We normally go after some sort of coveted fast food and recreate it and make it better, right? But wait a minute. What about movie theaters and their popcorn? Are we not gonna check that?
Okay, so today we're making movie theater popcorn three different ways, but better. This all came about because, well, I haven't been to a movie theater in forever. One of my favorite places to go is the movie theaters.
I love going. I've been craving movie theater popcorn forever, and I just started thinking, well, why don't I just make it myself? And then I started realizing if I made it myself, it'd be so much better.
And, well, here we are. And we're gonna be making it the traditional way, an ultra fancy dancy little pants man way, and last but not least, a sweet dessert decadent way. Let's make this, shall we? So we're at...
the movie theater this is my first time walking into a movie theater in a year and i'm not even going in to watch a movie i'm just going in to pick up stupid popcorn and now my whole car gets to smell like fake butter so we've got the corn upon smelling it it smells like artificial butter vegetable oil and burnt oil and popcorn which smells good this already has to be one of the blandest foods in the game, period. So there's not that much to say about it. If you've ever been to a movie theater, you know exactly what this tastes like.
It tastes okay, it's salty and it's buttery, but it doesn't actually taste like butter. I think we're gonna make it better three different ways. You know how they say beating a dead horse? Well, this thing is already. And we're just like, times three.
So let us begin. We have three super duper yummy flavors for you here. The traditional buttered popcorn, an MSG garlic bread flavor, and a salted maple caramel corn. Now, obviously the real competitor here is just the simple butter one, but we have to take it over the top for you.
Now before we get into all that, let's quickly talk about butter. No unclarified butter is allowed when just coating popcorn. Unless you're making the caramel for the caramel corn.
But... The water in the solids in it will cause your popcorn to go softer than... Let me just stop myself there.
So what we need to do is clarify our butter. To do that, it's very easy. Get two cups or 500 grams of unsalted butter, or more if you want leftovers. Pop that bad boy in a medium sauce pot and set that over medium heat and let that melt completely. Then lower the heat to medium low and very gently simmer that for 10 minutes.
First, there will be some foam that begins to rise to the top. Then it almost completely subsides. And once those milk solids in the bottom just barely begin to turn a light golden, Strain that bad boy through a mesh strainer lined with a coffee filter or even a paper towel. That's literally it.
See all that liquid gold down there? It almost looks like some sort of angelic liquid. That's because it is. It's Papa's Clarified Butter.
Also called ghee. Next up, salt. So to get the salt to really adhere, just get yourself some nice kosher salt, put it in a blender, and blend on high speed until it becomes essentially a powder. That's it.
That one step gets you popcorn salt that will guaranteed stick to your popcorn. Now, let's poop. I mean, pop our corn.
We're not using any of that bag stuff, so don't even mention it. This pot method will be used for all three flavors, so I'm only going to show you this once. Add three tablespoons of your clarified butter or vegetable oil to a pot that's at least six quarts, heat that over medium heat, until melted or hot.
Then add in half a cup of popcorn kernels, top with a lid, and continuously and vigorously shake that pot, keeping the lid held down. And first, nothing's going to happen. You're like, oh, what's going on? It's a stupid little blah blah.
And then suddenly, they'll be popping like mad. Then just keep on shaking. until the popping begins to subside, and that's your poop corn. Look at that.
It's like some sort of magic portal to Narnia, except instead of Narnia, it's just a lot of popcorn. Anyway, let's talk about the buttered version. This is our real competitor. We have to defeat the movie theater popcorn with this. Same method.
Add your clarified butter, but before adding the kernels, though, you're going to want to add a quarter teaspoon of turmeric powder, not just for color, and a generous sprinkle of your fine ground popcorn salt. Add in your kernels, begin shaking, and let the popcorn Narnia portal do its thing. and then bang you have popcorn. Now from there, toss it in a big bowl and add as much hot melted clarified butter and popcorn salt until your heart sings sweet nothings to you.
I mean that's it, it really comes down to the ratio of butter and salt, so really pay attention there. It's not magic, just be sure to season it generously, alright? That's the biggest problem I usually see here. Now since this is the true pinnacle we're after, let's get us our taste test.
Well, is this astronomically different? Like whoa! I've never tasted these flavors before. No, it's not.
But it is maximized. Or at least I believe it is. Let me try this one.
I have no sympathy for this one. It's all mass manufactured and everything's made to taste as good as possible. And yet it's under seasoned, under buttered.
It's dry. Like you want your popcorn to be just like salty. And this has that.
This makes me want to go back for another bite. Off of this, we've already won. But we have to have a taste test for this. Jojo is back.
I'll just load your hand and you tell me when to stop. There he goes and this is number one. See I knew his mouth wasn't big enough that number two number one is definitely the winner and definitely at first i was like okay that's popcorn but then i had a bite of that one and i was instantly like oh yeah it's stale almost yeah where this is actually nice little crunch and dissolves in your mouth we've already smacked down here i'm gonna smack them down two more times.
Okay, we already knocked that one out of the park, so let's add a little bit of spice. Next up, we have our MSG garlic bread popcorn. First, start with a loaf of brioche, cut off two to three thick slices, and cut those into cubes.
Place them around- rimmed baking sheet and bake in an oven set to 350 Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes until very brown and completely dry. It should crumble into dust when pressed in between your fingers. Then let that cool completely and blend in a blender on high speed until you reach a powdery consistency. Now in a medium-sized bowl, add three quarters of a cup or 170 grams of softened clarified butter, and to that you're going to add half a cup or 30 grams of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, two teaspoons or seven grams of MSG, three cloves of grated garlic, a quarter cup or seven grams of finely chopped Italian parsley, Mix that together, then add as much or as little of your breadcrumb mixture as you like.
I ended up using about three quarters of mine. Then optionally, season with a touch more parmigiano if desired, and keep this stuff stored in the fridge in a container till needed. Or, you know, use it right away.
Now, all you gotta do is pop your corn as directed prior, pop it into a bowl, then gently melt at least a third cup of your garlic bread butter in a small saucepan. Now, once that's melted gently, but, you know, totally liquid, pour it over your hot popcorn, season it with your popcorn salt to taste, then toss vigorously and place into a bowl. to finally top it with some additional fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano.
I'm not sure how many garlic bread flavored popcorns are actually out there, but whether this is the first or not, this has to be one of the, if not the, best version. Okay, last but not least is the ultra easy salted maple caramel corn. Now, obviously, make sure your corn is popped. It'll be a full recipe of that, you know, before making the caramel.
And once that's done, get a medium saucepan and add a quarter cup or 85 grams of corn syrup, a quarter cup or 80 grams of maple syrup, half a cup or 115 grams of salted. That's right. Salted, butter, 1 cup or 210 grams of packed light brown sugar.
Give that a very quick and light stir to hydrate. Then set over medium-high heat. Let that mixture combine and come to a boil.
And let that boil for 5 minutes. You may need to lower the heat to medium if it's boiling too violently. Then remove from the heat and immediately whisk in 1 teaspoon or 5 grams of vanilla extract.
And half a teaspoon or 3 grams of baking soda. Whisk that nicely until you get a consistency that's nice and Then pour all that caramel. onto your popped popcorn and fold together until every cloud of corn is covered in our voluptuous, most beautiful caramel sauce.
You know, try not to break up the popcorn into a million pieces, though, because if you break the corn, I'm not sure that Papa can forgive you. So, you know, consider that maybe, huh? Anyway, place your coated corn evenly divided amongst two baking sheets lined with parchment or silpat mats and bake at 250 Fahrenheit for 30 to 45 minutes. And you can test its doneness by removing a kernel and letting it cool to see if it hardens.
Then pull those brothers out and let them cool completely. to room temp, break them up, and serve immediately or store in sealed plastic bags for up to five days. Now we have our two extras for a total of three popcorn options versus, well, an already beaten recipe, but you know, why not take it a step further? Let's first begin with the savory because this is a little bit more upgraded. You've got the cheese and a little bit of crumb.
I'm going to take some text out of Vikram's book. This isn't a snack. This is a whole meal.
This is nourishing my brain, my heart, and my body. First off, the MSG, obviously the umami. You've got that rich Parmigiano-Reggiano.
It has what I intended it to be. It is garlic bread popcorn. Without that brioche, you don't get that almost toasty bread flavor that's in the background, and that just completes the whole bite. Now that we've done that, it's onward to Mr. Sweetie Pie. That wasn't my best.
This is good caramel corn, and I can tell you just by making sound with it. Baby, that is everything that a proper caramel corn should be. If you've never made caramel corn or had homemade caramel corn, it is unlike any tinned, old, three-month caramel corn that you've had.
It's an immediate crunch pop, it's light, and then immediately melts into that smooth, buttery, rich caramel. And it's a little salty in the best of ways. If you want to take it beyond the original buttered popcorn, this is the only route you should be going. You want to know what else has fat clouds of corn covered in Papa's Hot Golden Liquid B-Roll. Alright guys and that is it.
So we had our popcorn three different ways and look each and every one came out perfectly and they were good in their own way. I honestly didn't really have a favorite. I thought all three shined through exactly how they were supposed to.
The original version was definitively better. than the movie theater popcorn. Granted, the coloring is completely unnecessary.
You don't need to add the turmeric. The flavor is plenty there. I just added it for color so that it looks a little bit like the weird neon yellow that they do.
The key here is clarifying and using actual real butter. That is the key. And maybe a little MSG if you wanna.
in your mouth, you know? The garlic bread version was exactly what I imagined. It had umami, it had richness, it had that cheesiness, garlicky. It's one of those popcorns where you have one bowl and you don't eat anything for the rest of the night. And then of course the salted caramel.
Make sure that you understand that when you make that, you are going to eat all of it probably by the end of the night, and that's just how it goes, and that's fine, okay? Now with all that said, if you enjoyed this video or you learned something, leave a like, subscribe, and I will see you next time.