The Trick to Perfectly Popped Popcorn

Hey , everybody .

Thomas Joseph here with another kitchen conundrum .

Did your last batch of popcorn turn out like this with some of the popcorn burnt and a lot of kernels left behind .

Well , today I'm gonna share with you the trick in making perfectly popped popcorn .

And that can be found in Martha Stewart's brand new appetizers book .

So let's get started here .

Now , I have a wide heavy bottom pot , high heat and to that , I'm going to add a quarter of a cup of safflower oil .

You can use any neutral flavored oil here , but you want to make sure that it's a high , high heat oil like safflower oil .

Canola oil is great to any of those vegetable oils .

And to that , I'm going to add a few kernels of popcorn .

Not all of the popcorn quite yet cover the pot and wait until these pop .

Oh , our popcorn kernels have popped at the rest of the popcorn , which is a half cup total in a nice even layer and then cover with the lid and turn the heat off for 30 seconds .

Now , this sounds a little weird .

But what it helps to do is bring the popcorn kernels up to temperature in an even fashion .

So 30 seconds off the heat , so it's been 30 seconds , turn the heat back on and my little trick here leave the lid ajar .

And what this does is it helps the steam escape from the pot and it will make your popcorn a little bit more crisp .

So this for a minute to two minutes , you want to make sure that you're shaking the pot every so often as you start hearing those kernels pop .

So the popcorn is popping , you can hear it every so often .

Give the pot a good shake .

And what this does is the kernels fall to the bottom of the pot with the direct heat , then they pop and kind of come up to the top of the pot .

So just keep shaking , moving them around , making sure that they're popping evenly .

So our popcorn has stopped popping , which means that it's done , make sure you turn the heat off and you wanna do this pretty quickly shake the pot and pour it into a wide bowl so that the popcorn doesn't steam too much .

If it's stacked on top of each other , it's gonna steam and it's gonna get a little chewy .

Here's the fun part .

You can really customize the flavor of your popcorn however you like .

So be creative here today .

I'm using 1.5 teaspoons of brown sugar here in two that I'm gonna add three quarters of a teaspoon of kosher salt , one teaspoon of garam masala , which is an Indian spice blend .

A lot of warm spices that has cinnamon cumin cardamom coriander , cloves , a lot of those warm spices .

And then an eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper mix these spices together and I'm gonna just use my fingers to incorporate them and then this generously sprinkled all over your popcorn and then give this a good toss .

Can use a spatula , can use your hands , whatever works it smells so good .

Two tablespoons of melted butter .

I'm just going to drizzle that over the top and then mix it together and you're ready to serve .

Now , how about some of those other variations ?

Well , in front of me , I have some options here .

You could do grated pecorino , which is a salty cheese with a little bit of rosemary .

That's a really wonderful combination , salt and pepper .

This is some flaky sea salt and ground pepper .

Chili lime is really great and really , really fun and festive .

So salt , a little bit of lime zest .

We have ground cumin , which adds that wonderful spice and of course chili powder and then a squeeze of lime juice over the top at the end is really great black sesame and pepper is also a good combination , of course with some salt and that melted butter .

What I'm doing today , which is the sweet and salty mix .

And the last combination if you , if you like smoky flavors .

A little bit of smoked paprika and some flaky kosher salt here .

So there you have it .

The technique in making perfectly popped popcorn each and every time and some fun flavor variations .

I hope I've encouraged you to try this at home .

I know you will have success now in New York .