After watching +Alton Brown on Good Eats make pop corn using a steel bowl, tongs, and aluminium foil I made some tweaks. First I used a wok and covered it with foil and this worked better (for me) than the method above. The main draw back is that the salt used in the oil seemed to be stripping the patina off the wok much faster than just using it for stir-fry. Today I experimented with a stock pot that has a steamer basket and a paper towel (to reduce oil splatter). I still got a little splattered because the strainer was upside down and the paper towel didn't cover everything. Next attempt I will install the strainer normally. I was afraid there would not be enough room for the pop corn with the strainer int he normal position but after this first attempt it appears that my worry may be unfounded, there is plenty of room. Also I used 3 oz (85g) of oil (by weight) and 4 oz (113g) of Orval Reddenbacher's pop corn (purchased from Costco). This is clearly too much oil, forgot the ratio of oil to pop corn +Alton Brown used. He used 3 Tbsp (not 3 oz) of peanut oil for 3 oz of popcorn with a 1/2 tsp of popcorn salt. I realize one of the draws of the original recipe was the ability to serve the popcorn in the dish it was cooked, but I felt the bowl stayed too hot for too long. All the methods make a popcorn that is superior to microwave and air-popped popcorn in taste, texture, burned, and unpopped kernels.
The Alton Brown recipe using the steel mixing bowl method is here.
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| The wok way |
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| Stock Pot first attempt with strainer upside down |
Until next time happy popping!
