Saturday, October 1, 2011

Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn

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I have a funny story about this kettle corn.

I went to see the movie Drive the other day with a few friends. Great film by the way, I recommend you go see it with a group of people so you don't feel silly when you laugh at the "gory" parts.

So one of the girls who came to watch the movie with us was from Chile. I noticed that she didn't get the regular popcorn from the concession stand but instead got this sweet chocolate popcorn already made in a package. She saw me eyeing up her popcorn and I'm sure felt obliged to give me some, because she did, and then proceeded to tell me about her first movie popcorn experience in Canada.

" When I first came to Canada," imagine this in a fantastic Chilean accent, "I went to the theater and got popcorn with butter in it and when I ate it, I spit it out! The butter was not butter! It was so gross! We have sweet popcorn at the movie theaters in Chili, none of this fake butter!"

I then told her that the majority of food in North America is crap, and she intensely gripped my shoulder and said "Yes! Yes it is! I'm so glad you agree with me!"

I thought that was pretty funny, but at the same time sad. She's not the first person to complain about American food to me, and when I say American I mean North America. When I ask my European friends what they miss most about Europe, they all say the food. And it's not just the food served at the restaurants but the ingredients at the grocery stores as well.

So this funny story led me to make this sweet kettle corn, as a reminder that not all food in North America is bad and that it is possible to eat well here.

Enjoy!

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Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn
Makes a big bowl
  • 1/4 cup of vegetable or canola oil
  • 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels
  • 1/3 cup of sugar
  • 1 tsp of salt
  1. In a large pot mix together oil and popcorn kernels on medium heat. Once the oil starts to sizzle, wait a few seconds (20-30 secs) and then mix in the sugar and salt. Cover the pot with a lid.
  2. When the popcorn starts to pop shake the pot while holding onto the lid. Shake every few seconds to make sure the popcorn does not burn and the sugar does not caramelize, it burns pretty easily so just be careful.
  3. When the popping begins to slow down (2-3 pops per second) take it of the heat and continue to shake until you hear no more popping. Transfer the popcorn to a large bowl and break apart any clumps. If you are not going to eat all the popcorn let cool and keep it in an air sealed container.
*Note: Adding the sugar in just before the kernels are about to pop will prevent your sugar from caramelizing and burning.

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