Dethmama Chronicles: The Art of Making Popcorn

Saturday, March 7, 2009

The Art of Making Popcorn

Image by jmacphoto.com via Flickr

by Insurance Guru

There's an entire generation out there that believes popcorn comes from the microwave. As long as you have the right side up and hit the "popcorn" button on your microwave, a tasty treat is just seconds away.

My dad was a popcorn connoisseur when I was growing up in the '60's. He was always after the perfect combination of chilled popcorn kernels, oil temperature, pan size and the Zen of being one with the kernels. We experimented with Jiffy Pop and all the latest corn poppers that came out one by one. Did you know there was an early version of a microwave popper that used water instead of oil? An absolutely sub-par product came out of that contraption.

Sad to admit, but I've lost the art of making popcorn from the stove. In the spirit of "Economic Hunkering Down" I bought a Stir Crazy Corn Popper. Now I can control the amount of oil, salt and butter in my tasty snack and there's a warm, fuzzy memory in every bite.

4 comments:

dethmama said...: I agree, IG... My son (20 yr old) had never tasted "old school" popcorn until recently. Now he loves the stuff! The flavor completely kicks the microwave stuff to the curb.; March 8, 2009 at 7:23 PM
Gail Rae said...: Hallelujah! I completely agree...old style popcorn is better! I used to LOVE popcorn until microwave popcorn became ubiquitous! My mother was also a popcorn connoisseur when we were kids. Unfortunately, she also hated cooking, thus, in her old age became hooked on microwave popcorn...the best thing, she felt, since sliced bread. I even have trouble with the smell of microwave popcorn, let alone the taste!
Thanks for the tip on a popcorn appliance that makes it taste like the old days. There's nothing like using your own stuff (instead of chemicals) and flavoring it exactly to taste!; March 8, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Mosher said...: All I can say is - who decided to make cooking oil and washing up liquids of the same colour... and then put then both in similar bottles?

Trust me. Stick to oil. You get better popcorn with oil.; March 9, 2009 at 4:54 PM
insuranceguru said...: DM and Gail Rae - it's soooo true. You just can't beat the taste of that "old-fashioned" popcorn. At least Orville Redenbacher still makes his Gormet Pop Corn kernals.

Mosher - stick to the blue washing up soap. Yikes - can't imagine what that smelled like!; March 9, 2009 at 6:34 PM