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... — it is a special irritant of articles such as this, promising The Best-Ever Pandemic-Times Life Hack, that a lengthy first-person preamble usually must be endured. Let’s also truncate the parts that explain the genesis of the idea (pathological jealousy of friends’ new in-home theater-grade popcorn maker, unwillingness to purchase one), the science of popcorn (hey, there’s water in there!), and all the permutations/hardships of the development of the recipe (so many different kinds of oil! So many batches!! I’ve been so thirsty lately!!!).
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Article and recipes are available here.
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Never been a fan of popcorn myself, although when I worked at the cinema it was a real money spinner during the school holidays,
usually we had two popcorn machines going flat out during that time. One day the girls downstairs told me, they had some kids come up to them after a movie, they spoke just like me so I was told 
they were out here on holiday from Scotland.
Anyway they told the girls that they made the best popcorn...."ever"...
. I did a wee video of the place at the time which included some popcorn making.
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Excellent Graham!Comment
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Your welcome Burton
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I have never liked the smell of popcorn. and have never tried it.
Some years ago I worked in a new Odeon 5-screen multiplex. It seems that the architect was not aware of how much storage space that bags of popcorn needed. So, it appears, that the projection room was thought an ideal storage space.
But, one day one of the male users decided to carry two bags, one under each arm. He misjudged his progress and glanced against a revolving platter. This automatically shut down one screen's viewing. The manager was not happy.
So I had to put up with this awful smell whenever I worked. To this day the thought of popcorn is abhorrent.Comment
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Popcorn is an interesting food: as it comes, it's not bad. -low in fat and sodium, reasonably high in fiber. It's wonderfully crunchy but as flavorful as a sheet of paper! That's where the trouble starts: salt, butter, caramel and a thousand other things easily taken to excess!
The worst of all is movie theater corn: just dripping in some synthetic butter-analog: you may as well be eating a steak made out of lobster! It is of course served in tubs so big they should come with a hand-truck.
Then there is camping popcorn: healthier than movie corn: a little butter, a little salt, some wood smoke, but the process it's prepared under is highly unpredictable. Real camping-popcorn should be made over a campfire which means mostly after dark. This means you check it every minute or so, hopefully with some co-conspirator with a flashlight. A lot can happen in that minute: you can go from absolute perfection to charred desolation. Results are varied: I'd say my success rate here is something north of two times in three! (Dad was an artist!)
There's kind of a diplomacy involved in camping-popcorn: some well-meaning soul has gone to a lot of trouble and it's rude to just spit it out into the fire and proclaim it awful: No! -you slow consumption to a crawl and let the one that made it declare it terrible and offer to try it again!
-this goes double if your spouse made the corn...-triple early on in the marriage!
There's something dissatisfying about microwave popcorn: Where's the challenge?!Comment
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In the UK when I was young cinemas didn't sell popcorn. The first time I had any there was in the 1980's with two ladies from my amateur theatre club. I sat in the middle and as I was a slow eater they took most of mine after they had eaten theirs.
So no I don't miss it.
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Haha 🍿 I guess when it comes to popcorn I'm not looking for a challenge... Just want to dig in with my hand and eat it. I always have microwave popcorn in my cupboard for me and my grandkids. When they stay with me on the weekend and we watch a movie they are happy to go make the popcorn and even in the summer a cup of hot cocoa. I guess I'm just not a popcorn gourmet. Speed and simplicity 🤗... That said... If anyone wants to come over to my house and fix me some gourmet theater popcorn... I'll be happy to eat it. Sounds delicious!There's something dissatisfying about microwave popcorn: Where's the challenge?!
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Ah, but Janice: perhaps we should approach popcorn Film Collector Style!
Simply throwing the envelope in the microwave and pushing "Popcorn" on the front panel is too much like putting a disk in the machine and pressing "play"!
-we need Process! (Ritual!). Can one manual-thread and automatic-popcorn in the same session?😉
Then again, should the one that makes the popcorn handle the film too? Buttery prints are just so wrong!
In our house my wife makes the popcorn: she passes a large bowl back and forth with my son and sets a smaller one aside for me. This is for the first longish reel (400 Foot S8 minimum) so I have time to enjoy and then wash my hands before the next reel change.
When I was little, we had a popcorn maker: big Pyrex bowl that seated on an electric hot-plate. The corn was poured in the hot part with some vegetable oil, it was plugged in, and then everybody stood back! It was very dramatic: it sizzled and occasionally sprayed little squirts of hot oil, and of course the popping was under glass: a show unto itself! When the little neon light went out this angry, hot assembly had to be flipped over and the electric part twisted off so the bowl and corn were left behind for enjoyment.
Mom went nowhere near it, but Dad was a printer and worked around hot lead all day: it was his bailiwick! For years it was a couple of times a month ritual! We had a wood paneled rec-room in the basement with a big console TV. It was just the thing for when Disney was on Saturday Nights!Last edited by Steve Klare; June 06, 2022, 11:10 AM.Comment
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Funny, one thing I can’t stomach either sweet or salty is 🍿 popcorn. Smells like vomit to be honest. If you eat it it sticks in your teeth and you have a thirst that is unforgiving. That why you see them with giant boxes of popcorn and 2 litres of Coca Cola. Mind you it is better than Tacos. That why the wee little darlings are sooo FAT. I go to watch a movie not graze like a cow.Comment
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MikeOriginally posted by Mike Newell View Post
Imagine me working in a five-screen projection box with single manning for sometimes, like on a Saturday, from 9am to 2am on Sunday morning with that awful smell of all the stored popcorn around me.
It was my love of cinema that kept me going.
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Maurice I suppose you can get used to anything but I bet you loved the fresh air. Oh for the love 💕 of cinema.Comment
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Indeed.Originally posted by Mike Newell View Post
For that reason I always left my car at home and walked 30 minutes each way to get the fresh Somerset air.
But, one Sunday morning around 2am, I was stopped by two boys in blue who wanted to know what I was doing out that late. I gave them the whole story, I don't know if they really believed me, but they said "on your way, mate"Comment
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