Popcorn and Sleeping at Grandma's house

My wife and I visited with my aunt yesterday and she was telling us about a conversation she had with one of her grandchildren. He wanted to tell her that they ran out of "Grandma Cookies" and needed more. She is known for her cookies and her grandchildren look forward to the care packages. She turned to me and asked if there was something that my grandmother did and then she answered herself with "Pepperidge Farm Coconut Cake". That has been one of my favorite cakes for as long as I can remember, I also loved my grandmother's lemon bundt cake with lemon glaze. These are very strong cherished memories but the #1 thing is popcorn! I don't know if my grandmother made popcorn for me because I loved it or if I loved it because my grandmother made it for me. I do know that whenever I sit down with a bowl of popcorn, I am a kid again, sitting on my grandmother's couch watching television.

I have read that popcorn is a healthy, low-fat, low-calorie snack - yeah, maybe, but not the good popcorn. I want my popcorn popped in oil and covered in melted butter and salt. The "good for you" stuff is popped with hot air with little to no butter - you can salt that stuff for days and nothing will stick to it. You may as well be eating a rice cake....

When I was growing up the big treat was spending the night at my grandmother's house. I remember begging to go over on a Saturday night. I would sleep on the couch in the living room where I would lie and watch television - often it was the "NBC Saturday Night at the Movies". If memory serves me correctly the first time I ever saw "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" was when it ran on Saturday Night at the Movies. It was always a treat staying at my grandmother's house but what stands out most is having popcorn. She would pop it on the stove in a big pot and then put it in individual bowls with lots of salt and butter. There was also a glass of milk to go with it - I don't think I ever drank a soda in her house. For me, the popcorn was a great treat but the real treat were the pieces that stuck to the bottom of the pot and got a bit burned. You know the ones I mean - they are perfectly white but they have that one, flat, side that is black. I loved those! That is not something you can get any way other than cooking in a pot with oil - well, Jiffy Pop was good for the burnt kernels, too!

When I got older and lived on my own I would use a pot and make popcorn like my grandmother used to make. I then read somewhere that a wok was the best vessel for popping so I tried it. It was great! There were a number of advantages - it was easier to shake, it held more popcorn and it actually used less oil. There came a time when the wok was used only for popcorn and we bought a new one for everything else. One reason for this is because after a while there were spots where the burnt popcorn left remnants. That wok is long gone and replaced by a popper with a rotating handle. This is a great popper but by keeping the kernels moving they don't get a chance to burn.... I am tempted to let it sit for a minute when the popping is done but the rest of the family doesn't like the smell and I am afraid to leave it too long and end up with that big black mass of cinder you get when you really over do it.

So, are you a popcorn lover? How do you pop yours? Do you eat it "straight" - butter and salt - or do you like it flavored? Cheese? Caramel? Spicy? What about microwave popcorn? I didn't even get into that. I like microwave popcorn for the convenience but prefer the old-fashioned way. Now for the most important question - where do you stand on the burnt kernels? Let me know in the comments below.

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Image attribution

popcorn-782310
Image by delgraphica from Pixabay

popcorn-1554170
Image by 41330 from Pixabay