My mom bought one of those back in the 80s. IIRC, it also had a little melting tray on top for the butter.
I never thought it tasted as good as stovetop — too dry without the butter for the salt to stick, too soggy with the butter.
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I was never, ever able to get a Jiffy Pop pan to produce ‘as advertised’. We’d take JP on backpacking trips and always end up with a burnt mess that we’d have to pack out, being the responsible teenagers we were.
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Every so often, I sucker for one of the many “Amish Country” popcorn varieties. None have wowed me.
Is here a flavor/variety you think is best?
Thanks.
When my wife gets the urge for popcorn, she breaks out the microwave silicon popper. It seems to work well enough. We use Rancho Gordo popcorn; we’re in the RG Bean Club, and a bag of popcorn is part of the quarterly club shipment at least once a year.
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I will sure to post an update when I try them!
IIRC, one that intrigued me was a variety that had very tiny kernels. Did you order that one?
I eat popcorn at least 3 times a week. My favorite snack and stress reliever.
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We have an air popper like the ones referenced in this thread. For years my husband and I have been making something we call garbage corn (because it makes one’s breath smell like, well, garbage). Despite our name for it, it’s delicious. We skip the cayenne.
I made popcorn last night for the first time in many years. I pulled the air popper out of the closet and washed away that many years of accumulated dust. The popper didn’t work, so I used a saucepan on the stove. That worked, with no unpopped kernels. I doused it with melted butter and EVOO, and lots of salt. Very tasty!
I brought the bowl into the living room and sat down to finish watching Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (fun movie!). The stainless-steel mixing bowl slipped out of my buttered and EVOOed fingers and the popcorn spilled across the floor. I raced to sweep it up before the dog ate too much of it, grumbled, and made another batch.
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That was a very funny movie, although it probably hasn’t aged very well — like so many of that era (Trading Places comes to mind 
).
Sorry about your popcorn mishap, but go you for soldiering on and making a new batch!
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It has aged very well, actually, because of the intricate plot twists and the acting. I’m going to watch it again to pay closer attention to those plot twists.
I was referring to Steve Martin playing a mentally disabled person. That has definitely not aged well at all.
If one can overlook that minor plot point, then yes, it is still a funny, twisty and twisted screwball comedy.
I oil pop - handcrank in a stainless steel popcorn pot on my induction range using 1/3 c. popcorn (usually the Rancho Gordo scarlet corn) and 3 tablespoons avocado oil. BF isn’t really a popcorn guy, so I mostly make this on occasions he’s away and I’ve decided it’s my dinner. I generally just sprinkle on some salt. Our cat, Parker, is a popcorn fiend!
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This is the one we had (butter tray in the back, but there was also a model with the butter tray set into the top of the chute):
You’re right that it made terrible popcorn. Tough and dry. And then the butter was difficult to pour evenly from that dumb little tray, so it would just get a couple of kernels super soggy and leave the rest naked.
Stovetop is the way. I use bacon grease for the cooking fat and then browned butter to coat. Browning the butter makes a huge difference in the sog factor too, as it removes all the water that’s still floating around if you just melt it.
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Bacon grease and ghee is also a nice combo just for flavoring the popcorn, but your method of using brown butter to coat sounds really good!
Has anyone ever made popcorn with lard?
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I’ll bet ghee does a nice job of preventing sogginess too. And…now I want popcorn for dinner.
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What’s stopping you? 
Our 15+#black cat will pounce on a buttered kernal, lick it to death and walk away.
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Apropos.
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If making popcorn on the stovetop, use some bacon grease in your oil.
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