I haven't had a microwave for the last 10 years. Yes, I've been ridiculed, but every time someone first learns this little fact of mine, I inevitably wait for the question "How do you live without a microwave?" I'll admit, not having one has a few inconveniences. Reheating food takes a little longer than the kiddo wants to wait. And until recently, I bought bagged popcorn. As a kid, I loved popcorn, and my parents and I would pop bowl after bowl of it as our evening snacks. Once I got out of college, for some reason, I hated the smell you inevitably get at 3:00 in the afternoon in cube-land, the smell of almost-burnt microwaved popcorn. Blegh. No thanks.
Once the kiddo discovered popcorn, it was as though she couldn't get enough of that stuff. Rather than going out and buying a microwave, I walked over to the chip aisle at the grocery store to grab a bag. What? $3 for this not-so-big bag of kettle popcorn? Must be one hell of a kettle. Oh well, it's the price I pay for convenience…that and trying to keep the tantrums to a minimum.
Finally it dawns on me that people ate popcorn before we had microwaves. Even before they invented home appliances whose sole function is popping popcorn. Thank god for Google. I had a plethora of stove-popped popcorn recipes in less than a second. The one I picked claimed not only would I have unburnt kernels, but also that almost every kernel would be popped. Challenge accepted.
The next challenge was to actually find kernels not meant for the microwave. It took me awhile, since the popcorn section is dominated by the microwavable kind. Thankfully, my neighborhood grocer, sells popcorn kernels in the bulk foods section, so I can just buy a small amount to test out the recipe.
I finally tried out the recipe and in just a couple of minutes, I had yummy, warm popcorn! And only ONE unpopped kernel. I'm sold. Now, if I can just figure out a way to defrost the chicken faster…
Margaret,
We do have a microwave but we’ve been doing it this way for years because microwave popcorn is a) expensive and b) has lots of wierd ingredients. That recipe is pretty much our proceedure … 3 tbsp peanut oil, popcorn, and salt to taste. I can also recommend Orville Reddenbacher’s popcorn which comes in big plastic jars …
Aaron