There’s gotta be a way…
In: 99
Have you ever burned a piece of chicken?
If you cook chicken at a super high heat, the outside can burn before the inside is cooked. This is because the outside heats up faster than the inside, meaning if you’re not careful the outside can become overcooked before the inside is even warm.
Popcorn is no different. Once it pops, there’s a real burning concern. If you have something like an air popper, you can keep the popped kernels away from the heat after they pop. This keeps them from burning, allowing you to pop all of the kernels.
Microwave popcorn doesn’t have this luxury.
If there’s even a tiny leak in the shell that lets the pressure out, the kernel can never build up enough pressure to pop. Not every kernel is flawless, so there’s always going to be some duds. Remember it’s a plant not manufactured ammo (and even then, ammo has *some* duds too…)
For a popcorn kernel to pop it needs to A) be undamaged and B) have between 13-14.5 % moisture content.
Statistics being what they are some kernels just don’t fall in this range after being processed so you get a few duds.
[removed]
I pop a lot of corn. I get far fewer unpopped kernels. Here is my process.
Deep sauce pan, oil with high smoke point, a splash, 4 kernels of fresh popcorn. Cover. Medium high heat. Wait for the 4 pops. turn off heat… add the popcorn. cover. let that heat soak in. for 1 minute (use a timer) [that was the magic bit] turn heat back up to high medium after the timer goes off.
When popping slows kill the heat. move off the burner. Try to always do the same amount of popcorn to help learn what the slowing sounds like. Pour the popcorn into a bowl. If you want melted butter, put couple of table spoons of water in the pan to sizzle and eat some of that heat. Then add butter and swoosh it around to melt. Put half the popcorn back in and swirl to coat and then pour that in to the bowl again. Repeat.
Take the bowl of buttered popcorn and add whatever else shaking to distribute.
Do this a few times in a row to refine your version. Jot your improvements down. BOOM. You are a chef!
If using microwave popcorn try this little secret: [https://youtu.be/ynVZS-pPOfI](https://youtu.be/ynVZS-pPOfI)
basically flatten the pkg so its a single layer, 1 popcorn kernel high and use the highest power setting on your microwave.
Some good tips in this thread but works for me is pop as normal (heat oil and popcorn on med high), wait until your after the first big round of popping (lots popping at once) and give a few strong vertical shakes. You can shake again after another few waves of popping too. Usually end up with very few unpopped kernels that way.
Try taking the pot off the flame the moment the first few kernels pop then slowly reintroduce the pot back to the flame when the popping starts to die down.
I think the premise of the technique is to let them cook slower for more pops. Lmk if it works for you
Some kernels are cooler than others and don’t get a chance to pop, especially towards the end when they are pushed away from the cooking surface.
I’ve got a pretty reliable stove-top technique to get all kernels popped without burning. You need to keep the entire pot just below popping temperature for as long as possible, then rapidly raise above popping temperature.
1. Put your coconut oil and salt on the heat along with a few kernels and wait for the test kernels to pop
2. Remove from the heat and put in the kernels. Put on the lid at leave it off the heat for about 30 seconds.
3. Put in on the heat for about 10 seconds then give it a good shake for 10 seconds. Keep repeating this until you hear the kernels sizzling in the heat.
4. As soon as it starts popping keep in on the heat and give it a very quick, hard shake every few seconds
5. The popping will be violent and only last about 20-30 seconds. It should also stop very quickly. As soon as it slows down to a few pops per second remove from the pot into the serving bowl.
It’s just collateral popcorn damage, that’s all. Don’t sweat it. The popcorn companies give each package 15-20 extra kernels to compensate. This is known and appreciated.
Latest Answers