Nutritional yeast from the health food store. We cover our popcorn in it and it is totally delicious. However, I haven't used an air popper since I was like 11 - my mom had one back in the day. It was pretty cool and better than that, using it always brought up my mother's story of The Day the Popcorn Factory Exploded, which was either her memory or her mother's memory of some midwestern popcorn factory disaster which resulted in the streets of the whole town being covered with popcorn - a.k.a. the Coolest Day EVAR for the kids in that distant mysterious Iowa city.

Ah, I love hot air poppers. They make the absolute fluffiest popcorn.

One tip, toward the end of the popping cycle, unpopped kernals will try to fly out into your bowl. To get every last one to pop that will pop, as the cycle ends, tilt the popper back so popped kernals will fly out and unpopped ones fall back in. For more advanced users, tilt the popper back at the very beginning of the cycle until its basin is half full. The popped corn will act as a buffer for the unpopped corn. You do have to expect one to occasionally escape into the bowl just before popping. Just think of the resulting flurry as entertainment and laugh it off.

Melt butter in your smallest pan. A rubber spatula is your best friend for getting every bit out and onto where it belongs. Butter is the only way to go, but Redenbacher's Popping & Topping is my favorite butter substitute. You can also use it to pop normally since oil-popped corn has its own unique flavor and texture.

Popcorn salt can be hard to find and expensive, but it is worth the effort and cost. It is superfine flake-crystallized salt, and just a little bit goes a whole lot further than table salt. Try popcorn salt on french fries sometimes if you ever have the opportunity.

this may sound gross, but it's actually pretty awesome: i take a block of cheddar, shred it. put a layer of popcorn in a bowl. top it with some cheddar. add another layer of popcorn and another layer of cheddar, etc., until you have as much popcorn as you need.

microwave for 15 to 20 seconds.

seriously. melted cheese on popcorn is my favorite guilty pleasure.

OMG NEEEEEED. But sadly I have no microwave. My parents do, though!!! Will be testing this recipe at their house!!!

brina, that is awesome!

2d the melting butter. That's my favorite thing about air popped popcorn.

If your popper is the right kind, forget popping popcorn. Roast coffee.

give the popcorn to my grandma.
get shooed from the room.
hear various clanging noises and someone singing "lazy mary" off-key.
return to see a bit pot on the stove, Gemco blended oil out on the counter, and a bowl of popcorn so good you would walk over broken glass to get a handful.
---

if you do not have access to an elderly Italian woman the next best thing is, imo, a blended oil. Which does defeat the point of air popped. But, if you pop in a nice oil you don't even NEED butter.


How about this as a tag along, though... how does one butter the popcorn without the top dozen pieces absorbing all of it and getting soggy?

I also went back to stovetop popping - it just tastes richer, and doesn't really use much oil at all. 2 T max for a whole ton o'corn.

But the secret to even buttering is this: you need a really big restaurant-style stainless steel bowl. Put the popcorn in bowl, drizzle melted butter over it, and toss vigorously for a fairly long time. This salts evenly, too.

Alternate idea that works really well: Put popcorn in large brown paper grocery bag. Drizzle with butter and sprinkle with salt. Close bag and shake it as above.

My favorite popcorn treatment is to add chili powder to the butter and salt. Mmmm.

"... How about this as a tag along, though... how does one butter the popcorn without the top dozen pieces absorbing all of it and getting soggy?"
posted by kellydamnit 09 December

With a Presto Hot Topper.

Mmmmmmm.....popcorn. My hot air popper died the same day I discovered that one of the outlets in my kitchen is wired at 220V. Why? I have no idea, but there's black electrical tape over that outlet now.

I drizzle some butter over the popped corn, toss, drizzle more butter, toss again, lather rinse repeat (usually in 3 or 4 stages). Ditto with salt (or garlic salt, or seasoning salt).

paulsc, that thing looks interesting, but a bitch to clean.

"... My favorite popcorn treatment is to add chili powder to the butter and salt. Mmmm."
posted by Miko 09 December

Agreed.

I also like to fry up a small handful of sweet onion, over low heat, so the butter is lightly browned, and the onions fully caramelized, and toss a few tablespoons of that over the popcorn, with the chili powder. I've gotten 2 impromptu marriage proposals, years apart from different, but only slightly joking women, for doing that.

"... paulsc, that thing looks interesting, but a bitch to clean."
posted by elizard 09 December

Not really. The whole sprayer top portion comes off, and has no electrical parts, so you just dunk it in dishwasher, pump the sprayer thing a few times, and rinse. The electrically heated bottom is just a simple metal tray, that you just wipe out, after unplugging the thing. I've gone through 2 of 'em in the last 15 years, and they work great for buttering not only popcorn, but anything where you want a nice, thin spray of hot oil or butter.