Kettle Corn

One of the foods I never had before coming to Pittsburgh is Kettle Corn. They sell it at fairs and farmer's markets, cooking it in giant steel vats over a jet of burning fuel that reminds me of raku firing. It's salty and sweet, but not as sweet as caramel corn. They just throw the sugar, salt and popcorn into the hot oil all at the same time and stir like mad with a wooden paddle until the popping slows, then they tip the hinged vat into a bowl to cool and ring the bell to let you know it's ready to buy. It's quite a drama, especially if you've got little kids in tow. It also seems very expensive, especially given that the ingredients are so cheap. I didn't see how I could ever make it at home - you can't stir a stovetop sized pan of popcorn without it popping out all over the stove, and shaking it wouldn't be enough to keep the sugar from burning to the bottom.

To the rescue: my new kitchen toy, a stovetop popcorn popper (never used) that I picked up yesterday at the neighborhood yard sale for $1.50. I saw someone using one of these at girls camp this summer, and I was impressed at how much easier it was to get the results of stovetop popcorn without the hassle of shaking a pan over a hot flame. You turn the crank, and a little blade stirs the bottom of the pan, keeping the popcorn moving. We made a batch of plain popcorn last night for movie night, and it took less than 5 minutes, possibly even including the time it took to wash the pan. It's so much better than microwave popcorn.

As a side note, I also made myself some "popcorn salt" by running some salt in an old electric coffee grinder that I use for various kitchen tasks (like grinding spices). The finer salt sticks to the popcorn better and less of it goes farther.

Tonight, we tried the more ambitious kettle corn. It worked wonderfully, and was just as good as the stuff at the farmer's market. I keep popcorn in my food storage, because it lasts forever, and so I always have the ingredients on hand, and it probably costs about a quarter for 4 quarts of kettle corn. The funnest part is that it feels so old-fashioned, like pulling taffy or something, and just the thing for a family game night, but it's so easy. Next time you come over, ask for some popcorn or kettle corn, and I'll be happy to make some for you.