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Popcorn...Revisited

weinoo

By weinoo
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weinoo

weinoo

Posted
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9 hours ago, jmolinari said:

But I wanted to clarify that it doesnt contain diacetyl.

 

You know this how? Because they say? (And I think it's yellow 5 & 6, not 2).

 

There are always bigger things to worry about...

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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liamsaunt

liamsaunt

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Posted
10 hours ago, heidih said:

Recycled but still goofily enjoyed scripts. On a food note many involve some nice baking & cooking 

 

And to go almost completely off topic they just filmed one of these in the town next to mine, right in front of where my sister works.  She reported that it is going to be Christmas themed and they covered the entire street with fake snow (in July no less) and there was a horse driven sleigh involved.  The street runs in front of a recently restored vintage theater, so maybe they filmed inside there too and some finger footsie with overfilled popcorn bins will be involved 😆

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IndyRob

IndyRob

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Posted (edited)
On 9/13/2021 at 12:23 PM, gfweb said:

Commercial additives might be less benign than assumed...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3029043/

Note that this is about "popcorn worker's lung". 

 

No matter how much coal Santa puts in my stocking, I don't think I'm gonna get black lung disease.

Edited by IndyRob (log)
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  • 9 months later...
Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

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Posted

More pop needed! For years we have been stove-top popping a multicolor bulk popcorn, and we've been happy with it. It pops up pretty big with almost no unpopped kernels. But all of a sudden this same stuff has changed. It pops smaller, tastes less crunchy, and leaves  tooth-breaking kernels. It just can't be us. My husband has been making this popcorn the same way like maybe once a week or more for years. 

 

Looking for suggestions for your favorite brand or source for kernels that pop up fresh and tasty and are good for stove-top method. I don't use a lot of garnishes. Rarely butter, usually just plain with good salt. Artisan or otherwise, but we eat enough of it so I don't want to break the bank. Thanks!

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weinoo

weinoo

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Posted (edited)

I mix Orville with a few others, but Orville really pops up big and fluffy with few unpopped kernels.  Farmer's market stuff tends to be a little less consistent

Edited by weinoo (log)
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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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Johntodd

Johntodd

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I use my wok:

1. Lightly boil water in the wok to remove stray flavors (optional).

2.  To a dry wok, add 1/2 tsp. salt, 160 ml of kernels, and 40 ml of water.  Yes, water.

 

3.  Put wok on a small burner and turn it on 1/2-way.  Swirl the wok around to evenly distribute the water and salt.

 

     (The heat will dissolve the salt into the water and the water will mostly get sucked up into the kernel, thus seasoning the popcorn from the inside!)

 

*Only swirl the water for a minute or so.*

 

4.  Add one, and only one, pat of butter, and enough oil to coat the kernels.

 

5.  Turn the heat to high and gently swirl. 

 

        (The water will boil out and then the temp will rise, causing the butter to foam.)

 

6.  Place lid on wok and pop the corn. 

 

       (As more pops, there will be less fluid inside the wok, so you'll have to shake it more violently as time goes by.)

 

7.  Turn out into a large container and add water to the wok and boil it clean.  Dry the wok and store.

 

8.  Add extra butter or salt, parm, etc. as wanted.

 

If the batch is moist and chewey,  I will place it in a warm oven to steam out and dry for a few minutes.

 

If adding parm or the flavor shakers from the store, add that immediately after turning out so the flavors will stick properly.

 

Also, I found that popping on the small burner (or coil) makes it taste more buttery than using the large ones.  IDK why.

 

 

Hope this helps!

-John

 

 

 

Edited by Johntodd (log)
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heidih

heidih

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24 minutes ago, Johntodd said:

 

Sorry.  Thought it was helpful.

Everyone is different and what works for some makes others cringe. I don't judge because I tend to be the oddity.  And one can learn. Bout fell off my chair when a former employee told me today he upped his game with sous vide set up, smoking gun w/ remote app, and instapot etc. I have none but it was cool that it excited and works for  him. Minnesota farm boy has left the State Fair building ;)

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Johntodd

Johntodd

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36 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

No need to apologize. Just seems like a lot of work to go through for popcorn.

It's super easy after you do it the first time. Water, salt, popcorn, medium heat.  Add butter and oil, high heat, pop it, turn it out.

 

 

Truthfully, most of the people on this board probably didn't need all the in-depth instructions.

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Johntodd said:

It's super easy after you do it the first time. Water, salt, popcorn, medium heat.  Add butter and oil, high heat, pop it, turn it out.

 

 

Truthfully, most of the people on this board probably didn't need all the in-depth instructions.

The whole water, salt, corn kernel cold start is intriguing as a seasoning mechanism. 
The suggestion that the result might be moist and chewy and require an oven to dry is totally off-putting.  
 

Edited to add that a wok is great for popcorn but I don’t keep the lid handy so usually default to an ancient Revere saucepan that earned its warped bottom to many batches of the stuff. 
 

 

Edited by blue_dolphin (log)
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weinoo

weinoo

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I actually can't see how a wok is great for popcorn.  A flat bottomed pan will heat much more quickly and evenly over the bottom, which is what I think I want for popcorn.  Like that old Revere saucepan and lid.

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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Joe Blowe

Joe Blowe

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I humbly submit to y'all the popper I inherited from my grandparents. She turns out diminutive batches, however quite tasty!

popper1.jpg

popper2.jpg

popper3.jpg

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So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money. But when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness."

So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

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Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

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Wow, I had one of those electric jobs in college! No stove needed, just an outlet. You could take it apart and expose the coil, which turned out to be useful in the winter in Wisconsin when the dorm heat failed. The windows had ice on the inside, but I was able to sit at my desk as long as the coil was plugged in underneath me. I dropped out after a year, ended up finishing college in New Mexico. Much better weather. I just wasn't Wisconsin material.

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MetsFan5

MetsFan5

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I have one of those formerly trendy stand up popcorn machines that I forgot I had until unearthing things to move. It’s cute and it does pop well so I just bought some Orville kernels to try it out with. 
  Now I really want popcorn and I have no way of making it. I don’t think I could put a pouch of microwave popcorn in my air fryer. 

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chromedome

chromedome

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11 hours ago, weinoo said:

I actually can't see how a wok is great for popcorn.  A flat bottomed pan will heat much more quickly and evenly over the bottom, which is what I think I want for popcorn.  Like that old Revere saucepan and lid.

 

I used to use a wok for popcorn when my kids were little. The heat and oil and unpopped kernels stay at the bottom of the wok, where the heat is, and the popped kernels sit above them and are safe(r) from being scorched after a moment's ill-timed inattention (which happened frequently when my kids were little). :)

 

It sounds odd, but it's actually quite functional.

 

 

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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