[Bob in St. Louis]

 

[Night_Train]

I'm sure AC has some popcorn experts lurking about.  I'm curious as to what you use to make your popcorn, as well as what you like on your popcorn.

Me....I have tried a lot of the bagged popcorn and prefer Pop Secret's Homestyle.  However, my wife bought me a Whirley Pop Popcorn Popper and their Real Theater popcorn kits from PopcornPopper.com and it is much better than any bagged popcorn I have had.

Anyone have any other suggestion for some great popcorn?  How about popcorn salt and butter, have you found something that is truly "special"?

No discussion of healthy popcorn allowed   cause I'm talking about "good" popcorn here 

Mark

I use a Cretors popcorn machine and generic "Country Harvest" brand popcorn multipacks as well as raw Black Jewel kernels and my own ingredients (i.e. Coconut oil and Flavacol seasoning). The pre-portioned packs contain the popcorn, oil, and seasoning premeasured for different sized kettles and serving sizes. Country Harvest and its generic cousin is the best tasting of the preportioned I've tried.

I also have "Black Jewel" raw popcorn kernels, but this requires to mix my own oil and seasoning which isn't bad if you have your own popper. People are known to use "Stir Crazy" poppers with the preportioned packs with some success and some small failures. Advantage of the Stir Crazy is that the machine is relatively cheap and you can use real movie theater ingredients to make your own great tasting popcorn. Black Jewel is a hulless or has less hulls than normal popcorn and I prefer that type of raw popcorn.

Coconut oil and Flavacol are the generally accepted ingredients used to make real movie theater tasting popcorn. Some people like to also use flavorings on their popcorn and Kernel Seasons appears to be a favorite (i.e. White Cheddar)

As far as butter goes there are many choices but a favorite is Ghee or clarified butter. The advantage of clarified butter is that it doesn't generally need refrigeration and keeps relativley well without getting rancid. That is if your popcorn lasts that long. Hehehehehe....

[Andrikos]

I make mine on the stove (gas of course!  ) in a big spaghetti pot partially covered to let steam escape.

At the time I turn the stove heat on, I also turn the oven on at 200F (convection roast) so I can dry the popcorn as soon as it's done.

Cover the bottom of the pot (one layer) with popcorn seeds (reddenbacker)
Add neutral oil (like peanut or corn) to barely cover the bottom, add 1/2 a stick of butter.
Heat on medium (on the large eye), place lid on, leave a tiny crack for steam.
Don't shake, don't move, nuttin, for 4-5 minutes or until all popping subsides (<1 pop per 5 seconds)

Pour popcorn in giant metal bowl and salt to taste.
Put in oven for 10 minutes to crisp it up.

Remove metal bowl (with mitts!:)) and split into 2-3 smaller bowls.
Add parmesan in one, cayenne and lemon pepper in another and butter flavoring in the last.

Enjoy!

[Wind Chaser]

Recommended appliance... Toastess Cinema Popper

This machine continues to serve me very well.  Unlike a hot air blower, it runs very quiet, that is until the popping starts.  It also has a stirring rod that ensures every kernel pops virtually every time.