Sam's Blog: How to Make Popcorn on the Stove

This ought to last at least 15 minutes, unless the neighbors get a whiff of it!

Just because you choose to live simply, doesn't mean you need to give up any of the basic pleasures of life... like popcorn! Back in the dark ages, before the microwave oven – before even Jiffy-Pop – people made and enjoyed this light, fluffy, tasty treat. Here's how to make it on an electric stove, wood stove, or even on a campfire.

Ingredients

Popcorn kernels
Any healthy cooking oil, with a high smoke point like peanut or canola
Sea salt, or any kind of salt and/or spices
Butter (if desired)
Sugar (optional)

Steps

Put a quarter pound (one stick or 113g) of butter into a large (8 quart/7.57 litres, or larger) stainless cooking pot, or any large pot or bowl that has a lid or cover. Use more or less butter as you prefer.
Turn your stove to medium, which is best for this method. If you turn it up to high, you can ignite the oil and cause a kitchen fire.
Pour a single layer of popcorn kernels into a saucepan with a lid. Pour in a healthy, high-temperature cooking oil to just cover it. Place the lid on it.
- Heat for about 20 seconds, then remove and leave to the side for 30 seconds. This allows all the kernels to heat to the same level, to give them all the chance to pop together.
- Place the pan onto the stove at high heat. After a minute or two, you should hear the first pop.
Expect the popping noise to grow more and more rapid as the pan and oil get hotter. At some point, either the popping will slow down to where you don't hear any pops in a 3-second count, or the saucepan will start to overflow.
- If the popcorn rises to where the lid lifts off the pan: before it overflows onto the stove, dump some out into the large container, and quickly place the pan back on the stove.
- Once the popping has slowed so that you don't hear any pops in 3 seconds, dump the entire contents of the pan into the large container (the popcorn will have absorbed all the cooking oil). If you'd rather have a few scorched kernels rather than risk unpopped kernels, you can wait a few seconds longer.
Sprinkle salt over this batch. Turn the large container upside down, and shake it to melt the butter and distribute the salt throughout.
- Repeat from the point of adding the kernels for popping, until the large container is full.
Place the large container over the fire or heat for 20 or 30 seconds to make sure the butter is melted through.
Shake the popcorn one final time, right side up and upside down, to thoroughly distribute the butter and salt.
- If want to make the popcorn taste sweeter, sprinkle some sugar on it just before you eat it. How much depends on depends on how sweet you want it to be.
- Eat and enjoy!

Video

Tips

Find enough people to help eat it, or you will not stop until the last piece is gone. There is just no way to stop stuffing yourself with it.
Fresh popcorn works best - stuff thats been in cupboard for 2 years won't pop that well!
Butter contains some water. Use clarified butter to prevent any popcorn from getting soggy.
This will also work for microwave popcorn in the event you find yourself in the mood for some and don't have access to a microwave.
Powdered spices stick to the popcorn better than granular spices. If you don't have popcorn salt, just put some in the bottom of a cup and crush it with the hard plastic handle of a cooking utensil (unless you have a mortar and pestle handy).

And for those on a heart-healthy diet - You can do the popping without all that butter, oil or salt! Just keep the fire low, agitate the pot vigorously so the kernels do not burn, and dump it out fast when done. Of course, you can add a bit of the butter-flavored seasoning from the supermarket later.

Things You'll Need

A large, 8-quart, 7.57 litres or larger pot, and a smaller saucepan, both with lids
A stove, wood oven, or campfire

Related wikiHows

Sources and Citations

This research was made possible, in part, by a land grant from the City of the Sun Foundation, http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=20103, though the specifics of the research were not coordinated nor endorsed by COSF.