ottawa foodies

Any fool-proof 'recipes' out there?
What would I put it in?
How much oil?
How much corn?

I feel too guilty creating all the garbage that regular MW popcorn creates. And I don't like some of the ingredients

Zym - LOL, how times have changed !

I know this isn't the response you were looking for but...

Hate to remind you of this fact ;-). But, if you subtract the microwave from the equation, you have popcorn made the "old fashioned way". Remember, thats when we used to throw kernals in the bottom of a pot with a little oil (a very healthy choice, vs today's "miscellaneous edible oil products" that come in the microwave packages).

I also remember packets that used to be sold at grocery stores in the 1960s and 70s (before the nuker-age). The company had a very distinct name but I can't think of it now. Anyways, it was a divided packet, one side had the corn kernals the other side the oil/butter mixture (ok, that part definitely didn't look healthy). You'd take it home, and pop it up in a pot on the stove.

Or how about Jiffy Pop, a marketing coup in the 60s. And so perfect for camping or on the backyard Bar-B (the old charcoal kind).

I personally think the speed of popcorn (microwave, air popper) overtook the fun of popcorn a long time ago.

Zym: back in the day (when i had a micro) i simply dumped a layer of kernals --no oil-- into a regular lunch bag.

A bit of experimentation is called for: the number of kernals, the moisture in the kernal, your mic, the thickness of the bag are all factors.

But popcorn's pretty cheap ... and you can feed the compost (or the birds) with the trials that don't work.

For the record I love making popcorn the old fashioned way though I stopped doing so when we got a hot air popper at home a few years ago.

But at work not even the hot air popper is an option since the appliance nazis have cracked down. We do have microwaves at our disposal, though.

Zym - dunno if this interests you or not, but Nordicware created a bowl that retains enough steam, etc, to make a nice microwave popcorn, without ANY oil. I bought one, and eventually I cracked it after it fell on the ground from about 8'... oops! My bad. Otherwise, it was really good and doubled as a bowl for serving salads, etc. in.

Check it out here: www.cooking.com

Thanks Chimichi - that's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to get out of this thread. I'll see what else turns up and then start looking for where to buy them. Did you get yours locally?

I got mine locally at one of those kitchen gadget booths that springs up in the mall around Christmas time... I'm sure you could probably find one at CA Paradis, JD Adam, Glebe Emporium, etc. Anywhere that sells Nordicware line stuff (Glebe Emporium comes to mind, specifically)... I bought mine for $10 or something, and I made my $ on it compared to MW popcorn and all the wasteful packaging it comes with.

EDIT -
I found a Canadian online retailer that sells it for $10: www.cayneshousewares.com

I'm thinking about buying a couple for myself, one for work, one for home... to replace the old one... we miss it... now we make popcorn on the stovetop in a dutch oven w/ oil... it's good, but if we can cut the oil out even better. Shipping was an additional ~$7

I'll check the place in Westboro on the way home from work tomorrow since I drive past it every day. If not I'll check Glebe Emporium on Saturday. Thanks.

You can just put plain kernels, no oil in a paper bag folded like a store-bought microwave bag. Just stand near it and let it keep going until you only hear a pop every 3-5 seconds.

Add toppings after.

Tiana: not only that, but you can actually staple the bag shut (two staples only!), since the staples are small enough that the microwaves miss them.

Man, I don't see why I don't keep popcorn at home.