There seems to be a small “meme” of popcorn videos going around. First there was this one from “roadbikegel”, then Ian Mills tried once and again.

I regularly cook popcorn for my kids, and have never seen the point of buying “microwave” popcorn – it always seems to come out with half the kernels burnt. And those big bags of pre-popped corn you can buy just taste stale and horrible. A half kilo of corn kernels will last for months, and can be bought from many supermarkets and “weigh and serve” places.

So here’s the way I cook popcorn:

1. start with a “non stick” (teflon coated) pan if you can. It’s just much simpler.
2. add a dribble of oil and water. The oll is to carry the heat to the popcorn; the water is to hold the oil at 100C while the rest of the pan comes up to temperature. Without the water it’s much easier to burn the corn.
3. sprinkle an even layer or kernels across the bottom of the pan. Don’t let them get more than one kernel deep.
4. turn on a hot ring, and keep an eye (and ear) on it. The whole process only takes a few minutes.
5. when the popping begins to stop, turn off the heat, shake the pan to allow any remaining unpopped kernels to drop to the bottom of the pan and pop.
6. serve quickly. If you see any burnt ones, remove them.

We prefer to eat our corn as it comes, but some people seem to like sugar, salt, cinnamon, or whatever.

(WMV 2:01 5MB)