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[jay-ell]

I was afraid if I turned it up any further the butter would burn even faster. My range is kind of nuclear, I can boil water on 8 and I had the butter on 6. When I use sunflower oil, I set it it on 6 and it takes about 2 minutes to heat enough to pop the first kernel from room temperature. With the butter, I melted it, added a kernel, and 3 or 4 minutes passed, the test kernel hadn't popped and the butter was burnt. I don't know that turning the heat up would help.

I think it's really better to pop in oil and add butter later.

This is what I generally do. But I add fake butter-flavored powder because I am trying to be a little bit calorie-conscious with this whole thing. I'm eating popcorn as a healthy-ish alternative to crackers or chips, so adding real melted butter is counter to those goals. But the Kernel Season's stuff I bought is actually pretty darn good.

I ran out of regular kernels today so I popped a bag of microwave stuff I had left over. It tasted like styrofoam. It's kind of amazing how spoiled I've gotten.

[wombat]

You know you don't have to do that "test kernel" thing and I'm guessing it's a bad idea if you are using butter.  You can just put the oil and all the popcorn in the pan at once. I guess with butter melt it first, but then you can just dump all the popcorn in at once.

Another thing is, if you buy good popcorn and pop it fresh, you might just try it without butter or fake butter powder at all. I have gotten used to eating it with just salt and now if I put butter on I don't even like it, it seems greasy and gross.

[pmcd9]

I don't wait for the butter to melt.  I put the popcorn and the butter in at the same time.

I should make an instructional video.

[Choop]

ghee + coconut oil + popcorn salt = the best recipe

perhaps i should elaborate. my popper* takes a cup of popcorn, and i use a quarter cup of fat divided roughly even between ghee and coconut oil. i'm sure the recipe will scale down well, so long as all you're doing is replacing the fat with half ghee/half coconut oil. after it's popped, i blast it with popcorn salt and toss it to distribute. it's a dry, crunchy, crispy popcorn with a great buttery flavor and none of the heaviness or sogginess that comes with melting butter.

granted, ghee and coconut oil aren't necessarily the cheapest ingredients in the world, but they've made such an impact on the quality of my popcorn that i can't imagine ever using another recipe if i can help it. also, they're not the worst things in the world for you: coconut oil is high in saturated fat, but we're talking about a small amount - 1/8 cup is roughly 25g, a quarter of what's in the linked table. there are also no trans fats here. it's good for your hair, skin, immunity, etc.** ghee is also basically nothing but fat, being the milk solids that separate when clarifying butter, but it's not a trans fat either, and might just be linked to *better* cholesterol.** it's basically all better than partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, but then most everything is except a straight injection of HIV.


* i bought this at a yard sale for $65 about a year ago. it's been empty three times, once when someone was on their way to pick it up. there's always popcorn ready to snack on here, so we don't buy many other snacks unless we have a serious hankering for them. i've probably popped ten pounds of popcorn since we bought this thing, and it took me a couple of pounds to perfect the recipe. a couple of neighbors are also popcorn fanatics, and one of them has given up on beating my recipe. the other one likes to add flavorings, so we no longer compare notes. aaaaaanyway if you want to make some great popcorn, please give this recipe a shot. it's so so good.
(click for embiggenings)

** you're all smart people, you can research this stuff on your own if you care to.

[pmcd9]

Duuuuude, I want that so bad.  Only $65, that's a steal.  My next artcar is gonna be a popcorn car and a real popcorn popping machine is going to be the centerpiece. 

Awesome!

[side_show]

Popcorn is my favorite food, and while I certainly do not have space for such a contraption, it is most certainly the awesomist thing you could have in your home.

I do something somewhat similar to what some of the others noted - adding the butter and the kernels at the same time to a hand-crank popper, on medium heat.  My popper has a good lid that keeps the heat in and I don't open it to vent out any heat.  Seems to work fine for me. Personally, I add my salt after the popping, but I'm not making big batches like him.  As far as I'm concerned popcorn is all about the butter.  Butter is an absolute must. 

Choop is on to something with the ghee+coconut oil though - that's the basics of what the good movie theatre poppers use as well.  But then there's the post-popping topping, and well, that's gotta be butter.  I know it's not health conscious, and I DO NOT CARE.  I don't eat it that often anyway, and it's traditional or nothing when it comes to movie theatre snackery goodness.

[Choop]

i gave away my whirley-pop after having this contraption for just a couple months. the guy who likes his popcorn flavored was thrilled to get it - but he uses the lid with his cast-iron pot, he just wanted the stirrer.

smells, you know most movie theatres use a nasty-assed oil sauce instead of butter on the bucket, right? you're not doing yourself any favors with that gagstrosity.

paul, i googled the make and model number after i bought it, the thing sells wholesale ONLY for almost ten times what i paid. your artcar friends MUST know someone with a local movie house, perhaps you can find a deal when they upgrade their concession stand. this one's previous owner was the voice of zorak on space ghost coast to coast and more.

[theinevitable]

In celebration of this thread, I got to clean out the popcorn machine at my store today. GAGTASTIC. after a day of use every nook and cranny is full of oily salty "butter" flavor powder. Really bright yellow.

As long as we're random thinking, what with the ghee and all, do any of you guys make Daal? My first batch was to die for, but this time was really shitty. What ratio/what spices do you use? I just added turmeric until it was a pleasing color, and then dumped in cardamom, cayenne, salt, garlic, onion.
(other ingredients: grated carrots, diced tomato, tomato paste, lentils, heavy cream.)

Pretty embarrassed about how long it took to realize you can use a cheese grater on carrots. I am going to eat so many carrots now. I have learned, though, not to grate while a little drunk. My fingers got SHREDDED.

[pmcd9]

Pretty embarrassed about how long it took to realize you can use a cheese grater on carrots. I am going to eat so many carrots now. I have learned, though, not to grate while a little drunk. My fingers got SHREDDED.

I too learned that basic fact just this year.

[pmcd9]

paul, i googled the make and model number after i bought it, the thing sells wholesale ONLY for almost ten times what i paid. your artcar friends MUST know someone with a local movie house, perhaps you can find a deal when they upgrade their concession stand. this one's previous owner was the voice of zorak on space ghost coast to coast and more.

About 5 years ago I saw a popcorn popper for sale on ebay.  It was new, they had a bunch available.  it was about $400.  About the size of yours, but not built nearly as well as what you have.

[Carlos del Vaca]

As long as we're random thinking, what with the ghee and all, do any of you guys make Daal? My first batch was to die for, but this time was really shitty. What ratio/what spices do you use? I just added turmeric until it was a pleasing color, and then dumped in cardamom, cayenne, salt, garlic, onion.
(other ingredients: grated carrots, diced tomato, tomato paste, lentils, heavy cream.)

We make basic lentils all the time. It would be dal if I mashed them up more, but the girls don't like them that way. 1 cup of lentils, 4 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric, boil for 20-30 minutes.

If I want to make a more grown-up version, I make a "tempering oil" as per an Indian cookbook I have.
Example the first: Couple tablespoons canola oil in a pan, add a teaspoon of cumin seeds, some dried red pepper flakes and/or a half-teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Cook that just a bit until it's all nice and fragrant, mix that into your lentils with a bit of lemon juice.
Or: Same as above but add a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger and a clove or two of minced garlic.

The book has other variations, but you get the idea. So good, so easy, so nutritious, so cheap.

[side_show]

smells, you know most movie theatres use a nasty-assed oil sauce instead of butter on the bucket, right? you're not doing yourself any favors with that gagstrosity.

The majority of theatres I go to offer the gunk for free, and charge 50 cent a squirt for real butter, which is what I go for.  Truth be told I'll take the oil splooge if butter isn't an option.  It must be both crunchy and glistening to pass my test.

[AugustWest]

Zorak!

[side_show]

"To them it's a delicious treat."  (The wasp is me, the eye juice is butter)

[theinevitable]

Looking up Dal recipes online, there are a lot of silly things I am doing in this dish.
1. cooking the lentils separately first
2. like 5 times too much turmeric
3. none of the recipes I found had cream in them, although I always think of dal as being rich and creamy.