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Comment by InvaderFizz | Hacker News Reader

Best popcorn you can make is cheap and easy cleanup.

Take one large pot (the kind that holds like 10qts).

Cover the bottom with kernels.

Add a bit of oil, basically just enough to swirl and have everything covered in an oil sheen, not enough to have them submerged.

Cover, put on high (I use gas). I like to suspend a paper towel between the lid and the rest of the pot, absorbs excess oil and water.

Once popping slows, turn off the stove. Dump popcorn into large mixing bowl.

Toss 1/8 cup butter in the hot pot, melt the butter with residual heat.

Pour popcorn back in and toss to get the popcorn evenly lightly buttered, transfer back to the mixing bowl.

Salt(I prefer a salt grinder) and toss, add a bit of grated Parmesan and toss.

There should be less than 10 unpopped kernels, no burned popcorn at all.

Cleanup is a wipe down of the large pot with the moisture capture paper towel.

View on HN

I'm a "heat kernels to just below popping and then pop" fan, since trying this method a decade ago. The goal is to get all the kernels to pop in a relatively short window, so nothing sits there to burn.

Method:

  - Prepare: Measure out 1/3 cup of popcorn and have a serving bowl ready.
  - Add high temp oil to the pot.  I use 1-2tbs of coconut oil.
  - Place in stock pot along with 3 kernels over medium high heat.
  - Cover with a kitchen towel (to let out some steam during popping, don't want a soggy popcorn).
  - Once the kernels pop, immediately dump in the rest of the kernels (I usually do 1/3 cup, whatever the instructions recommend).
  - Immediately take off the heat and shake gently to the count of 30.  The kids love participating in the count.
  - Put back on the heat and shake a little to make sure the kernels are evenly distributed.
  - Once the popping slows, immediately take it off the heat and dump into a serving bowl.  This prevents burning.

This method works great, rave reviews from the family.

With this method, the popping is reasonably quick, and the temperature fairly consistent, so, despite the advice seemingly everywhere in the internet, high temp oil isn’t actually necessary. Be careful and you can use olive oil (though that tastes a bit weird) or even butter.

I use clarified butter since it has a higher melting point, and it even flavors the popcorn.

Higher smoke point

Agreed, I do sometimes pop with olive oil and it turns out without burning.

That's why I take out a dozen or so unpopped kernels before popping the rest. It's easier to throw them right in the trash, rather than have to pick them out of the rest of the popped corn.

Plus who wants to eat unlucky popcorn?

wait, how can you differentiate the unpopped from the yet to pop? (tbh. so far I'm just a premade popcorn buyer, so ELI5...)

Ignore the snark from the sibling comments.

You have to study the grain. Most kernels have a left to right grain, and they will pop between 140-150C, because the cell structure of the skin is weak in several places. A relatively rare genetic mutation leads to around 1-2% of kernels having a right to left grain, and because of this orientation the skin is actually more robust in the typical popping spots, meaning that temperatures as high as 450C are required to pop these! That's why they typically will remain unpopped when cooking popcorn in this legacy manner.

To detect the right-to-left kernels, you can actually use a UV flashlight - you will see that they have a softer glow compared to the bright left to right kernels.

Hope that helps!

This is probably the most interesting thing I’ve read all day. Now where did I leave the UV torch…

You can get them at auto parts stores used with dye to detect leaks, often in the HVAC system.

Or at most pet supply stores, for a similar but not identical purpose.

I dont know if this is true or if this is a brilliant and creative troll.

I want to believe, but I don't have a UV light handy to verify this.

If this is true, does this mean that it's technically possible to pre-sort out most of the kernels that won't pop easily? Do expensive popcorn brands do this? Would it be possible to breed out this mutation? So many questions.

Apparently, the reason why some kernels don't pop is because they have too little moisture due to the hull not being perfect and the moisture escaping[1][2]. So it seems like it should be possible to somehow go through all the kernels and remove most of the unpoppable ones? Maybe make something that weighs each kernel and removes ones outside a range?

1: https://americasfavoritepopcorn.com/blogs/all-blogs/why-do-s... 2: https://popcornity.com/why-some-popcorn-kernels-dont-pop/

When you pick the kernels for the sacrifice they have to accept their fate and the others have to accept the tribute. It's just their tradition.

whoosh

It’s a joke.

This is funny. This is also not the type of comments that I expect to see on HN. I come here out of curiosity, not for humor or entertainment.

this is genius! the true life hack is always in the comments...

These days, I’ve been separating the poop from the food before I eat it.

Out of interest, why do you prefer a salt grinder? I've never understood why these exist. Pepper grinders, absolutely - the aromatics are released on grinding. By not so with salt. Curious if I'm missing something.

I've asked my mother the exact same question a couple of weeks ago. She said, that as salt is hygroscopic "table salt" comes with anti-cacking agents. Salt which comes as larger crystals doesn't need them.

What's wrong with the anti-caking agents?

I guess it'd depend on what the agent was, but either way, it means some amount of the salt you're pouring over your food isn't salt. Eliminate the non-salt from your salt and you never have to worry about what might be wrong with it or how much non-salt you're paying for. That's the reason I've switched to shredding my own parmesan cheese instead of just shaking it out of a can since the cans in some cases contain ~10% cellulose.

Table salt is just sea salt (the stuff mined from underground just comes from an ocean that dried up a few million years ago) and is full of other compounds beyond NaCl.

None of which is sodium or potassium ferrocyanide, the chief anticaking agent. Otherwise it wouldn't crystallize.

I just bought salt and the ingredient list (sadly) is: sea salt, tricalcium phosphate (free-flowing agent), dextrose, potassium iodide.

Why the hell are they adding corn sugar to salt?

EDIT: I looked it up. It's supposed to stabilize the iodide. The reason they use corn sugar is that it's cheap. Thankfully there are brands that don't include additives in their salt. I'll have to keep an eye out for them. I already get plenty of iodide in my diet.

Table salt often contains iodine which will alter the flavor.

The reason to grind your own salt is to get it at the right size.

You need iodine.

From salt? Don't I get iodine from my food?

Usually not enough elemental iodine unless you eat a lot of sea life.

Sure, but anti-caking agents are an adulteration of the original product you mined out of the ground.

I wouldn't trust anyone that is against cake

Especially not an agent.

They are toxic.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_ferrocyanide

The amount is small enough, that it is supposed to do no harm, but I just prefer my salt without cyanide.

With ferrocyanide in particular ([Fe(CN)6]4−), the reason cyanide (CN-) is such bad news is also the reason it's safe complexed to iron: Iron-Cyanide coordination is very strongly favored by thermodynamics and kinetics, so it likes to stick to iron, sticks very quickly, and un-sticks itself very slowly. When cyanide is not already coordinated to iron, it coordinates to the iron in hemoglobin (+ COX enzymes in mitochondria, and other less immediately important enzymes) and makes them not work, basically forever. But when CN- is already stuck coordinated to free iron, it doesn't really fall off enough to stick itself to enzymes in any meaningful amount. It would be more of a problem if CN- accumulated, but it's metabolized and excreted quickly enough to not be a big deal. The LD50 values basically reflect this.

Me too - though the LD50s (rat, oral) of both are quite close:

NaCl: 3.000 mg·kg−1 [0]

Na4[Fe(CN)6]: 1600–3200 mg·kg−1 [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_chloride

[1] (german, as the english version has no LD50) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natriumhexacyanidoferrat(II)

>They are toxic.

If you ate enough salt to reach a toxic dose of sodium ferrocyanide, you’d already be dead from hypernatremia though?

The dose makes the poison.

"The dose makes the poison."

Yes it does and it all adds up. So why would I add more things, that are poisenous even at small doses, when I can easily avoid it?

>Yes it does and it all adds up

Only for substances that accumulate, which is not the case here...

Now if your salt has PFAS sure

>Yes it does and it all adds up.

No, it doesn't, because sodium ferrocyanide is poorly absorbed in the first place and not bioaccumulative in humans. I suppose you also don't each spinach or almonds either?

"spinach" nope and of almonds not too many either.

But my point is, sodium ferrocyanide intake is not beneficial, (unlike ordinary sodium). Even if it might do no harm, why should I risk even little harm?

And with adding up, well there is a whole libary of other toxic or potentially toxic additives in the normal food you can buy. I prefer to minimize the potential bad intake, that's all.

Also watch out for the arsenic in rice.

Some people don't each rice for this reason, but I just eat around it.

It adds to the richness IMO.

I guess you will still get it in most restaurants.

As well as in any processed food I am buying, yes I am aware of that. But when I have the choice, I prefer the non toxic salt (and it is still mindblowing to me, how it became normal to add cyanide to salt in the first place).

I mean, table salt in general carries pollutants from its source, e.g. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/micro...

Yup, there are cheap salts with their own toxins and even expensive Himalaya salt can probably contain bad stuff. But at least here in germany, there are (non government) organisations that test food for their poisons and you can buy their test results, also for salt, in the shape of a magazine.

And even they can be wrong, sure, but I can still avoid poison where possible, so if I see no reason to voluntarily add cyanide on top of all the other shit for no good reason, I simply won't.

Same boat (non-toxic salt). I've mostly switched to MSG (except for paella), and much prefer it.

Well it's not salt for one.

I mean, calcium silicate _is_ a salt. As is sodium ferrocyanate.

You want your anti-caking agent to absorb a lot of moisture and a salt is the way to do it.

Starch is a common anti-caking agent. Too much of it will make you fat.

Not in salt though, there it would cause more problems by making sticky mess.

Sir, this a discussion about popcorn.

That’s not enough to justify the grinder. Buy a box of Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. It has the perfect texture for keeping in a salter on the counter so it’s easy to grab a pinch.

kosher salt is way too coarse for popcorn, so I don't think it eliminates the need for the grinder

You can control the coarseness by rubbing it between your fingers as you apply it. You may have seen video of chefs doing this.

Grinder means finer salt. Finer salt sticks to things better (you can get a baby powder consistency).

And the way the salt "tastes" is different because the powder dissolves on your tongue differently/quicker.

Salt "dust" is a really interesting way of adding salt to food -- and you actually end up adding less than larger grains

I use salt flour for popcorn; it's essentially salt that is milled as fine as flour. There was a study (which I can't find now) which found that our perception of saltiness is based less on amount and more on surface area coverage.

It's sometimes just called "popcorn salt" and it's exactly as you describe. (And it can also be made at home from regular table salt with a food processor or mortar & pestle.)

I take a trip to the bulk-barn often enough to get “Butter Salt” it’s powdered and yellow. I suspect it’s what goes into the packages for the movie theatre.

>Grinder means finer salt.

I've never seen on-the-spot ground salt smaller than the stuff you can buy already grounded. Except if you buy flakes, but then why do so if you want finer salt?

It's just culinary cargo cult. You grind pepper and other such things because the flavor survives well in the peppercorn but degrades relatively rapidly in air, so waiting until the last minute to grind it results in better flavor. Oxidized pepper is easy to notice the difference in flavor profile and much lower complexity. Especially the pepper shakers that have been sitting at the restaurant table probably yea verily these many years, mostly unused.

Therefore, grinding things at the last minute makes them taste better, goes the simplification.

Therefore, grinding salt must make it taste better.

But salt is not like the aromatic flavors in a peppercorn. Salt is geologically stable. NaCl itself does not need a last minute grind to retain its salty flavors. NaCl is not a chemically complex flavor.

I qualified that as NaCl specifically because it is faintly possible some of the fancy salts could have their fancy flavors come out better if they are ground, but I'm yet to even notice a difference when any of these are used in food in any manner so I can't judge. Those flavors must be awfully darned stable as it is if they're still hanging around in a 99+% NaCl environment. I'd want to see a specific chemical that can survive that but will suddenly wilt if exposed to oxygen. (We're sure not talking about traditional benzene-ring aromatics at that point!) If there is a difference it is hovering at the very bottom of human detectability.

Salt grinders are annoying. They're hard to use because you're trying to grind a rock, a soft rock sure but still a rock. It's wasted effort, and it occurs to me to wonder if they even do anything to speak of; now I want to find one and compare the before and after of the chunk size; I find myself suspicious that many of them are just theatrics and the salt basically passes through unscathed because "cheap plastic" and "grinding a rock" are not compatible with each other. Even if it does do some real grinding it's still a waste though because it was never necessary, you could just have bought it at the right grain size.

The reason you'd use a salt grinder is when you specifically want an inconsistent spread of grain sizes in one single application. Like salt flakes on ganache or caramel, or there's a beloved french butter with large crystals mixed into it.

Usually you'd just use two sizes of salt. I don't own a salt grinder, can't remember ever seeing one in a professional kitchen, don't recommend people buy them. But it does produce a particular effect that you could prefer for some applications.

And in fact I suspect popcorn might be one of the places where it would shine. An even background of salt dust with bursts of intense saltiness from larger grains sounds good here. I'm not going to buy a salt grinder to test it but it's not an absurd idea.

> It's just culinary cargo cult.

I think you’re misunderstanding the use. It’s a different goal from grinding spices. It’s functional. And I’ve never seen powdered salt selling anywhere in Canada. (Except for expensive artisan stuff). So, the best way to achieve it is with a grinder+rock salt. I’ve been using a simple Amazon grinder and it’s easy to use.

Powdered salt tastes different not because of a differing chemical composition, but because of its different physical nature + your tongue.

>It’s a different goal from grinding spices. It’s functional.

Or... it's an after the fact rationalization for the cargo cult!

At best this might be your goal, for whatever reason. 99% of the people who cargo cult a salt grinder don't have that reason - and regular sold salt would be 100% OK for their purposes.

Okay c'mon now, are you even trying to understand/empathize with their argument at all?

Right off the bat any real consideration will make you aware that large particles will distribute very differently from small particles of the same volume.

Additionally that large particles will be substantively different from small particles in how they interact with the toungue. Eg large particles will "burn" more due to their extreme concentration and will be effectively "hot spots" of seasoning.

From just that it would be apparent that there would be truth to the claim of substantial difference in experience when using the two forms.

Right?

I’ve never seen salt powder or “dust” for sale. Grinder has been the only useful way.

The shapes of the granules in table vs ground sea salt are different.

In my neck of the woods, unground salt is much, much cheaper than ground. Ground salt can basically be only found coming in a plastic dispenser. It could be argued that throwing all these plastic containers away isn't great for the environment.

I only realize that I've never thought of comparing, but I've got the habit of using unground salt when cooking. My grandmother used to do this for some reason, so I picked it up.

Unground salt is also useful for cleaning things, like cooking pans.

It's therefore easier to only buy salt in one big pack that lasts forever.

Portuguese kitching uses a lot of coarse salt.

A 1 kilo bag is like 0,23 EUR

500g of fine table salt is 9¢, so the price doesn't really matter tbh.

Also can't make good brownies without big salt crystals. Or pretzels.

In london at Canary Wharf there is a 'German' pub that serves pretzels without salt on them! I tried explaining that they are all crinimals but they were just really confused!

> In my neck of the woods, unground salt is much, much cheaper than ground.

In my neck of the woods, unground salt is the most expensive kind, because the only place you can find it is in upscale gourmet stores.

For pop corn you need fine grained salt. A grinder lets you control that. It is only about the grain sizes. Nothing about freshness with salt. With pepper it is about freshly releases aromatics.

I’ve never found a salt grinder able to sustain the salt corrosion in the long run. Sooner or later, salt is aggregating and turning even the more resistant parts into rust.

I was recently planning to get back to a regular pestle/mortar setup after yet another costly failure. Did you manage to find a way to work this around?

> I’ve never found a salt grinder able to sustain the salt corrosion in the long run

There are ceramic grinders now. I'd expect those to not rust, but I don't know how long they stay sharp.

You can make ceramics harder than the hardest steel so staying sharp shouldn’t be a problem.

I've had ceramic salt grinders for years now. Anecdotally you're right, never thought about replacing them.

What timescale are you talking about? I have a William Sonoma salt grinder, as well as one that my friend made for me. They're both about 5 years old. As far as I know there's no significant deterioration on either one. The grinding surfaces are ceramic.

Had usually some issues with (metallic) screws or other minor pieces after 1-2 years. Will take a look at ceramic grinders in the future.

I looked under my William Sonoma grinder today, and the metal screws and bracket near the ceramic grinder are in fine shape.

I use ceramic grinder. No corrosion possible.

I've had a fully plastic one for about 5 years

Delivering microplastics right into the food since 19xx.

we use a cheap ikea grinder, it has ceramic burrs and has undergone countless refills and dishwasher cycles.

It’s easy enough in the US to just buy fine grained salt.

A coffee grinder will quickly make a lot of really fine salt. I do that when I need to heat treat 3D printed parts to improve their material strength. You pack the part into fine salt, bake it at the original extrusion temperature, then slowly let it cool down. The plastic liquefies, and the packed salt holds its shape.

That'll probably really fuck up a coffee grinder, so make sure you don't use it for coffee.

I would assume they are talking about a blade "coffee" grinder, which is ironically terrible for coffee.

If you want a really fine grind in a hurry you can use one and get ok results. You have to let it rest every 30s or so to cool down or it heats the grounds too much. I liked to shake it while grinding too. It isn't quite Turkish grind and there are a few large pieces that won't get full extraction, but if you want really fast extraction (or fast intentional over extraction) it works.

Yeah, a blade coffee grinder. For sure don't run salt through your expensive burr grinder!

why would it fuck up a coffee grinder?

Salt corrodes stuff

And salt is a lot harder than a coffee bean. Blade is probably a really weak/soft metal. Might be harder than salt on the Mohs scale, but that just buys you time.

Blade also gets kicked around more going around the salt instead of grinding through, more bending = shorter lifespan.

Nice method, what infill do you need for that to work? 100% or is less possible?

You do need 100%, otherwise you'll end up with a void at the top once the plastic melts. You could experiment with intentionally designing in a "sprue" of extra material to melt and control where the void is, but I haven't tried it yet.

I've successfully used this method on a sun gear for a planetary gear box designed for a low speed, high torque application. Due to mechanical constraints, the gear only had about 1.2mm of wall thickness at a 5mm radius, and it was prone to shearing off. Remelting it in salt solved the shearing, without having to redesign anything else.

A good blender works too.

The shapes of the crystals affects the taste. If the salt is going to be dissolved, such as in pasta water, then grain-shape doesn't matter. Use the cheapest salt. But if the salt is going onto the surface of a food, such as in popcorn or a steak, then fresh-ground salt gives a more salty flavor per gram used. The salt grains that come already ground have a smooth texture like the smooth pebbles in a creek. Fresh-grinding gives the crystals a jagged, irregular shape. This enhances the effect when they hit your taste buds.

My conjecture: salt grinders create more irregular shapes than provided by commercially made table salt. Irregular shapes mean more surface area, which means faster absorption into the body, which means tastier food.

Totally without evidence.

I'm a big fan of tomatoes, and one of my favorite dishes is sliced tomatoes, salted, and eaten with cheese.

For some reason, normal salt just sticks on the top of the tomato despite it being wet and I can "taste" the salt not just saltiness. However, with crunched salt crystals, they basically dissolve and disappear into the moisture of the tomato. This just tastes better too.

Don't ask me why or how it all happens, it's just what I've found using my taste buds.

Probably the anti-caking agents in the normal salt absorb some of the wetness and have it stay clumped up instead of diffusing through the tomato liquid

Why would anti-caking agents clump up? Isn't their purpose to not clump up?

This comment reminded me that for the past few years I’ve been using a hand crank coffee grinder for my pepper and i don’t think I’ll ever go back. It’s perfect.

I prefer course grained and no anti caking agents or iodine added.

It's nothing special, some no-name Himalayan pink salt in a plastic grinder.

You're swapping caking agents and iodine for... a hefty list. (In both cases, less than really makes a difference to human health.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayan_salt

> Some salts mined in Pakistan are not suitable for food or industrial use without purification due to impurities... Although a study of pink salts commercially available in Australia showed Himalayan salt to contain higher levels of a range of elements, including calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, aluminum, barium, silicon, and sulfur, and reduced levels of sodium, compared to table salt, the authors concluded that "exceedingly high intake" (a level in excess of the recommended daily salt intake by almost 600%) would be required for the differences to be clinically significant, levels at which any potential nutritional benefit would be outweighed by the risks of elevated sodium consumption such an intake would entail.

Oh, I'm not doing the pink salt because of the health benefits. I'm doing it because I like the flavor and how it interacts with my food better.

I've never really like iodized table salt, the pink salt tastes "right" to me.

Taste, I can get behind; fleur de sel is my go-to.

Well, iodine is required for life so you better get some elsewhere, like from a supplement. It's not present in sufficient amounts in water or plants these days...

Lack of iodine in the diet was an issue 100 years ago, but not so much now.

According to the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements, tests have shown that the population in the United States is “iodine sufficient.” Most Americans who eat a varied diet get enough iodine even if they don’t use iodized salt. They are at little risk of iodine deficiency*

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/well/eat/should-we-be-buy...

That article is not trustworthy.

It links Americans being iodine sufficient to getting varied diet but that’s not a conclusion made by the source from what I can see.

The article also says bread is a good source of iodine when the source says it’s a very poor source of iodine.

So I think the article is making stuff up, linking a source but hoping no one will actually read it, and probably written by someone trying to get iodine supplements removed.

Normally I’d expect to see this kind of writing from some blog but not the NYT.

It’s worth it for anyone to read the article. Plenty of circumstances that could lead to deficiency.

I think the “varied diet” usually means Americans get enough through non-home use iodized salt (like processed/restaurant foods). As the article says, seafood (plant or not) and dairy are good iodine sources, if you consume them.

Seafood yes, dairy only because the cow's feed is supplemented. Free range grass fed cows will have low iodine content in milk.

Not an expert on this, but after buying both types of salt from the same manufacturer and comparing them, the pre-ground one has a different texture and is less pleasant to eat; almost like it was mixed with dust.

I also don't use salt grinders, preferring coarse salt like Kosher or coarse sea salt on most dishes. However, to play Devil's advocate, a grinder is adjustable between fine and coarse.

Just buy Flavacol

Yeah, I bought a pound (or a kilo?) and it will last me the rest of my life.

Grinding the salt more finely makes it stick to the popcorn a bit better.

Just that they use chemicals to keep the salt seperate.

pre-ground salt often contains sugar (as an ingredient, it's on the package).

I've never seen this, this would lead to some sticky salt.

Usually you see anti-caking agents and Iodide added.

https://www.achievergirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/suga...

Nice, interesting explanation https://windsorsalt.com/faq/

I just like the number of people who replied to this telling me I'm full of it when a simple google image search returns hundreds of results.

It didn't sound plausible tbh since they add anti-caking agents and sugar seems like a pro-caking agent. I even googled salt additives (to keep the search neutral) and it didn't turn up sugar anywhere.

Yeah, no. I'm really going need to see some evidence for this.

What? They sell salt with added sugar in the US!?!?

It must be a special kind because Morton's the most popular brand of table in the USA has salt and calcium silicate, no sugar at all, 0.

Here's Morton's with dextrose. https://nourishingattempts.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/why-is-t...

I bet there's salt somewhere that has added sugar, but I have never personally seen it in my life.

Yeah, no. I have no idea what that person is referencing. I've had all the available salts around me and I've literally never seen sugar in salt. That would be insane. They do use an anti caking agent sometimes though, but that's more like sand

That’s way too much work. Buy big bag of organic Amish baby corn. Buy a silicone popcorn maker. Toss a handful of popcorn in with some olive oil. Microwave for 3.5 minutes or until you hear only 2 pops a second. Sprinkle with salt. Done. Also a $20 bag will probably make more than a hundred bowls.

I was just about to post about the silicone popcorn makers. They’re amazingly practical, I’m super happy with mine, and I’m pretty sure it can’t get any easier than that. Some risk of burning your popcorn tho as the window between “most kernels popped” and “burnt” is relatively short, so until you figure out the correct timings for your microwave’s power, watch your fire alarms.

You can do this with brown paper lunch bags. Put some popcorn in a bag, fold the top so that it doesn't open when it expands, and hit the popcorn button.

Most likely all of these alternatives contain PFAS as well, except for putting them in the good 'ol kettle on the stove. Source: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/science-technology/paper-b...

I think that only applies to variations of “non stick” or grease repellant paper bags, which is often used by fast food joints to avoid the food sticking to the paper.

That article appears to be talking about the type of bags and wrappers you get from fast food joints. I don't think a standard "brown paper bag" contains PFAS.

It does get easier: air popper. No burning to worry about, works perfectly every time.

Air poppers are great for efficiency and convenience, but I find the consistency a bit chewy for my taste. Efficiency and convenience usually wins though, which is also why microwave popcorn is such a hit.

Yeah, I don't care for air-popped popcorn for that reason, too. But I prefer air-popped over microwave.

I have a vague memory of using an air popper and as far as i remember it wasn’t allowed to add oil. With the silicone ones you add oil and salt at the beginning and can ensure a uniform distribution

Yep, no oil for an air popper. You get the popcorn and that's it. If you want to add fats, you do it afterward.

My silicone popcorn maker works great in a regular household size microwave. Not so good in a small microwave like you get in a cheap hotel or RV.

It's really no different. Take a pot, toss in a handful of popcorn with some oil. Turn on stove for a couple of minutes until pops subside. Sprinkle with salt. Done.

I never bothered with the butter etc, though maybe I should.

I have experimented with various techniques: huge pot, wok, air popper, silicone bowls.

The silicone bowls are by far the best. Big consistent, crisp pops. Minimal waste, you can even repop the unopposed kernels. But easy to burn if you are not careful.

Air poppers are by far the worst. The pop corn always came out like styrofoam. I’d bite into the popcorn and it would just flatten.

I don’t believe the comments about getting minimal un-popped kernels using a pot, by just swirling around a bit of oil. Sounds like baloney to me. Results are good but waste is relatively high in a flat bottomed pot.

The best vessel for stove top is a metal container with a curved bottom - wok, large metal bowl. Add popcorn and oil as normal. Heat for about a minute. Turn the heat off. Stir the kernels for 30s to a minute to let the heat even out. Turn the heat back on and cover. As they pop shake the container to help the kernels settle to the bottom. The same technique can be used in a normal pot, but the heat distribution is not as good.

> I don’t believe the comments about getting minimal un-popped kernels using a pot, by just swirling around a bit of oil. Sounds like baloney to me.

It works, though!

I use an ordinary 3qt pot (Cuisinart MCP193-18N, if it matters; this is a tri-ply pot). Choose enough kernels to make a single layer on the bottom of the pot (that's about 1/2 cup for this one, if I'm remembering correctly... I'm usually on autopilot doing this though) and set aside. Add enough oil to the pot to basically half cover the single layer, or a bit more. Add five kernels to the pot and start the heat at medium-high to high. Add the rest of the kernels when 3/5 of the test kernels have popped. Cover with lid. You're done when the pot is full (and it will be!). Pour the popcorn into a separate bowl to season and serve.

Works every time, with very little waste kernels.

Maybe it’s my pot.

I took or adapted my stove top method from Alton Brown. And it works on every wok so far.

According to https://www.healthline.com/health/body-modification/is-silic..., silicone utensils are unsafe to cook with above 220C, which I guess you're not going to reach popping popcorn. The list of potential conditions from silicone exposure aren't great. I couldn't find any studies at a quick search.

> I don’t believe the comments about getting minimal un-popped kernels using a pot, by just swirling around a bit of oil. Sounds like baloney to me.

I guess you don't have to believe it, but I rarely get more than two or three unpopped kernels that way, personally.

Well, I don’t believe it in the sense that I think these recipes are all missing out key steps. Because not everyone gets such good results. I sure don’t without extra steps.

Oil helps distribute heat more evenly. Makes sense to me that this might make the popping more consistent.

The only time you don’t add oil is with an air popper. It does not guarantee results by itself.

Can you just let it sit on the flame or do you have to move it around?

I use this method with a flat bottom pot (peanut oil and salt only), and I find that if I don't shake it from time to time, it will sometimes burn a bit before all kernels have popped. So, about halfway done, I shake and/or vertically bump the pot to let kernels settle back to the bottom.

As the popping slows, I take the lid off entirely (there's enough popcorn at that point to keep new popping from splatter or jumping out), and add salt, and then rotate the bulk of the popped corn with a bump to one side, salt again, bump-rotate, etc, getting the salt on it evenly without letting it cool too much. I like popcorn that's just-popped hot.

Two other notes:

I only use peanut oil, because at fast popping temperatures, some oils smoke. The popcorn does not taste like peanuts, if you'd worry about that.

I use more oil than most commenters, such that the single layer of kernels (3/4 cup in my pot) are nearly submerged at the start. Cleanup is more involved than a wipe of the pot, but the popcorn is a lot tastier and I don't need any butter or parm.

IMO flavacol is essential. Oil type matters too, coconut oil gives more of a movie theater style flavor (OTOH maybe not as healthy as other options...)

Coconut oil is relatively healthy as far as consuming oil goes, isn't it?

You're probably thinking of the MCTs in coconut oil, which do seem to offer some health benefits, but coconut oil is also monstrously high in saturated fats (90% vs 14% for olive oil), and tons of studies show that saturated fat is relatively awful for the human body.

Coconut and palm oils are the least healthy of all the vegetable oils. In terms of saturated fat, they're almost as bad as beef fat.

I recommend jalapeno popcorn. If you enjoy a spicy snack its great. Only difference is when you're heating up the oil, add some pickled jalapenos and cook them until they're crunchy--the oil will absorb the spiciness.

Also, try using coconut oil instead of canola oil to cook the popcorn--its pricier, but its a great taste. I think it removes the need to add butter afterwards.

You can get pretty varied with the seasoning too. Parmesan is my favorite, but I like Italian herbs, nutritional yeast, garlic powder. You can throw a bunch of stuff on there together.

for something absurdly decadent, try adding these:

* truffle zest (a powder, smells good, not much taste) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FDFL2RQ

* truffle sauce (it's bits of truffle and other mushrooms in oil) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V3M9VLI

* truffle salt (it's a very fine salt and very good for popcorn) https://www.amazon.com/Italian-Black-Truffle-Sea-Salt/dp/B00...

(or just do the truffle salt alone)

i like this combo because it's not as chemical smelling as the "white truffle oil" or whatever they sell that doesn't contain any truffle at all.

Tabasco is incredible on popcorn, give it a shot. I like to mix it in with the melted butter before tossing it all

If you enjoy tabasco, you'll love chili oil. Grab some Lao Gan Ma, oil in early, flakes and some salt at the end.

Sprayed with cooking spray, then dusted with flavored gelatin power & quickly popped in the oven, you will get something that resembles those flavored popcorns with a sucker-like candy shell.

What flavors do you prefer (for gelatin powda?)

Whatever your favorite is, but I’d probably reach for cherry.

Popcorn is a magnificent flavor-vehicle! My personal favorite is to melt salt, ginger, and sugar in butter and toss the popcorn in that tasty mixture. Or just douse the popped-kernels in sriracha.

If you like the garlic powder, try chicken salt on popcorn.

TIL that "chicken salt" is a thing that exists! Thanks!

Or just garlic salt?

Old Bay seasoning on popcorn is fantastic. I usually don't butter if I'm putting it on, though I'm sure that would be delicious too.

Old Bay is great, yes! I also like nutritional yeast on popcorn.

But plain old butter is still my favorite.

There are Chinese popcorn cannons that require less work. Here is a video of a family of two operating such a popcorn booth in China:

https://youtu.be/DZQNjZ1xNgE

We have much to learn from their culture.

Looks like they're using the cannon to make both puffed rice (the first "shot") and popcorn (the second one). Same principle, of course.

They were working with rice, after firing that batch they load the cannon with flint corn (pop corn)

Corn explosion is louder than rice one.

I'm normally good at picking up on sarcasm on the internet, this is just an advanced joke, right?

Wow, that is literally a cannon ... crazy.

Kettle corn * ¼ cup coconut oil * ¼ cup white sugar * ½ cup unpopped popcorn kernels

Heat oil first. Use the 3 kernel method to make sure oil is hot enough then add sugar and rest of kernels. Use a large lightweight pot with lid to shake every few seconds or you get uneven coated or crispy burnt pieces.

I tried different oils and sugar mixes but coconut with white sugar seems the best.

I read there are ways to use an air fryer also but haven’t tried yet.

My household follows this method, though we find high heat, while extremely efficient, frequently results in chewy output.

In my experiments heating the pan and oil to a medium-high temperature, just before smoking, with 3-4 test kernels preloaded allows them to generate an alert by their popping, signalling the optimal time for addition of the rest of the kernel package.

Chewy is from moisture. Vent the pot better.

I love movie theater popcorn so I often try to get that exact experience at home. The biggest leap in quality for me is using a tall pot and a colander on top, it achieves the same goal as your paper towel between the lid-- getting that excess moisture out of the pot really makes all the difference!

If you want movie theater popcorn you make it the same way they do with the same ingredients.

Stir popcorn maker something like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004RC6R

flavacol salt (optional if you use flour salt) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004W8LT10 or flour salt https://www.amazon.com/Morton-Popcorn-Salt-Green-French/dp/B... or both 1/2-1 tea spoons at most.

'butter' oil https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UZLQG2 1/4 cup after cooking (warm it in a microwave)

The butter oil is a bit of a pain as there is so much of it and you can not really buy in small quantities, and it will go rancid before you use it all. It is meant for movie theaters to use. I have not found any supermarket versions that are correct. Usually they are kinda gross.

You can use a coconut oil for cooking with. Most theaters do not do this at all. The butter oil is closest to the same as movie theater as that is what they use during cooking and topping at the end. I personally use the coconut oil when cooking as it imparts a nice texture and flavor to the popcorn. 1-2 tsps for cooking with for either. Then top with the butter oil.

The flavacol and butter oil are the key ingredients.

For the popcorn I just buy orville redenbacher popcorn. They have a decent process of removing the duds before they get into the container. You can buy generic just expect a few duds.

The secret to movie popcorn flavor is coconut oil and the flavored salt.

I've had similar luck with peanut oil too!

Coconut oil is ok but it does have a distinct taste.

My favorite is to use beef tallow.

Our recipe:

* 3 tablespoons bacon grease * 1/2 cup popcorn kernels

Put the bacon grease in a large pot and add three kernels of popcorn. Heat it on half heat (5 on a gas burner, anyway) until the three kernels all pop -- this will usually be the point at which smoke from the grease is accumulating in the pot (if you have a large lid you can watch). Once the three pop, dump the rest in. Scoot the pot vigorously back and forth on the stove to shake the unpopped kernels to the bottom. Turn off the heat when the popping stops.

Pour in a bowl and salt to taste. No butter required. As above, you get almost no unpopped kernels this way!

We use "rainbow popcorn," which is multi-color and we think tastes better. It doesn't pop as big as the regular yellow kind.

I'll have to try the paper towel trick, especially with the smaller pot I sometimes use.

I do this all the time. I never liked microwave popcorn because all of it has a strange odor and taste to me.

> I like to suspend a paper towel between the lid and the rest of the pot, absorbs excess oil and water.

Brilliant! I never thought of this, and I'm going to start doing doing it. Thank you!

Trick: Use a wok, leaves nothing unpopped and can use less oil.

Also, more of the world needs this in their lives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fG8rNHUspU

(not bdg - well yes also bdg - but in this case the pep corn)

I like to use as much peanut oil as possible. like 1/3 cup. Make a nice heavy popcorn. Delicious!

I love popcorn. And this might be arrogant. As I might come around like the extremist (that I am). But I am reading here between the lines, that even with popcorn, there is a lot that could be done better for the environment: - gas is not renewable. I hope we can get away from that - once popping starts you turn of the stove, does this mean you have fairly solid pans that keep the heat long? I don't think that is sustainable either - You put butter in the popcorn? Well that is also not sustainable either. - Then you add Parmesan, well that makes it even worse. - You use a paper towel, that you toss away

Why do we just happen to glance over those issues so easily?

> does this mean you have fairly solid pans that keep the heat long? I don't think that is sustainable either

How is that not sustainable? It means that you can turn the heat off earlier and coast on the stored heat.

I don't cook on gas, so that's not a concern for me. But no butter?? That's the same as saying "no popcorn".

Knowing full well that you enjoy the popped corn enough to develop such a method. The one thing that took my basically verbatim instructions to the next level, was to add some “Butter Salt” in with the oil so the kernels are coated as they pop. It’ll give it that movie theatre yellow colour. It’s potent so not too much.

Also I usually toss in 3 kernels to the oil. When they pop you add the 1/3 cup as the oil is preheated and ready to get to work.

> Cover, put on high (I use gas). I like to suspend a paper towel between the lid and the rest of the pot, absorbs excess oil and water.

Cool tip, thanks. I use basically the same steps except fort this one. Living in a high humidity environment (it's rarely below 70%), any step to reduce excess moisture helps improve the crunchiness of the popcorn.

I have stopped using paper towels after discovering those "flour sack" towels at Menards. I bought a lot of them so there is always a stack in the kitchen. They are a joy to use and easily replace paper towels for 99% of their functions. We still keep paper towels but the roll lasts forever now.

> I like to suspend a paper towel between the lid and the rest of the pot, absorbs excess oil and water.

Interesting. I like to keep that excess oil/water, as that extra moisture on the surface of the popcorns later helps the sugar/salt stick to it - without the need for additional butter/grease.

I'm somewhat of a fanatic on popcorn style... Take with a grain of salt.

> Take one large pot (the kind that holds like 10qts).

Ideally a dutch oven or similar heavy bottom that distributes heat well. This makes the process nearly foolproof on any heat source.

> Add a bit of oil, basically just enough to swirl and have everything covered in an oil sheen, not enough to have them submerged.

If you are looking for "movie theatre" popcorn the "secret" is using (extra virgin) coconut oil along with flavacol dissolved in the heated oil with the kernels popped in it. I use 2-3tbps of coconut oil and 2tsp of flavacol for 3/4 cup worth of kernels.

Flavacol should not be used as a topping imo, but as part of the popping substrate.

> Cover

This is tricky. Covering traps moisture released during popping, and moisture results in soggy (or at least not crisp!) popcorn. You do need some sort of cover though for obvious reasons.

I found a pot+metal strainer combo that fits perfectly together, where the strainer has about as many holes in it as you could get away with without creating oil splash mess. This lets as much steam as possible out immediately upon popping with as little kernel contact as possible. A more easy to come by lid is using a mesh oil cover meant for deep frying.

The commercial poppers accomplish this by having a very small popping pan, which kernels get "pushed out" of fairly quickly after they pop into a well vented holding tub.

> Toss 1/8 cup butter in the hot pot, melt the butter with residual heat.

Disagree on butter on popcorn, but it's a personal preference. I find butter makes popcorn soggy due to water content - and the flavacol+coconut oil is typically what most US theatre chains use vs. real butter, so it's what I "expect" the flavor to be. That said, I sometimes do melt up some butter to switch things up.

> Salt(I prefer a salt grinder)

I prefer pre-made popcorn salt in a wide metal popcorn salt shaker to really get a nice even spread.

> transfer back to the mixing bowl.

One trick: If you are making a lot of popcorn "to go" (e.g. for a party later) the best way I've found to keep it fresh is inside doubled-up paper grocery shopping bags. This helps soak up residual moisture, and the difference is noticeable after a few hours.

I remember my family doing this when I was a child. You can return to the television and listen for the popping to slow if you wish. Returning to the kitchen and finding the lid wasn't placed on pot is tragic comedy. Sweep and mop, the floor will be oily. I think it only happened once.

My only recommendation/advice is to use a thick bottom wok or pot. A wok allows the already popped popcorn to move away from the heat source.

Thick bottom pots also reduce burning. Use a vented lid so steam can escape which prevents soggy popcorn.

Buy a 20 USD hot air popcorn machine. No unpoped kernels and you add as little or as much oil/butter etc you want at the end. No cleanup needed either. Only downside is that they are loud.

I use an airpopper, cost maybe $6. Can in theory be used for coffee roasting too!

If you have time, or have pre-made it, using clarified butter results in a better final product. I keep some in the fridge all the time. Ghee would probably work similarly, but I have never tried it.

Unless there’s a comment more pedantic than mine disproving this, ghee IS clarified butter.

"Cover, put on high (I use gas)."

Microwave is also fine, I just use a Pyrex bowl put in kernels and cover with a non-metal plate. The plate is necessary or they end up everywhere except the bowl.

> Cover, put on high (I use gas). I like to suspend a paper towel between the lid and the rest of the pot, absorbs excess oil and water.

This is what I've been missing...

I would avoid normal butter. I use ghee instead. The problem with butter is that it has water content that can cause the popcorn to get soggy. Ghee avoids that.

Exactly this! But not with salt, but caramelized sugar. Maybe also pinch of salt just for the kick.

Can't be worse than the PFAS infused kind right?

No butter or parmesan, just salt is perfect.

10 quarts = 11.3 l

I had no idea that a quart is about a litre.

The other one that threw me is how am I supposed to measure 1/8th cup of butter?

1/8th of a cup is 2 tablespoons.

But I prefer to measure butter (and most other things -- especially sticky/messy/powdery things) by weight because it's easier. 1 cup of butter weighs about 227 grams, so 1/8 cup is about 27 grams.

In the US, butter is sold in sticks with 1/8 cup markings on the wrapper

Ehy would you measure butter in cups, you dont drink it

Most American cookbooks use volume measures for baking because most of us don’t own scales. It sometimes leads to wildly inconsistent results when an ingredient is compacted too much.

Yeah even the cup measurement itself varies. It's sometimes 250mL and sometimes 236mL and sometimes 227mL.

Cups is a measure of volume. They could just as easily print cc markings, but I don't think they do.

Me: Hey babe, your're almost a litre!

Her: Why?

Me: Because you're a qt!

I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't get this joke until I reread it a few times. Probably because my entire life, I've internally pronounced "qt" as "quart". It took a bit before I realized the joke was shooting for "cutie".

Uh, I think something went wrong with your conversion. 10 quarts is about 9.5 liters.

You're using US quarts; they're using Imperial quarts[0]. (But I expect the recipe was also using US quarts, so still a useful adjustment to note.)

[0] https://www.google.com/search?q=10+imperial+quarts+in+liters

I used the common Unix "units" program, and entered quarts and asked for l (i.e., litres). Maybe it used my locale? GNU programs can be crazy like that.

Add some sugar to the oil and skip the butter. So goooood!

s/Parmesan/nutritional yeast/ for me

Dry popcorn for 2 min on convection in the oven at 350

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