«
»

The good gets better and the bad gets worse

by · January 30th, 2009
On The Web

I looooooove popcorn. But I hate the smell of microwave popcorn, especially how it sticks to my hands for days after I actually pop it. But I don’t have a good pot for popping on the stove, and I don’t want a gadget that only pops popcorn and serves no other function. What’s a girl to do?!

Apartment Therapy to the rescue!

It was just my birthday, so if anyone wants to send me a popcorn-related birthday present, I receive mail — and Hazon will be happy to accept donations to help support “The Jew & The Carrot,” your favorite blog — at the following address: 45 West 36th Street, 8th Floor, NYC 10018.

And for another story of a smell sticking: I haaaaaate the smell of bacon. I’ve never had bacon — or any meat for that matter — but about twelve years ago I was visiting my grandma in LA and she had rented her house out for a commercial the week I was visiting. The product: Bacos.

Turns out that Bacos are vegetarian and, in fact, kosher, but they are gross. My grandma’s whole house smelled like bacon an hour into filming, and by the end of the day, I smelled like bacon. For weeks after I returned home, I constantly smelled bacon and I took showers for hours, trying to scrub the offensive smell away.

So, thank you to “Jewcy” for pointing out “the least kosher thing ever,” but no thank you!

Print This Post Print This Post

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “The good gets better and the bad gets worse”

  1. Marvin Baum Says:
    January 30th, 2009 at 9:30 am

    I have a simple method for great, healthy, fast popcorn with a great taste and easy clean-up…

    Take a stainless steel pot with a heavy metal-clad bottom to evenly distribute the heat. Add about 3 table spoons of non-hydrogenated margarine. My recommendation is Earth Balance or Soy Garden — these products already contain salt, but not too much, and gives a great buttery taste (it’s parve, too!). If you want to avoid salt altogether, use grapeseed oil, which doesn’t have the heavy taste and lower burn rate of olive oil. You could also combine some grapeseed oil and a lower amount of the margarine, as another alternative.

    THE POT SHOULD BE COVERED THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS. Heat the margarine a little over a medium heat until it is melted. The amount of oil or melted margarine should lightly cover the entire bottom of the pot. Make sure its not so hot that it could splash in your face… just warm it enough to melt.

    Add enough all-natural popcorn (I use Jolly Time white popcorn) to make a single layer on the bottom of the pot. I think this is about a 1/4 cup of kernels typically. Turn on the flame again to a medium level and regularly take the pot off the flame for 2 or 3 seconds to shake the pot in a swirling motion to move the kernels around.

    You will begin to hear the kernels popping quickly, then slow down. Once it is close to being stopped, turn the heat off.

    Now, you’ll have great popcorn and it should not even be necessary to add any salt. The bottom of the pot should not be burned and it should be easy to clean. Yes, it’s not as easy as a bag of microwave popcorn, but you don’t cook with those harmful chemicals or endanger factory workers from “popcorn lung.” This popcorn will also taste much better than “air popped” popcorn, which I always find to be exceedingly dry.

  2. Leah Koenig Says:
    January 30th, 2009 at 12:06 pm

    Eli – never fear. You really don’t need a special pot to make great popcorn. Anything with a lid will do.

    One of my favorite popcorn tricks is to basically do what Marvin does above, but with one trick: put 1 kernel in the pot with your oil/butter and then turn the heat on. When that kernel pops, the pot is ready. Add your other kernels and proceed as Marvin describes.

    Also – butter (or Earth Balance), dried dill, and salt is like the most heavenly popcorn combo ever. Or, a sprinkle of salt and a handful of chocolate chips. Um, yes, seriously.

  3. Avigail Hurvitz-Prinz Says:
    January 30th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

    I’m with Leah – homemade popcorn is really really easy and the trick she outlines is exactly the way I learned. It’s only when I walk away from the pan while it’s on the stove to watch previews that I burn my popcorn.

  4. Eli Winkelman Says:
    January 30th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    Whoa. This is awesome. Thank you!!!

  5. Rachel Says:
    January 30th, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    I inhale popcorn at work–but am totally trying that brown bag alternative to the terrible microwave stuff.

  6. Maya Shetreat-Klein Says:
    February 1st, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    We love making popcorn from scratch. So easy and no nasty microwave smell permeating our kitchen for days after. We use grapeseed oil for parve cooking or ghee for dairy popping because it holds up to the high heat better. After you check out what chemicals are in the microwave popcorn: diacetyl (causes the bronchiolitis obliterans/popcorn lung) and PFOA (can cause cancer and liver tumors even in small amounts), you will be even more motivated — though our organic popping corn is so delicious we don’t feel like we’ve compromised. We use cast iron but you don’t have to–as Leah said, anything with a lid is fine. If you skimp on oil or butter, be aware that it may not have that great crunch.

  7. Hannah Treuhaft Says:
    February 1st, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    Popcorn with butter, nutritional yeast, and a pinch of cayenne. Popcorn with butter, salt, and pimenton. Popcorn with butter, salt, and sugar. And on and on and on.

Leave a Reply