My family has a tradition every year of having popcorn and fudge on New Year's Eve. We always have microwave popcorn. Well this year I decided that microwave popcorn was just not good enough. No more film stuck to the roof of my mouth thank you! So I got on the google machine and looked at about a gazillion recipes and tutorials for stove top popcorn. I made 2 big batches a couple days before New Years Eve (and an obscene amount since then!) to test it out and figured out how to make it perfect! It was surprisingly easy. I will never use microwave popcorn again!
Supplies:
A large heavy bottomed pot with a tight fitting lid-
I used an enamel cast iron dutch oven.
A great big bowl
1/3 c. oil-
you want to use one that handles high heat
such as vegetable oil, canola oil or peanut oil.
1/2 cup popcorn kernels-
I used the cheap bagged kind and
it worked perfectly!
1/2 cube to a whole cube of butter-
I used a whole cube because I
made one batch right after the other.
So only 1/2 cube for one batch
Salt to taste.
Pour your oil into your pot. You just really need enough oil to give the bottom of your pot a good coat. Start with your pot on the stove on high heat. Throw in ten or so kernels of corn. Put on lid tightly. Wait until the kernels start to pop and throw in the 1/2 cup popcorn kernels. Put the lid back on and remove from heat for 30 seconds. Then put your pot back on stove and turn heat down to medium high. Prop open lid and start shaking that baby!! Keep on shaking until you hear 1-3 seconds between pops. Take it off the heat and pour right into the big bowl. Immediately put butter in the still hot pot and melt the butter. Do not put it back on the heat or the butter will burn. Then pour over popcorn and stir it up. Then put some salt in there to taste and mix it up again. Enjoy!
Couple of notes:
*I have seen recipes that say you can leave it alone while it pops and just shake it after you first put the kernels in but I found better results when I shook it the whole time.
*I made the mistake of propping the lid of the pot towards me. Not a good idea! It gets pretty active and I got steam burns and splatters of oil shooting me in the eye! Yes my eye!!!
* The 30 seconds off the heat makes it turn it out so well! It helps bring the temp down enough so you don't burn the popcorn.
*Oh and don't use margarine! No only is that kind of gross but the popcorn soaks it up so you will have soggy pieces right next to pieces that are dry and plain. Sorry for all you margarine lovers but I am a butter advocate! It makes everything better!
