Popcorn

Just browsing through the paper's Calendar section, deciding whether to go see Contagion or The Debt tomorrow (I'm leaning toward Debt because it's Helen Mirren, my idol), watching the Dodgers whilst eating supper (rotini with yellow zucchini, onions, tomatoes, basil, and walnuts--basically a fridgeluck dish).

Anyway thinking of movies brings to mind popcorn, but not the ridiculously priced little bits of yellow butter-substitute-coated styrofoam you get at the concession counter.  When I was a kid, popcorn at the movies was still homemade, eaten out of a bag tucked into my mom's big drawstring purse, alongside a couple Hebrew National hot dogs and Shasta sodas if it was near dinnertime.

All this brings me to my current thoughts on popcorn in general.  I grew up on corn popped in a saucepan and I'm still a purist in that regard.  What I use now is even better--one of those popcorn pans with the hand-cranked paddle that stirs the popping kernels, bought on sale at Target for something like $9.99.  The popcorn my family ate every Saturday night always got a nice dose of butter--my mom showed us how to melt a chunk in the hot saucepan, throw in a couple handfuls of the popped corn, then toss those buttery kernels into all the rest to distribute the goodness.  Oh, man, just writing about this takes me back 40 years...

I can't eat like that now.  As much as I would enjoy the flavor, I'd have to limit my intake to very infrequent indulgences.  And I just love popcorn too much.  For quite a while I ate plain, salted popcorn because it's still fairly good, but not as much something to look forward to.  I tried butter-flavored oil, but it poses the same problem as movie popcorn--just doesn't taste real.  I thought of rosemary oil, but for some reason the rosemary doesn't hold up, and deliver flavor to the popped corn.  I've tossed Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning, but then it tastes too much like the Tony C, and not the corn.  Same with other flavored coatings.

Finally I thought of chili oil.  I started with a few drops along with the olive oil in the pan, and loved the fuller flavor this imparted.  Now I often use about 1/3 chili oil so I can actually taste a lil' bit of heat with the popcorn.  Even then, it's still just a backdrop to the lovely corn taste itself.  When I come home from running a few miles or taking a challenging class at the gym, I need to replace sodium I've lost.  There's nothing like a big bowl of popcorn, salty with that subtle undertone of heat that opens up my taste buds and makes 'em sing.  And while I don't have a big drawstring purse to smuggle a bag into the movies, chili-popped corn and a glass of chardonnay make the perfect accompaniment to Project Runway every Thursday night.