THE WIRE

not really food related but Anthony Bourdain and I both feel that this is the greatest show of all time - and it's on sale for the lowest price I've ever seen today - ONLY $75 FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES!!!!




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Best… Popcorn… Ever…

Who knew?  Popcorn is actually HEALTHY for you?!  One of the foods I used to indulge in and feel really guilty about is actually something proven to fill you up and help you lose weight, especially if you’re filling up it instead of cheese doodles, nachos or glazed donuts.  I’m not talking about the popcorn you get at the movie theater covered in oil and yellow food coloring and salt - enough salt to make you drink your entire 300 ounce soda halfway through the movie.  With or without the option of having it soaked in a few pumps or a healthy (pun intended) stream of liquid golden “butter” – which isn’t even real butter.  There’s enough trans fat in there to kill a small horse - you can actually feel your arteries clog around the second act of the film.

Here’s my ultimate recipe for healthy, great tasting popcorn.

First, get yourself a hot air popper.  

Yes, some people swear by the 94% Fat Free Microwave Popcorn, but it's a lot more expensive in the long run; you are paying about 10 times as much per pound of popcorn than you are buying the kernels.  You’re also adding a lot of salt, preservatives, dyes, chemicals, natural and/or un-natural colors and flavors and a slew of other things you don’t necessarily need in your body.  And what about that 6% fat they can’t seem to get rid of like the dreaded one calorie in the diet soda?  That’s a special coating of oil (usually soybean or cottonseed) that they add to each kernel to help them pop faster so presumably most of them pop before some of them begin to burn.  Air popped popcorn contains NO FAT!!!  You can find them online for about $25 bucks or look for one at bed bath & beyond for around $40 (be sure to bring your 20% off coupon – ignore the expiration date, they always take them).  You’ll make that $25 investment back in 6 months by buying one bag or plastic jar of kernels which will last you as long as 5 boxes of the microwave stuff.  The other great advantage of air popping is you can run to the bathroom, answer the phone or the door or turn on your HDTV and blu ray player without having to stand with your ear 6 inches from the microwave doing who knows what to your brain cells trying to listen for that magic 3 seconds between pops which seems to always come well past that burning smell emanating from the bag.  You have to stand there like an idiot and make a well timed decision when to stop the microwave and walk the fine line of either having only half the kernels pop in the bag pop or popping 2/3 of them and ending up with a bunch of burnt ones.  In short, you can leave the room and not have to worry about ruining your popcorn or setting the house on fire - as the popcorn pops it leaves the hot air popper and drops into your bowl.

Speaking of bowls, make sure you have a large one.  And I mean LARGE.  The larger the better.  Some people say that size doesn't matter.  They never air popped popcorn.  The first time I air popped I felt like I was in an "I Love Lucy" episode as I ran and chased after all the popcorn that spilt all over the counter and the floor when usually adequate sized popcorn bowl became obsolete and overflowed with kernel upon kernel of crunchy goodness.  You’ll be amazed at how much popcorn you get out of only ½ cup of kernels. It doesn't double in size like pasta or quadruple in size like elbow macaroni.  I don't even know the word for what it does, my introduction to Latin class I took in 7th grade either didn't cover that or I was too busy daydreaming about Madonna.  Quintuple is 5 times, sextuple is six, septuple is seven, octuple is eight... how would you say 26 times???  That's right, 26... depending on which brand of kernels you buy and the size of them, you're going to get about 10 to 13 cups of popcorn from a half cup of unpopped kernels.  You'll be able to count on both hands the ones that don't pop.  If you don't know how much 13 cups of popcorn is it's about 4 full bags of the single serving microwave popcorn (which would probably give you 200 unpopped kernels.  Yes, you could also get a brown paper bag and fill it with popcorn kernels and microwave that (a little secret that Pop Secret doesn’t want you to know) but I’ve tried it and you still end up with a lot more less unpopped ones with an air popper.  And for you green people out there, the air popper uses a lot less electricity than the microwave, you probably spend more energy drying your hair – I don’t (I wish I could) but you ladies definitely do - and you’re not killing the environment using up another paper bag every time you want to make a snack.

When your popcorn is finished popping, simply unplug the popper and enjoy!!!  Just kidding, unless you enjoy eating Styrofoam packing peanuts you’ll want to add a little flavor to these.  You can make a nice, healthy great tasting trail mix of them as is with some nuts, a few raisins, or some Chocolate Cereal.

But if you’re going to be in front of the tube watching Chuck Norris battle pink-o communist drug dealing terrorists invaders you’re going to want some big and bold flavor.  Don’t forget I said best popcorn EVER.

First we need to add something to help our flavors stick to the popcorn and add a healthy, great tasting flavor as well.  You can melt butter using the measuring cup from the popper but I’ve got something healthier and better tasting.  It’s time to break out your E.V.O.O. (Extra Virgin Olive Oil to all three of you who’ve never seen Rachel Ray).  This is where you want to use the good stuff.  Like real maple syrup, you don’t need a lot, a little goes a long way.  For this you an need olive oil sprayer.  Yes, you can buy the aerosol cans of the stuff from the supermarket, but those sprays all taste like hairspray to me and even though they don’t contain fluorocarbons anymore, they’re still bad for the environment (wow, I really sound like a tree hugger today, huh?) because of the plastic and metal of that disposable can.  I got one for about ten bucks 9 years ago and it's still going strong.  Just fill one of these bad boys up with olive oil and give it a few pumps of air and spray away.  Don't worry about the added fat, it's only a little, and olive oil is healthier than soybean and some of the other oils and you're only going to use about a tablespoon for the whole bowl anyway and you get a nice work out pumping it up.  Now get yourself some of your favorite spices.  Personally, my favorite mixture is a few shakes of garlic powder and then a couple of dashes of Emeril's Essence. You can get it expensively in the supermarket or much cheaper at your food club or online.  It helps to yell “BAM” while you put it on.  

  

If you want to save even more money and you have all the ingredients you can also make your own, unlike the fried chicken place, Emeril doesn’t keep his herbs and spices a secret.  You can also change his recipe a little to your liking and/or to cut out some of the salt.

Toss the popcorn a little and then give it a few more sprays of olive oil and spices and you’re done.  You can kick it up a notch and add a few dashes of hot sauce and if you want to be naughty, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top.

And next time you go to the movies or a ballgame, take a tip from your Grandma and sneak a bag of your own popcorn inside under your jacket or in your purse to save yourself some money and calories!