Monday, June 11, 2012

Kettle Corn



This kettle corn is the real deal. I love the sweet and salty mixed together in this super delicious treat. No more waiting for fair time to buy an expensive bag.  Have some fun making it at home!

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup popcorn
3/4 cup white sugar
salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS
Pour oil and popcorn into a large pot and turn onto medium heat. Stir with large spoon or cover pot with a lid and shake once in awhile. As soon as the corn begins to pop, (4-5 kernels pop) remove lid and add sugar. Stir constantly while kernels continue to pop so they wont burn and the sugar will distribute evenly. Keep pot covered as much as possible while stirring or shaking so the oil and popcorn don't attack you.

Once the popping has slowed to once every 2 to 3 seconds, remove the pot from the heat and continue to shake for a few minutes or stir until the popping has stopped. Pour into a large bowl and sprinkle with salt. Allow to cool, shaking occasionally to break up large clumps.

*IMPORTANT: The oil is super hot and WILL burn you if your not prepared! Make sure you have a long sleeve shirt on and gloves and protective eye-wear.  We have cooked kettle corn over our stove in the house and outside on an outdoor burner. We prefer outdoors just to keep the mess out of the house. This recipe is well worth the effort but it is temperamental.  We have burned our fair share of batches. Here are a few tips...

1. Turning the heat up won't cook the popcorn faster, it will just burn your popcorn. Keep the heat on medium and be patient.

2. Use a good bag of popcorn. Old popcorn doesn't pop very well and when you have un-popped popcorn mixed with the good stuff, it all just sticks together. As the kettle corn dries, it will separate, but the kernels will not fall to the bottom of the bowl simply by shaking.

3. Do one batch at a time. When outdoors, we use a large, tall turkey pot so we thought, why not double the batch? If there are too many kernels in the pot, they won't pop evenly and the time-frame is too long and it will burn.

4. Keep the kids away. Ours are always trying to sneak a peak but you never know when a kernel or splat of oil will come flying out!

5. We prefer stirring to shaking. In the times we have made this recipe, as the popcorn begins to pop, if your not careful, everything could start to stick to the bottom of the pan. If using the shake method with the lid on, your not entirely sure whether or not anything is sticking. By stirring you can keep the popcorn, oil and sugar moving around more evenly.  Good luck!

This recipe is awesome, but I would love feedback or to hear how your experience goes!

No comments:

Post a Comment