[Food:Kettle Corn] Why do the bad things feel so good?

[surrealestate]

Not all new skills provide a net benefit to one's life.

I have discovered that I can make really amazingly good kettle corn at home quite easily. So can you. But that doesn't mean you should.

Nor does it mean you should throw in a teaspoon or so of chili powder as a variation, as if merely sweet and salty weren't enough.

Since I know one person will ask, I'll include my recipe.


I warned you.

I read a dozen or so recipes for kettle corn and through trial and error (having now made the stuff a total 4 or 5 times, but that's in the past 4 or 5 days), came up with this method, which looks very much like every other method you'll find out there.

Ingredients, in order of appearance, more or less:
1/4 c (scant, or less) oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder (or other spicing, optional)
1/2 c popcorn
1/4 c sugar

Directions:

1. Put a high-sided pot with a nice thick base and tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat and add oil and salt. Oil should coat the bottom of the pan. Toss in 2 corn kernels.

2. When the kernels pop, the oil is hot enough. Remove them (a fork works well). Add the seasoning, and swish it a bit to distribute.

3. Add the popcorn, quickly sprinkle the sugar over the top, and put on the lid.

4. When the kernels start popping (it won't take long) keep shaking the pot. I found alternately letting its it on the burner briefly and then removing to shake worked well. Keep at it until the popping stops. I needed oven mitts for this because the pot gets *very* hot.

5. That's all. Open the pot away from you to get the steam escape, pour out the popcorn and eat. Then make more and eat that. Etc.

What's amazing is that in the end, there are usually three or fewer inedible unpopped kernels left, which is way fewer than any other popping method I've used, though I admit I'd never stove-top popped before this, since I generally prefer air-popping. I'm not going to try dumping sugar into my air-popper, though.


[Up-to-the-minute Squash Inventory: 7 Butternut, 7 Delicata, 4 Pumpkin]

Comments

[p-j-cleary.livejournal.com]

Stove-popped corn always pops nearly completely. I think air poppers are the work of the devil. They make styrofoam-flavored kernels and aren't really all that much easier to clean. Some of my best winter memories are of standing in front of the stove, shaking a pan of popcorn.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

*I* like air-popped corn plenty. :P

Though I don't know what kind you use -- what is there to clean?

A pot used to make kettle corn definitely needs some cleaning after.

[p-j-cleary.livejournal.com]

I haven't used an air popper since the late 70's/early 80's, but the kind we had at home needed to have the area where the kernels went brushed out, because otherwise old kernals would just roll around in the hot air until they burned up.

The sugar in kettle corn would certainly mean more cleaning, but I don't know how you can get away without cleaning out a sugar and oil combination.

By the way, if you ever get to Salem Willows in the summertime, there's a popcorn stand that makes unbelievable kettle corn and *warm* caramel corn that's to die for!

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

old kernals would just roll around in the hot air until they burned up.

Ah...nothing like burning popcorn. I caused a small fire once making popcorn in the microwave. It was one of those small bags. Honestly, there is a fine line between done and fire because they're so small and I was probably too distracted that day to be watching the popcorn.

Fire!

[(Anonymous)]

This email I received from a professor yesterday seems apropos:

From: Jim
To the MGH Institute Community

Early Wednesday evening I put a bag of popcorn in the fourth floor microwave, dialed in "4.00 min", punched the "Start" button and walked back to my desk. Between the next two and sixty minutes my inattention resulted in a smoke-filled fourth floor, the forced evacuation of our building, the immediate arrival of three fire and rescue vehicles, Tony F. being called away from his dinner at home, and the remote reprogramming of the ventilation system in order to clear the air of its pungent smell.

I would like to apologize to everyone whose work was disturbed and whose life was disrupted by my actions this evening. There are some lessons here, beyond the obvious ones of "Read Directions" and "Those who like to eat should learn to cook". The most important, perhaps, is "Pay attention to what you are doing". The line between danger and disturbance can be a thin one, and I brought us close to it this evening.

I am truly sorry for all of the above, and I appreciate the on-the-spot counseling I received from many of my peers while we waited through this event to run its course. The good news is that our emergency response systems worked well, and that it wasn't raining.

Re: Fire!

[(Anonymous)]

[sorry, didn't sign that post! --d.d.]

Re: Fire!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

If I didn't know you, I would assume that was made up. :)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

My air popper doesn't need to be cleaned -- I just flip it upside down to get rid of any kernel bits. I guess the tech has improved.

I'll take your suggestion under advisement, but I don't know that I need even MORE kettle corn. :)

[thespian.livejournal.com]

oh, good, I'm not the only person who finds air popping dries the popcorn out to nothing.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

I grew up on stove-topped popcorn and neither air or microwave popcorn really tastes "right" to me. (I had an interesting conversation with a Target employee recently where I had to explain to him that you could actually pop popcorn on a stove and that it was sold in another format besides shrink-wrapped paper bags.) I didn't realize that was the definition of kettle corn.

As an alternative to the stove, I absolutely heart the West Bend "Stir Crazy" corn poppers:
http://www.amazon.com/West-Bend-Crazy-Corn-Popper/dp/B0001NH0FY/sr=8-2/qid=1161842019/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-5530927-5094450?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden


Basically a teflon hotplate with an inverted bowl and a rotating agitator. Almost every kernel pops and you don't have to watch it the way you do stove-top popcorn. Pour in popcorn, pour in a tablespoon or two of oil (I often use chili oil mixed with vegetable, though it can make breathing during the popping process an interesting experience...), walk away and come back when you don't hear popping sounds anymore. Well worth the cash if you go through a lot of popcorn.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I'm with you about the microwave stuff, but I happen to love the air-popped stuff. You and Patrick can keep scoffing at me.

I didn't realize that was the definition of kettle corn.

I've only heard "kettle corn" in reference to the above sweet type, not generic stove-top. I'm not sure which you're referring to by "that".

The West Bend looks pretty neat, but honestly, I really do love air-popped (mmm... evoo and seasoning...), and my air popper takes up way less space.

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

I think you're correct about the definition of "kettle corn," though I think it may be a regional term. I never encountered "kettle corn" growing up in Alberta, though we certainly had popcorn. And I'm quite fond of air popped popcorn, too, though I no longer have an air popper.

How large a kettle do you use for your kettle corn?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I use my soup pot, which is also a pasta pot and came with a couple of inserts for pasta and for steaming, but isn't what I'd call a stockpot. I'm not sure of the capacity.

Ah, but maybe the pot knows! *checks* Yep, Williams-Sonoma, 10/8 stainless, 8 quart.

I like air popped because I don't *have* to add anything to it, so I just give it a little spray of evoo and add seasoning. I'm a popcorn fiend, so always eating stove-pop would add up to a lot of oil sometimes.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

By "that", I meant stove-top corn with sugar and salt. Never having had it, it was one of those things like funnel cake; sounds good, but didn't know what it actually was.

I'm not particularly negative about air poppers, just not what I grew up on. I'm actually about to buy one to use as a coffee roaster, so I suspect there'll be some air popping here and there as well.

Oh, and...

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

If you haven't already seen it, I think you'd like this.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I grew up on stove-popped popcorn, too, and I still always make it that way. I've never owned a popper. I like when the stove-popped corn rises until it lifts the lid of the pan. :-)

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

If you get a special microwave popper (basically a large plastic bowl with a funny shaped bottom, and a lid with lots of slits in it) you can pop loose popcorn in the microwave, and it comes out great. you can even add stuff like kettle corn has.

"microwave popcorn" in those horrid flat bags sucks. however, popping corn in the microwave can be wonderful.

[ceo]

That sounds excellent. i don't mind microwave popcorn; what I can't stand is the smell of that horrible artificial butter flavor stuff (maybe because of a a job I had briefly in college that involved running a commercial popcorn machine, where you sprinkle concentrated butter-flavored salt over the kernels).

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

It's not just you -- that odor is noxious. I'm glad you still have your sense of smell intact after hat job!

[p-j-cleary.livejournal.com]

Oh, when I worked concessions at the movie theater in college, I loved the fake butter powder that went into the popcorn machine. We used to make "nuclear popcorn," which involved two extra scoops of the fake butter stuff and three extra shots of oil. You'd have to mix it in -- 1 part nuclear popcorn to 3 parts regular popcorn, or else you'd dry up from all the salt.

Good times. Good times.