Quinn takes microwave popcorn to a whole new level

I received some Quinn microwave popcorn as a gift and loved the flavors so much that I bought some more at Whole Foods.

What I really love about Quinn's is that for microwave popcorn, it contains none of that nasty stuff that's usually included. Check out the full ingredient list for the Parmesan and Rosemary one: organic popcorn kernels, high oleic sunflower oil, Parmesan cheese, dried organic rosemary, sea salt. That's it! The bag is even compostable.

The only problem I have with Quinn's is that my microwave either burns the hell out of it or only half the contents of the bag pops. It's a very sad state of affairs. Fortunately, the flavors are so intense that even the burned pieces are still delicious. But I would really rather enjoy the popcorn in its best possible form. On their site, they do mention that you can just as easily pop their corn on the stove, so next time I'll try that.

The Parmesan & Rosemary and the Hickory Smoked Cheddar are my favorites of the ones I've tried, mainly because cheesy 'corn is my preference. The Maple & Sea Salt is also quite good and not that sweet. And the Lemon & Sea Salt is surprisingly good. Who would have thought that lemon and popcorn would be a good combo? But they are!

Once you pop the corn, you add the seasoning and oil packets yourself, which allows you to determine how much you want to use. Even though the oil is high quality, it's still high in fat, so I never use all of it when I make this popcorn. Popcorn serving sizes are difficult to comprehend, but I think it's safe to say that this is not a low-fat snack.

The Quinn site is pretty extensive and nicely designed. The company is named after the son of the owners, Kristy and Coulter. Watch this cute video for more info and see their ridiculously adorable dog, too.

Bonus: Quinn has a blog where they write about their mission, their staff, their philosophy -- and beer!

Popcorn Face's stove-top method

A fellow popcorn fan (whom I have encountered elsewhere on the world wide web as the originator of the "popcorn face") has a video on his site detailing his popping technique. The video could stand to be edited down, so I'll sum it up.

He pops on the stove in a basic metal pot. He starts by heating up 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and then adds 3 kernels as testers. When those pop, he adds the rest of the kernels. Now here comes the interesting part. He then turns OFF the heat for 30 seconds to let the kernels warm up. He adds healthy doses of salt and pepper and then turns the heat back on. Everything else is as you'd expect as far as stove-top popping goes. I am intrigued by the burner off method, however. I'll have to try it.

Check out his blog, too. He has a ton of reviews and links to popcorn sellers.

How I pop

Since beginning this blog, I was given a semi professional quality popcorn machine. It's a bit large for our small apartment, but it does work very nicely.

It pops most kinds of popcorn well. The only kind it doesn't seem to do a good job on is the red hull-less popcorn. A lot of kernels remain unpopped no matter what I do (dumping out as much of the popped corn as I can being one method I've tried). And the ones that do pop tend to be a bit on the dense side for my taste. If that's what hull-less means, I guess I'm not a fan.

The directions are printed right on the door, which is a truly inspired idea so that one doesn't need to remember measurements or where the manual is.

One tablespoon of oil plus a half cup of average sized kernels makes a big bowl of popcorn suitable for one. It's easy enough to do a second batch as well. Obviously, this big popcorn popper is ideal for doing larger batches.

When I first got it, I was put off by how difficult it was probably going to be to keep clean. But it's a breeze, definitely even easier than cleaning the whirly-pop, a popper I had a while back. The popping bowl doesn't get greasy at all. Don't ask me how this is possible, but it's true. The only area that gets a little bit of grease build-up is the bottom of the machine, where the popped popcorn lands. But that's the easiest area to reach and wipe down.

The most ingenious aspect of this machine are the holes in the bottom. When scopping up popcorn, just run the scoop back and forth across the bottom before scooping to push the unpopped kernels through the holes. They land in a drawer that allows for easy disposal.

The only drawback to this machine (besides its substantial size) is that unless you want to make a mess of your machine, you can't add any toppings to your corn during the popping process.

Piggy Pop

Not sure what to do with the leftover bacon grease? Don't waste it! Leave the pan on the stove after breakfast until the afternoon when you're ready for a snack.

Melt some butter in with the grease. Meanwhile, pop some popcorn.

Put popcorn and greasy goodness (plus salt) in a paper bag and shake-shake-shake! I usually drizzle butter a couple cups of popped corn at a time, but you do whatever you like. It's not an exact science. It's popcorn!

Use whatever proportions seem good to you. This is how I did it today: I had the greasy leftovers from 5 pieces of thick-cut bacon. I added a half a tablespoon of butter. I popped 1.5 cups of kernels. It would have been even baconyer if I had done only one cup, I think.

Happy National Popcorn Day!

I don't have any more to add than that. But I promise I will be back with more scintillating popcorn blog posts in the very near future.

In the meantime, go make some popcorn, preferably on the stove. It's okay to save the microwave stuff for emergencies*, if you must, but in reality, popping it on the stove takes about the same time as popping it in the microwave. Of course, you do have to then wash the pot and take it from me, do not get lazy and leave the pot washing until the next day. Due to the magical properties of vegetable oil, overnight it turns to a stickier, more collant mess than Super Glue. You will need to soak the entire pot in hot water and Oxy powder to get that nastinesss off.

*The only emergency I can think of, in this age of DVRs, is being incredibly tired and just wanting to pass out on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. But the thing is, if your day was that horrible, wouldn't you want a really GOOD bowl of popcorn to snack on? Not some chemicaly yellowy popcorn?

Here is a neat tip that I learned from the back of a bag of popcorn. Instead of pouring all the kernels into the pot as soon as you turn on the heat, put 3 kernels in the pot while it heats and then when one of them pops, add the rest.

Popping at home

On Sunday, because it was dreary and we had nowhere we needed to be, we caught up on movies from Netflix and TiVo'd shows.

For the viewing of Caprica, I made us a big bowl of popcorn. I do not need a movie as an excuse to make popcorn at home. But it's nice to have popcorn while watching a movie in any location.

I do not require a fancy apparatus to make popcorn. I used to own a contraption for making popcorn on the stove that would stir the kernels around inside the pot. The best part about that contraption is that it had a little dish underneath the lid where I put butter to melt.

That contraption was a royal pain to clean. After leaving it uncleaned on top of the stove for a week one time (due to not wanting to deal with it), I decided to throw it away.

I don't need no fancy popcorn machine. All I need is a non-stick pot with a lid. Depending on my mood, I add a little olive oil or a little butter to the bottom of the pan, let that heat up a bit, and then add enough kernels to cover the bottom of the pot. I put on the lid and shake the pot vigorously back and forth every 30 seconds or so. It's certainly not an exact science. I keep shaking it periodically until the kernels have stopped popping.

Then I add salt and freshly grated parmesan. Sometimes I add some spicy red pepper powder. On Sunday I was feeling mellow, not spicy, so I kept it simple.

Of course it was perfectly popped, so there is no need to list those details this time.

About

I have had this idea for years to start a popcorn review site, but that may never happen at the snail's pace that I move. And then today I happened upon Frites Fan and I realized that starting a popcorn blog is the way to go until I can manage to stop being so lazy. Maybe one day I will start that popcorn review site. Or, more likely, someone else will beat me to it and make millions off of it.

So, this is the deal.

I adore popcorn.

I am not a huge fan of adding too much to it besides salt, but I am open to toppings. I am less enamoured of the sweet toppings, although I will not turn down some good caramel corn. I do like a good cheesy popcorn. For a while there in college, I was eating several bags of Smartfood popcorn every day. The little bags were only a quarter, which is pretty much free, in my book.

When I make popcorn at home, I make it in a non-stick pot on the stove. I like to add salt, freshly grated Parmesan, and a little chili powder.

I have and will continue to gorge on popcorn until I feel sick, even if it's bad movie theater popcorn. It has to be really, really bad popcorn for me to not finish a bag of it that I buy at the movies.

I consider myself very lucky to work near Penn Station (NYC) as there are multiple popcorn vendors there. There are many reasons to hate working in this part of town, but the popcorn vendors (and Korea town) are the highlights that make it worthwhile.

I am incapable of going to the movies without buying some popcorn, even if I know from past experience that a certain theater has horrible popcorn. It just smells so good! I am unable to resist.

This blog is dedicated to my mother, who is a fellow popcorn lover, and who has taught all her dogs to appreciate popcorn as well.