We love popcorn. And we've tried every conceivable method of cooking it; stove top, hot air, microwave, etc. But the bottom line is that microwave ovens seem to have been uniquely built for popping popcorn efficiently (vs plug-in hot air poppers that are less efficient). And quite importantly, microwaving allows the cooking of popcorn healthfully as long as you do it from scratch vs the bags from the store.
So after years of experimentation, here is the best device we have found:
Huh, never tried a paper bag... I wouldn't have thought it would work. I'll have to give that a try.
We've been big popcorn fans, too-- ever since our early days as a couple when it was about the only snack we could afford.
Went from a cast aluminum roaster pan, through a couple of airpoppers, and settled on the microwave Presto Powerpop (Orville Redenbacher) long ago-- so I haven't tried anything more recent.
We enjoyed buying small-production heirloom popcorn, and were tickled with the taste and texture differences. We keep a hand-pump pressurized atomizer filled with olive oil in the cabinet if we want to use some type of powdered seasoning.
Hand-pump oil sprayers are great. It'd be nice if more people used them vs the aerosol oil cans. We hand-pump spray canola oil along with 50/50 salt on our popcorn and sometimes add garlic powder or cayenne pepper powder.
But every now and then, I just gotta put one of these on the stovetop. I always get a kick out of it, as does the whole family. (currently $1.62 at Walmart)
