Cracker Jacks!!! OOOOOHHHHHHH!!! I used to LOVE them when I was a kid!! I loved the way the peanut tastes with the popcorn!!
Here, Redbird, I've got a TREMENDOUS popcorn recipe for you!! I learned how to make popcorn this way from my Brazilian Girlfriends
Get out a DUTCH OVEN with a lid. You need a BIG PAN. A long handled spoon and a BIG container for the popped corn.
In the bottom of it put about a tablespoon of oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Pour in about half a cup of good popcorn and about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Turn the fire on HIGH and start stirring with a long handled spoon.
CONSTANTLY stir until your hand falls off!! and keep your eyes GLUED. Watch the popcorn change from it's somewhat angular shape to that of a rounded one. You will also see the butter and oil bubble up around the unpopped kernals in the bottom of the pan. All of a sudden you'll see one then two pop, but DON'T STOP STIRRING YET!! Wait just a few more seconds until you see that the pan begins to take off and then remove the spoon and your hand and COVER THE PAN!!
Then LISTEN! At first you will hear the pinging of the popcorn hitting the lid and then shortly you won't hear it anymore. That's when you REMOVE THE LID! Carefully, mind you so that you can put it back on if you need to. But what usually happens is that the weight of the already popped popcorn will hold back any of the newly popped corn from flying out of the pan!! By removing the lid, you allow the moisture and steam to escape, which is what makes the popcorn so mushy!!!
KEEP LISTENING!! You will notice that the ferocious popping will begin to slow down. When it's slowing down, remove the pan from the heat and continue waiting. You pour the batch of popped corn into your large container if you smell anything burning or when the popping has stopped.
By stirring the corn you don't need to do any shaking of any pans around. The stirring will force all of the kernels to get to the right popping temperature all at the same time so the popping ends up going into an explosion of activity almost all at once!!! And by having the salt and butter already in the pan, the popcorn comes up already seasoned! So, do not add more butter or salt, you have already seasoned it while it was popping!!!! And by having removed the lid, you'll see that your popcorn is very crispy!!
If you want to make something like the cracker jacks or the such, I can't help you there. I love just plain buttered popcorn and I let the kids experiment with the other stuff!! What I've seen people do here is that they will pour condensed milk in a fine thread while stirring and then pour in chocholate Jimmies all through it! It's okay for the kids, but I personally love just plain buttered popcorn!! I like being stuck in my rut!
Thanks for the memories Redbird. I thought I'd share my popcorn with you in return!! Hope you like it!
ENJOY!!
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