Popcorn

In the past I was always fairly indifferent to popcorn - didn't precisely dislike it, and if there's some around I will eat it, but I rarely bothered to make it for myself. But over time I assembled a home-theater setup which somewhat requires some form of popcorn especially when friends visit.

To that end, I kept microwave popcorn packets around. They're convenient. But they don't make very good popcorn, with some popcorn coming out actually burnt; it probably doesn't help that my small microwave isn't big enough for the bag of popcorn to rotate on the turntable. So, based on an article I read, I got an air popper. It was an improvement but still wasn’t very interesting.

That article’s top recommendation was on the stovetop using the “Whirley” popcorn maker. The Whirley has a crank-operated stirrer attached to the lid, the idea being to stir the popcorn continuously as it popped. They pointed out this was like theater popcorn makers, which use kettles with a stirrer.

I didn’t get one. I thought “Theater Popcorn Maker”, and since Christmas was rolling up, I did some research on theater-style popcorn makers, the ones that look like a glass box with the kettle hanging in the middle, and popcorn spilling out. I finally settled on one from Great Northern, with a 10oz kettle; it sits on a wheeled stand with a compartment where you can store all your popcorn ingredients and equipment. Even has shelves on either side with towel racks. I found the perfect place for it just outside my theater. I love this thing.

And I fell in love with popcorn, especially “movie + popcorn”. It even fired up my movie watching. There is something amazing about watching a movie with a big (umm, really big) tub of popcorn. In the first few months after I got the popcorn maker I watched about 25 movies, more than two a week.

So. Recipes to make the best theater-style popcorn. Salty, buttery to the point of being slightly greasy. There are some general rules and recommendations:

  • Coconut oil is very highly recommended.
  • Add the oil to the kettle and heat it up before adding the popcorn.
  • There is one product that is absolutely universally recommended: Flavacol. This is a flavored salt, you add a small amount to the kettle at the same time you add the popcorn, and you maybe sprinkle some more over the finished popcorn.
  • Butter flavoring – oddly enough, more often than not they recommend against using actual melted butter. Butter has a significant amount of water and it can make the popcorn less crisp. Instead they recommend using butter flavored oil. I have seen some recommendations for clarified butter (or ghee, which is very similar), which is butter cooked down until the water evaporates, but I haven’t tried that.

Here are some recipes, recommendations and notes from my experience.

 

General Recipe for Theater-Style Popcorn

This is from a pretty good YouTube video (they manage to make a 10-minute video just on how to make popcorn), specifically for making popcorn just like theater popcorn. This is basically how I make popcorn WITH ONE EXCEPTION NOTED BELOW. Here are some comments the video makes about ingredients:

Here's the recipe:

NOTE: This uses 1/4 cup popcorn, increase all ingredients proportionally as much as desired

Ingredients

2 Tblsp Coconut Oil
1/4 cup popcorn
1 tsp Flavacol
Butter-flavored oil
(Optional) More Flavacol

Heat up the coconut oil until it melts. Add popcorn and Flavacol. Pop the popcorn (stirring constantly if using a manual kettle; my popcorn machine automatically stirs it). When the popcorn finishes popping, optionally add a little more Flavacol (maybe 1/2 tsp per 1/4 cup popcorn) and butter flavored oil.

Variation

Flavacol has a caramel flavoring version which the guy in the video really likes. Instead of 1 tsp regular Flavacol, use 3/16 cup of caramel flavored (well, that's what he said) per 1/4 cup popcorn. The popcorn kettle gets a little messy and could be a challenge to clean, especially in my case; my popcorn maker's kettle can't be submerged in water.

MY VERSION

I've fallen in love with a ranch seasoning powder for popcorn, simlar to the powder packets you can buy to make ranch salad dressing. My favorite brand is the Kernel Season's, the same brand name the video uses for the butter flavored oil (label has a smiley face wearing a blue cap). I drizzle on the butter flavored oil, sprinkle with lots of ranch flavoring, and stir (actually, I add a third of the popped popcorn to a bowl, drizzle the oil and sprinkle with ranch seasoning, stir, add another third, repeat...). Man it's good, I end up trying to lick out the bowl when finished.

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OTHER RECIPES

The section above is how I always make popcorn in my pictured popcorn maker. However, I've accumulated other recipes for popcorn, most of which use plain popped popcorn as an ingredient. Some of these recipes include instructions on how to pop the popcorn, and these can vary. Aaccording to the popcorn.org website, 1 oz (1/8 cup or 2 tablespoons) of unpopped popcorn yields one quart of popped but the recipes below don't always agree. At any rate you can ignore the instructions on how to pop the popcorn and make it as you usually do, just making sure you get enough for the recipe.

Spicy Caramel Popcorn (America's Test Kitchen) 

From Serious Eats:

Crispy Chocolate Popcorn

Brown-Butter Maple Pecan Popcorn

From NY Times:

Maple Pecan Caramel Corn - it's interesting to compare this with the Serious Eats version. This one is a little more complicated but I can't help thinking the results would be better.

Cinnamon Toast Popcorn

Caramel Cheddar Popcorn - this is actually two recipes, one for caramel popcorn and one for cheddar cheese popcorn. They say you can combine them (in one big bowl perhaps) or serve them separately. They claim there's an allure to combining them and eating them together but that just seems weird to me - cheese and caramel aren't all that related.

Cracker Jack - a homemade version of the famous treat. They recommend peanuts with the red skin attached, saying the bitterness adds a nice contrast with the sweet-salty nature of the popcorn coating.

SPICE TOPPINGS

Simply sprinking a spice powder over popcorn can really boost it. Here are some ideas and products:

Pop-Kie's Popcorn Seasonings - a company that sells popcorn and pocorn seasonings. They're located in Traverse City MI, the area of Michigan that I grew up in. The dill-pickle flavor in particular was recommended.

Fly By Jing Mala Spice Mix - the article recommended this with ghee.

Tajin, a Mexican chili lime salt mix from Mexico.

Rancho Gordo Stardust Dipping Powder - similar to Tajin