The Popcorn Technique You Won't Find on the Internet

My stepdad makes the world's best popcorn—hands down.

Like most stepdads, he hates when you leave your shoes out, enjoys watching the weather channel and football, and loves a Sunday afternoon routine: in his case, a lunch of popcorn, sliced apples, and cheddar. ("The popcorn gives you some carb, the cheese is the protein, and the fruit is fiber. It's a well-balanced meal from the gods," he says.)

But this is no ordinary popcorn. Frank's popcorn is the stuff of legend. When he first started dating my mom, it was all the rest of us—my brother, my mom, and I—could talk about.How does Frank make the best popcorn in the entire world?we asked, while stuffing large handfuls of the popcorn into our mouths at an inhuman rate.

At first glance Frank's popcorn technique looks ordinary. He makes it on the stovetop, in a large-but-standard stock pot. His process looks so unassuming from afar that I was convinced for years that he had a superhuman popcorn gift or that the ghost of Lord Orville Redenbacher himself was inhabiting his body. I spent years making popcorn on the stovetop as the internet instructed, wondering why it didn't turn out like Frank's. But the Frank method actually requires some subtle finessing. It's far from ordinary. Here are the tenets of the technique:

1. Use a big pot

Take out your metal soup pot—an eight-quart stockpot is perfect for this. The size of the pot is important because you want the popcorn to bubble to the top as it pops, kind of like in a movie theater popcorn maker. You need something that's big enough to create a chamber for the popcorn to move around in, and for the popped kernels to make their way upwards, while the un-popped ones stay in the oil on the bottom.

Other than that, he insists that the pot doesn't have to be anything special, "I guess the thicker the bottom the better, but I've used all kinds of pans and they all pretty much work the same." You definitely don't want anything too heavy, though, because you'll be lifting and shaking the pot around. No Dutch ovens!

2.加入大量的油

Next you're going to fill your large pot with a rather copious amount of oil.Most popcorn recipeswill tell you to use only a tablespoon or two of oil. Not so with Frank's method. "Generally I pour enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the pan, until the oil starts to actually creep up the side of the pan," he says. "Then dump in enough popcorn to rise to the level of the oil, so that the popcorn kernels are just barely above the level of the oil." This makes the popcorn extra crispy, I think, and it also means that it's not necessary to add any additional oil at the end. The popcorn comes out perfect—crispy and flavorful, but (don't worry!) not greasy.

Here's another key way that Frank's method differs from the usual internet popcorn wisdom. You're not going to heat your oil before adding your popcorn. Put in the oil and pour in the popcorn immediately.

3. Get salt and a big bowl ready

Things will begin to move quickly when we get to the heart of Frank's popcorn method, so you're going to want all of yourmises en their places. You need a large bowl and a salt receptacle near that cooking surface, highly accessible while the popcorn popping is going down.

4. Do less

Now that your popcorn and oil are all set, put the lid on the pot, turn the heat on high (most recipes will advise medium heat. Do high heat! Trust the Frank method!), and...don't do anything. "No stirring, no shaking, nothing, "Frank says. "Just listen and watch."

When you start hearing the popcorn pop, let it continue to do so without bothering it, until the popped popcorn level rises almost to the the lid.

Here's where you start working quickly. You want to lift the pot and tilt it over the large bowl you have out. Take the lid off as soon as the popcorn reaches the top and allow that popcorn to escape, dumping the top layer of popcorn (as much as you can get in a quick swoop) off into the bowl.

"Pour off just enough to make some space, then put the lid back on and shake the pot vigorously," Frank says. "This allows the kernels that are caught up in the already-popped popcorn to have some room and move toward the bottom of the pot." It also means that the already popped popcorn won't sit in the hot pot and burn or get soggy or saturated with oil while it waits for the remaining kernels to pop.

Then, repeat. Let the popcorn pop undisturbed, but then as the popped popcorn reaches the top of the pot, take the lid off, dump some out, and put the lid back on, establish that you have some air space, and shake vigorously.

"After a couple of minutes I turn the heat down to medium—the oil is already hot so you just want to maintain enough heat for the popcorn to keep popping, without burning whatever is on the bottom," says Frank.

Repeat this process of pouring off popped popcorn and letting new corn rise to the top until you don't have any kernels left. That's right, none. The brilliance of the Frank method lies not only in its superior crispy and delicious popcorn, but also that it leaves no un-popped kernels at the end. (Frank usually has none. I often have one or two un-popped. The method takes some practice!)

5. Keep it simple (and salt in layers)

When it comes topopcorn seasoning弗兰克是一个纯粹主义者。只有盐。但是有一个调节k here, too. He layers the salt. Remember how you laid out the salt next to your big bowl? "Each time I pour the top of the popcorn off, I salt it. In the end this leaves you with perfect layers of salted popcorn, and avoids the problem that you'll sometimes have when you just salt it all at the end, where you're unable to salt the entire bowl."

How did he come up with the technique? "I thought of doing this by watching the machine that makes movie theater popcorn, because they just dump it in and they don't mess with it. They have a hinged lid, which allows the popcorn to automatically come out without crowding the kernels that are cooking. I didn't have anything with a hinged lid, but I was able to mimic the way the popped popcorn has plenty of air space and is removed from the heat as it pops in my home kitchen using the tools I had."

That's the beauty of this method. It's simple. It requires no special tools. And it makes perfect popcorn. Try it and tell me what you think.