I like popcorn. Only recently though, my taste buds have been adjusting and I've grown fond of popcorn not popped in the microwave. Why? Because of all the artificial aftertastes that are left in my mouth. It's just not as satisfying as movie theatre popcorn or popcorn cooked over the stove.
I also like thrift stores. And recent trip to the thrift store revolutionized the way I make popcorn at home. How, you may ask? I stumbled upon a couple of cookbooks from America's Test Kitchen at the bargain rate of $2.50 each. If you're not familiar with America's Test Kitchen, they basically test out ways to make something, products or brands of foods and compare them. They took a look at microwaved popcorn and I was shocked (shocked!) about the simplicity of their experiment. You ready? Can you handle this revelation?
You can pop regular old corn seed in the microwave with a brown paper bag! Yep, it's as plain and simple as it sounds. Take your run of the mill brown paper lunch bag, toss in some popcorn seeds, fold the edge and hit the POPCORN button on your microwave. The principles are the same- listen for the popcorn to start popping and when it starts come to an end, it's done.
Could it get any easier? No, it couldn't!! You want butter popcorn? Melt a bit of butter and then drizzle it on. Gone are all the chemicals and weird filmy after taste. Worried about how fattening buttery microwaved popcorn can be? Just pop some seeds in the bag, sprinkle a dash of salt, maybe a spray of PAM and voila- a light little snack. Drizzle a bit of olive oil, add salt and pepper. Get crazy and make some caramel and toss with your popcorn. It's so easy!
You'll never have to buy microwave popcorn again. Just a stash of brown paper lunch bags and some seeds and you'll be on your way to easy breezy microwaved popcorn without all those artificial flavors!
So my question to you, do you have any neat little cooking tricks? Something so simple, yet hardly no one has ever thought about? I'd love to hear about them!
oh holy cow! i also avoid microwave popcorn for the same reason. i usually do it on the stove (although an electric stove does not cook, but burn my seeds in my apt), or use an air popper. Im going to have to try this asap! thanks!
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