An easy way to pop loose popcorn kernels in the microwave

So it heats up more evenly , meaning you get a more even pop .

Honestly , though any of these will give you a perfectly fine popcorn barring some minor flaws , but the wok is hand down my favorite .

So if you don't own a walk , add this to the list of reasons why you should get one next bit of prep is your salt .

You can use whatever salt you want for popcorn , but you wanna make sure it's ground up into a fine powder .

Anything coarse is gonna be too big to stick to popcorn .

So we'll need to grind up some salt and peels spice grinder .

Either of these will get the job done .

So you choose and I'll just pour in the bit of salt .

This is maybe half a cup here and that'll be enough salt for several batches , just grind this up until this turns into a fine powder and that's all there .

Is to it .

Popcorn , salt done with our walk in hand and our salt ready .

We'll take a quarter cup of popcorn kernels and add in about three tablespoons of oil .

You want to make sure the kernels are completely coated in oil .

A lot of recipes say you should use way less .

But this is definitely one of those more , is more situations .

None of oil equals burnt .

Popcorn for the lid .

We'll use a couple sheets of aluminum foil .

If you like being extra tidy , you can take two sheets and fold their edges together to make a crease .

This will help hold the two pieces together .

I'll pop this mega sheet on the walk and crimp the edges to the sides .

We'll then take a knife and poke some holes in our foil lid .

I've tried this with and without holes .

And while it's not a huge difference , the lid with holes gave me a lighter crunchier popcorn .

And finally , we'll make sure we've got a bowl for our popcorn and a pair of tongs to peel off the foil nearby .

Now it's time to get popping .

Now , if you wish you could add some of this stuff here , this is a movie theater butter flavored oil blend .

It can be , um , used , um , with cooking the popcorn or it can be used as , um , a topping .

I use it as a topping .

Um , so this method here , you can , um , you can use this method to pop this regular popcorn and , and you can , um , season it however you wish .

So what we'll do is just go and we'll set this on top just like that and we'll go and add this into the microwave .

Ok .

So I'll go and stick this in the microwave .

Um , and I'll set this to two minutes um , in your microwave may be different depending on its power .

This here is 1100 watts gonna stick in them like that and say for two minutes .

We'll start off at medium high heat for the first minute or so .

We're just waiting .

I like to gradually move the pan around until we start to hear some popping .

That's our cue to start shaking the walk .

After about three seconds of continuous popping , you can turn the heat down to medium while keeping the walk moving .

We'll keep shaking until we hear the popping slow down .

When the time between pops is about one second , you can turn off the heat and keep shaking for another five seconds or until the popping stops .

Then we can set this down and use the tongues to peel off the foil , pour the popcorn into a bowl and we're good to go ahead and season this .

You can also add spices or oils to add some extra flavor .

At this point .

I like to make electric popcorn by adding a little bit of Sichuan peppercorn oil , specifically the green kind , which is really hard to find .

But the oil from 50 Hertz is amazing .

It's floral citrusy and has an intense numbing sensation .

It's also probably the freshest tasting version of Sichuan peppercorn you can find here in the States .

So if you've never had this before , check it out , the link for that will be in the description below to get that movie theater style buttered popcorn , you want to make some clarified butter while you can't just melt butter and pour it over your popcorn that can end up a little soggy .

Whereas clarified butter popcorn will stay crispy and you can cook popcorn with a clarified butter , making it much easier to mix .

We'll take a stick of butter that's four ounces and cut this up to evenly melt .

Then throw this in a sauce pan to melt on very low heat .

Once the butter is fully melted .

We can skim off the foam that floats to the top with a spoon .

Ok .

So now I'm gonna transfer this over to my , uh my popcorn specific bowl .

And since I didn't use any oil or anything with this , all I would have to do is just rinse it out and that'll be it .

So it makes the clean up very easy and you can try , you'll see there's , there are some kernels at the bottom , but overall , it's not too bad , wouldn't be much different in popping , um , a microwave , microwave popcorn in the , uh , course of microwave .

And this way I can just go in , toss the kernels out without having them in the bottom of my , uh , ball of popcorn .

Try to get as much as you can , but you don't have to go crazy to get every last drop with the top foam skimmed out .

You can stop here .

But I like to take it a step further and wait until some of the solids start to fall to the bottom of the pot and begin to brown .

That gives the butter a richer deeper flavor .

At that point , I'll turn off the heat and let it cool for a few minutes before I filter out the solids .

Now , I understand if making clarified butter can seem like a lot of work just for making popcorn .

So if you're pressed for time , you can also buy , which is pretty much the same as what we're making here or you can even buy the artificial stuff from online .

That's a butter flavored coconut oil dined with beta carrot , which is how movie theater popcorn gets that super yellow color for those of us doing it homemade will strain this through a cheese cloth over a sip .

Or if you're like me and fresh out of cheese cloth , you can use a coffee filter , just cut the filter into two pieces and layer it like .

So over a sieve , a four ounce stick of butter should yield about three ounces of clarified butter .

So this will make for about two batches of popcorn depending on how butter .

You like it with our butter clarified .

We'll pour in about 2.5 tablespoons into the wok with one quarter cup of popcorn .

We'll also add in just a splash of oil which will help prevent the butter from getting smoky .

Cover up the wok with foil , pop some holes in it and bring the heat up to medium high .

Same as the standard oil method .

Slowly move the walk around until you hear some popping at that point .

Start shaking the walk like crazy and bring the heat down to medium and don't stop shaking until the popping slows down .

Once the popcorn gets quiet , take the walk off the heat and keep shaking for another five seconds .

Grab your tongues and take off the foil , empty the popcorn into a bowl and finish it off with a couple pinches of popcorn .

Salt , toss the popcorn around and give it a taste .

If it needs more butter or salt , feel free to add in a little more .

Whoops .

Ok .

That's gonna be super buttery , but I'm not complaining .

And that's buttered popcorn clarifying the butter makes sure it has no liquid in it .

So this popcorn stays super crispy on top of that , allowing the butter to brown gives this an intensely buttery nutty flavor .