie theaters, I tell the guy to fill half way, butter, then fill the remainder and butter again. Why wait for them to do it wrong, when you can easily explain it the first time?

If I don't have to share my popcorn, then I like to experiment with the cheesy-sprinkles some theaters (Buffalo Grove, Wilmette Theater) have on the side.

I have a friend who grew up during the Depression. She never eats popcorn in movies because she never developed the habit. She and her sister were given enough money to enter the movie. When I see a movie with her, then I never get popcorn. When you are popcorn-less and have to listen to everyone around you eating popcorn, it sounds like a plague of insects eating the cash crop.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:When you are popcorn-less and have to listen to everyone around you eating popcorn, it sounds like a plague of insects eating the cash crop.

HA!!

Now you know why I refuse to eat corn on the cob, or to be in the same room with someone who is eating corn on the cob!

E.M.

C2,

My boss buys Coconut Palm Oil in canisters from the Health food store. He claims it's good for something, I dunno what.

Flip

Erik,

Yeah, I get it!

***

Flip,

If you ever find out what he uses it for or what it is good for, that would be interesting to know. It would be ironic if the ultra health concious now find some virtues in coconut-palm oil. Of course if all he does is rub it on his epidermis to enrich his tan.

Regards,

I, too, enjoy the stovetop kettle method. Coconut oil...salt...

urgh...oh...mmmm...yes...

no extraneous flavors need apply


only caveat being: coconut oil gets hella hot hella fast...gotta be careful with those precious kernels

anyone else disgusted by popcorn? the smell of popcorn + butter makes me wanna hurl almost as much as... 1) the smell of Kopp's burger 2) the smell of Maxwell Street's pork sandwich

i like my movie soundtracks to be undisguised by chewing noises as well..

TonyC wrote:anyone else disgusted by popcorn?

Popcorn in my house growing up was a special treat for nights when my dad was not home, as he could not tolerate the smell of popcorn or how making it on the stovetop made the house smell. To this day, I feel like I'm getting away with something when I cook it at home.

Cathy2 wrote:Since this topic reared its head, I have been looking around for how-to make popcorn of the coconut-butter-(palm) oil variety. Instead I find all the reports of how bad it is for you and why. Does anyone know how I could accomplish this? Could I use the solid coconut fat found in cans of Coconut Milk-Cream?

I've seen bottles of coconut oil in Jewel, I'm pretty sure. It's making a bit of a comeback due to the whole trans fat scourge. Coconut oil is 86.5% saturated, but it's (a) mostly not trans, and (b) "medium-chain" fatty acids, which are now being touted for weight loss, anti-infective properties, etc. etc..

The Coconut Research Center has lots of research references. Take with grain of salt, please.

Canned coconut milk could probably be used if treated like turning butter to ghee: heat gently to remove water and precipitate solids.

Now, how about using rendered bacon fat? Made a package a couple weekends ago & stored the cooled rendered fat in a jar for future use in the fried chicken or BLT with bacon mayo recipe, but now I'm tempted to try to use it to make popcorn. Any idea how much I should use and if I should mix it with another type of oil, like canola?

Thanks,
Joel

I like popped corn with just butter, salt...and black pepper. Sometimes cayenne. If I'm feeling messy, maybe some hot sauce.

David "How do I like popcorn? More, more, more" Hammond

Cathy2 wrote:
If you ever find out what he uses it for or what it is good for, that would be interesting to know. It would be ironic if the ultra health concious now find some virtues in coconut-palm oil.

Regards,

And ironic it is. The research is now (well, for quite a while, actually, if one is closer to the research than a newspaper ever gets you) showing that coconut-palm oil is immensely good for you. In fact, it is one of the key ingredients in Smart Balance, the cholesterol-lowering butter-like spread. Palmitic acid, found in palm oil, is great for your arteries and improves your HDL profile.

I'm betting that other benefits will be discovered, as well. Think about what the people look like in regions that rely heavily on coconuts and coconut oil -- on the whole, slender and lovely, with gorgeous skin. Palm oil and coconut milk are now actually being tested, with very positive results so far, in weight-loss research. A lot of health-food companies are now peddling coconut oil in various forms, because of the positive effects discovered so far and because of the likelihood of positive results in other research.

And aside from health-food stores, most tropic-related ethnic grocery stores carry palm oil.

TonyC wrote:anyone else disgusted by popcorn? the smell of popcorn + butter makes me wanna hurl almost as much as... 1) the smell of Kopp's burger 2) the smell of Maxwell Street's pork sandwich

i like my movie soundtracks to be undisguised by chewing noises as well..

Have you seen the movie "Real Genius." I thought the idea of torturing someone with the smell of popcorn (as occurs in this very funny movie) was extremely far-fetched, as I never imagined anyone would not love the smell of popcorn. But clearly, the movie's writer must have known (or been) someone like you. Fascinating. But then, my mom doesn't like honey, which I consider unimaginable. So I guess that, for any food, there is someone, somewhere who doesn't like it.

I've never had this but a friend of mine told me that you can get a big fishbowl sized bowl of popcorn popped in white truffle oil from room service at the Peninsula. She says it's wonderful!

Hi,

I have a friend who grew up in Leningrad/St. Petersburg. She detests the smell of popcorn. She will not go to a movie theater just due to this issue.

I would put her into the category who would feel tortured having to smell popcorn.

Regards,

Rudy wrote:I've never had this but a friend of mine told me that you can get a big fishbowl sized bowl of popcorn popped in white truffle oil from room service at the Peninsula. She says it's wonderful!

Oh my. Popped in or drizzled with -- white truffle oil, and I'd be happy. Wow. However, if this can be done, I can't imagine it can't be duplicated for less than the cost of a night at the Peninsula. Mmm. I can taste the truffle oil now. And you could top it with truffle butter, too, if you wanted to get carried away.

As a related aside, has anyone else tried popped wild rice? You make it the same way you make popcorn -- oil in the pan, shake the pan over the heat while it pops. The biggest difference, however, is that the rice that doesn't pop is still edible -- it's just nice and crunchy. Popped, it comes close to doubling in size, but doesn't get huge, like the corn does. But it's still a nice, crunch snack.

And thinking to the post on truffle oil -- truffles and popped wild rice would be a ncie combo.

Cathy2 wrote:She detests the smell of popcorn. She will not go to a movie theater just due to this issue.

Is it just me or does the smell of popcorn at the movie theaters differ signifiantly from what I pop up at home? The taste isn't different, just the smell - even when the popcorn doesn't seem to be recently popped.

Maybe they have discovered a pheremone that stimulates the "salty snack" region of the hypothalamus?

Bill/SFNM

Popped in chili oil, maybe a little cumin or cayenne on top. Sea salt. Devour, repeat if necessary.

I grew up in a house where we did the "on-the-stove" method with an old heavy pot and vegetable oil. For a while, my brother worked at a movie theater and used to bring home tubs of the palm/coconut oil they used... yum.

Now, I alternate between a Cuisinart popper (which imitates the Stir Crazy design) and an air popper (less mess and faster). When I use oil, it's peanut oil.

My favorite things to put on popcorn have included green Tabasco, freshly-grated parmesan and/or romano, and of course good old butter and salt. Most recently, though, I've enjoyed using the Taylor Street Cheese Sprinkle from The Spice House in Evanston (http://www.thespicehouse.com/product/product_Old-Taylor-Street-Cheese-Sprinkle.php) on my 'corn. Definitely worth a try!