the prospect of my own embarrassment should probably preclude my writing this. but, in the spirit of blogosphere tell-all, i am sharing with all of you the sorry fact that this afternoon i popped my very first batch of honest-to-goodness popcorn. on the stove. in a pot.
i know, most of you are probably chuckling at my innocence. but if there exist any souls out there who have only experienced the popped-in-a-bag variety, i want to let you in on a little secret: popping your own corn takes about as much time as taking the celophane wrapper off the microwave stuff. seriously.
here are my notes. enjoy at your own peril.
1. measure out a half cup of popping kernels.
2. pour two tablespoons of oil into a saucepan. add three kernels. cover. turn heat to medium. when first three kernels pop, add the rest. with the lid on, shake ‘er up. {this can also double as your daily upper-body workout. bonus}.
2. pour two tablespoons of oil into a saucepan. add three kernels. cover. turn heat to medium. when first three kernels pop, add the rest. with the lid on, shake ‘er up. {this can also double as your daily upper-body workout. bonus}.
3. when popping noise stops, remove from heat.
4. salt it up. if you dig, butter it up. {add a little sugar if you’re really feeling crazy}. enjoy.
26 Comments
so good!
You know, the only time I ever tried to make popcorn on the stove I burned it. You're making me want to try again! I don't have a microwave and I love the real deal.
My Aunt Chris makes it on the stove and it is delicious every time. 🙂
Now that's how you make jiffy pop! Sometimes I add olive oil instead of butter and have even tried tossing in a little grated cheese and Italian herbs. If you work quickly, some of these things actually stick to the corn. Much of this goodness ends up on the bottom of the bowl, but it's still pretty good and WAY better, as you now know, than the microwave variety.
yum. yum. yum!
we got an ancient popcorn maker from the widow across the street (aaron mows her lawn every week, so we're tight:) it's like stovetop popcorn everytime. my absolute favorite.
It's the ONLY way to make popcorn in my book!
I burned two pots years ago trying to make popcorn, so I stopped making it. Luckily for me, my husband came along soon after that (16 years ago) who is a confident popper – and whew, thank goodness for that 😉 …but I shouldn't be so whimpy… I must try again!
Yum, I love doing this. I always add coconut oil with mine, it's so delicious.
It's the best, isn't it? I love your photos, as always.
-maria
I'm not laughing at you—I've never done it myself! At least now I know how, thank goodness for you! I think I've seen it done before back during childhood, but have never attempted such delicacies myself. Now I may just try…
XX Kate
I love my air-popper.
i've never tried this but it looks so good! i would also like to try making some caramel corn–it's the season for it.
Thanks for reminding me how much I love stovetop popcorn… especially with olive oil. I'm making this tonight!
Ive' never done that, but now sitting here looking at it I want to go have some now! Looks so yummy!
my dad use to pop us popcorn on the stove all the time. but i haven't ever done it on my own. thanks for the inspiration!
Great post! Love your photos 🙂
I'm a stove top popper. My grandfather made the best popcorn on the stove and I learned from him. When I'm feeling gourmet I add rosemary with a little salt – delicious!
My parents would take us to our cottage by a lake and on cool evenings my dad would start up the wood burning stove and make popcorn in a deep iron skillet with a lid. I think memories of making popcorn like that stuck with me. xoxo
I def want to try this. My mom gave us some red popcorn for x-mas. I wonder what the self life of kernals is. Thanks for posting this info!
How splendid! This reminds me of all the popcorn I popped stovetop in college. Somehow, I strangely had more time back then!
I like to use my wok for popping — I find that it distributes the heat nicely, and yes, you have me feeling crazy for a little bit of sugar in my popcorn too!
The only way i like it!!!so glad you tried it and love it!
oh my ….how lovely your photos look of this process:)
…..can someone who burns popcorn in the microwave do this? {wink, wink!}
nutritional yeast also tastes great on top of stovetop popcorn. kinda buttery but without the butter!
add 1/4 cup of turbinado sugar and a pinch or two of salt to the oil before popping and you'll have great kettle corn. So funny–I used to make stove-top corn all the time when you were wee–until we got that old air popper!!
Try adding some butter to the oil in the pan, it spreads the butter flavor to all the kernels, not just the ones on top.
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