How to make popcorn

Ah, popcorn! My favorite low-budget student snack! Who has never chomped nervously on popcorn while figuring out a tough integral or while stressed to finish a report on time?

Needless to say, I have jars and jars of popcorn kernels in my closet.

But how do you pop them without burning them?

#1. Cover the bottom of a pot with oil. Yes, cover it completely in oil. You can substitute the oil with melted butter or margarine, but be careful. Too little and the popcorn will be hard and tasteless.

#2. Let the oil heat up on its own for a minute.

#3. Place enough popcorn kernels to cover the bottom of the pot in one layer. That's the trick to making just enough popcorn. If your kernels start to over lap, you might have put in too much.

#4. Let the popcorn fry without a lid until the kernels turn yellowish. This is the real secret. I'm not sure why this works so well, but I found it a couple years ago online and it's been working magic for me ever since.

#5. Cover the pot with a lid. Keep listening.

#6. Once there are a good number of popped kernels, shake the pot to make sure that the unpopped kernels are still on the bottom.

#7. Keep listening. Stick to the 2 second rule: If you can count to 2 in Mississippis without any popcorn popping, that means that your popcorn is done.

#8. Take the pot off the heat, but with the lid still on. Unpopped kernels might still pop.

Salt away and eat! Go back to studying, you!


But if you want to make your popcorn special, you can season it! This is my favorite family recipe : 4 season popcorn. The four seasons are : salt, black pepper, red pepper (or Tabasco), and lemon juice. Season with taste!