The Gamer’s Cookbook

After reading this article by one of my favorite New York Times author,  I was inspired to try homemade microwave popcorn. Here are the results, and I hope you will all enjoy!

Popcorn is the ultimate snack for game night. Microwave popcorn is so convenient, it is literally 2 minutes 30 seconds away. (Two for the popcorn, and 30 seconds for the butter. Heh, down to a science.) Up until today, I had not realized how much I had been ripped off. Read up after the jump to see what I mean.

The local Walmart has the Act II popcorn available for the low, very low price of 9.99$ for 15 bags. That works out to 66¢ per bag. Buy a bag of regular popping corn for 3.95$, and you are looking for a unit cost of 13¢. That is a big difference. Plus, with the recipes below, you can pretty much do what you like to it, and get your own flavor out of it.

What you need:

Popcorn Base

photo by lumix2004 of stock.xchng

• 50 g (1/3 cup) popcorn kernels
• 15 mL (1 tablespoon) salted butter
• 15 mL (1 tablespoon) seasoning mix of your choice (see recipes below)
• large lunch bag
• chip clip (optional)
• paper towel (optional)

1. Place popcorn kernels into brown paper bag.
2. Add butter and desired seasoning mix into the bag.
3. Fold top over a few times. (secure the top of the paper bag if you choose to use a chip clip.)
4. Place bag folded side down in microwave on top of optional paper towel.
5. Microwave on high until 5 seconds passes between each pop. (My microwave takes 2 minutes 20 seconds.)
6. Open bag carefully, as there may be steam that has built up inside the bag.
7. Top with whatever you like and serve immediately.

Optional Seasonings: (recipes will equal 15 mL portion (1 tablespoon.))

Basic Popcorn Seasoning

• 5 mL (1 teaspoon) popcorn salt
• 5 mL (1 teaspoon) black pepper
• 5 mL (1 teaspoon) garlic powder

1. Mix all ingredients together and sprinkle into paper bag.

Parmesan Popcorn Seasoning

(makes 45 mL (3 tablespoons.))

• 30 mL (2 tablespoons) grated parmesan cheese
• 10 mL (2 teaspoons) dried dill
• 5 mL (1 teaspoon) garlic salt

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Sprinkle 30 mL (2 tablespoons) into bag; reserve 15 mL (1 tablespoon) for sprinkling onto the popcorn after it has popped.

Nacho Cheese Popcorn Seasoning

Kettle Style Popcorn Seasoning

• 7 mL (1 1/2 teaspoons)  salt
• 7 mL (1 1/2 teaspoons) white sugar (brown if you prefer a caramel flavor)

1. Replace butter in the original recipe with olive oil.
2. Mix above ingredients and pour into microwave bag.
3. Serve immediately.

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