I love kettle corn. I really, really do. Tonight was the first time I have ever tried to make it. I didn’t burn my apartment down, but I did burn myself. It was worth it though. The corn came out ok, I know what I’ll have to do next time (more sugar, add salt at the beginning, maybe some butter).
But now that I know I’m not completely worthless in the kitchen I am wondering if there are any different types of popcorn recipes that people enjoy.
I’m all ears…
of corn. 
Make popcorn with duck fat and toss with fresh herbs (tarragon, thyme, savory, parsley and chives) and Fleur de Sel…
Soooooo good…
Damn… always running out of Duck fat at the worst times.
So, I’ll just make due with peanut oil, good quality popcorn, melted butter, and salt.
Don’t think it can get any better than that.
Pop in olive oil, add some italian seasonings and garlic, and sea salt [or garlic powder and generic salt if that is what you have]
Real butter, nutritional yeast, a little salt. Embrace your inner hippie.
Ooh! First let me share the secret that got me off microwave popcorn. To avoid burned popcorn or manymany unpopped kernels, use this recipeto make sure all the kernels come up to temperature at the same time.
Now, back in the days of yore I picked up a recipe from a magazine for jerk popcorn. IIRC, you simmer butter with some garlic, thyme, salt, and cayenne pepper, then mix it all with the popcorn.
And there’s always butter, salt, and parmesan cheese. In high school we used the green can, but you can be fancy and use Reggiano for a real kick.
Try adding some cocoa powder. Or dessert topping instead of sugar.
Parmesan Herb seasoning, like this from McCormick or this from Land O Lakes, is great on popcorn.
Try maple sugar if you like maple flavor. So good.
I like “Chicken in a Biscuit” crackers, so I thought I’d make chicken corn. Bouillon cubes are sugar, salt, and chicken flavor, so GOSH! Wouldn’t that be perfect?!
Um. No. Much burning and scorched popcorn ensued.
But if anyone ever invents chicken corn, I want to know.
If you want to make authentic movie theatre-style popcorn, pop the kernels in coconut oil. That’s key #1 when it comes to movie theatre popcorn. Use just enough oil to just cover a single layer of kernels in the bottom of your pot. Give the pot a shake periodically while popping to work the unpopped kernels back to the bottom and keep the popped kernels from sticking to the sides and burning. You also need to use a vented lid to let the steam escape, otherwise the popcorn comes out a little chewy.
Top with melted butter and popcorn salt. Popcorn salt is ground to a fine powder and it really does make a big difference (it’s key #2). In fact, if you can find Reese brand popcorn salt, that’s the exact salt used by the majority of theatres.
This recipe pretty much nails the movie theatre flavour. The ratios I use are 2/3 cup of kernels in a small stock pot, half a stick of butter, and salt to taste (you don’t need much).
A few shakes of black pepper in addition to butter and salt.
Cook it in a small amount of bacon fat.
Y’all are NOT going to believe this, trust me. I stopped at the local New Seasons store today for a few things. They always have things to taste on the weekends, and today I spotted little cups of popcorn. Since I’m always on the lookout for decent popcorn, I gave it a try. Nice, sweetish, unidentifiable taste, so I asked what I was tasting. The woman holds up a bottle of . . . are you ready?
Cod liver oil. She popped it in cod liver oil. It was very good. Honest.
I have made many a meal out of a big bowl of popcorn and a beer. Good when you’re exhausted, it’s late and you have no time to cook anything else with some real flavor and crunch. I have tried many more sedate combinations, but if you wanna go for broke on the strong flavors, here’s what you can do. Make a batch of plain popcorn; it could be a bag of lite microwave or regular popped in a pot with a little bland oil. Then layer the popcorn in a glass bowl or souffle dish, alternating the popped corn with a hand sprinkled mixture of melted butter, garlic, smoked paprika, chili oil, toasted and ground Sichuan peppercorns, and grated smoked cheddar cheese. Nuke 60 to 90 seconds. Stir to break up melted cheese lumps and add some finely ground salt. You got your crunchy, salty, greasy, smoky, spicy, cheesy and ‘ma la’ all in one!
I read this with much anticipation. I want to make carmel corn, like Cracker Jacks. Anyone?
I thought the flavoring from Cracker Jack’s was primarily molasses?
Peanut butter and jelly popcorn! No, really. Mix some melted butter and peanut butter, then toss the popcorn in it. Add some dried cranberries. (I used to cut up strips of fruit leather for this, but dried cranberries are way easier.)
picunurse:
3 quarts popped popcorn
1 cup salted peanuts
4 ounces butter
16 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 2 cups
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Oven at 250, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray it with nonstick cooking spray. Yes, the stuff is that sticky! Mix the popcorn and peanuts in a big bowl and set aside. Melt the butter over medium heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir to mix and heat to 250 (about 10 minutes). Pour the caramel over the popcorn/peanuts and stir it up - quickly! - and then spread it on the prepared sheet. Bake for 1 hour, then cool completely and break into pieces.
(This is Alton Brown’s “Slacker Jack” recipe, rewritten in my own words to comply with the SDMB copyright policies. The original can be found here, but you have to register to see it.)
I’ll add the idea melted butter, mix in some honey, and add black pepper; pour over popcorn for a sticky treat with zip!
My aunt was a total hippie, and used to have at least half a dozen different homemade seasonings for popcorn. My favorite was the bbq, which was mostly chili powder and brown sugar, I think. Mmm…And yeah, nothing beats regular popped popcorn. Microwave or air, even the theater stuff, is just…too light, airy, weird. Like eating ghost poo*.
*our term for packing peanuts when we were little
Oh, and something I’ve always wanted to try is sprinkling some dry ranch dressing mix over the popcorn. That just HAS to be good!
My father is a big popcorn fan so we used to make it all the time when we were kids. When we had some leftover we would eat a bowl of it the next morning as breakfast cereal with milk and sugar.
I have dined with you in spirit many a night, including tonight.
Wouldn’t this thing nuke itself!?!
Where have you been all my life?
Air popper
Extra virgin olive oil
Yeast
Salt
For the person uppost who wanted chicken corn, try powdered chicken bullion in place of salt. That’s what I’m having tonight, along side my homemade Manhattan. Bawk bawk bawk.
