@weklund: I want to know more about your impressions of that MrLifeHack popper. How much it holds relative to a standard size microwave bag, how well it works, etc. I tried reading the reviews on Amazon, and they seem to be pretty bipolar, ranging from “Most awesome thing ever OMG!!1” to reports of “microwaved for 30 minutes and didn’t pop a single kernel” varieties. My mom had the original hard-lidded version of this:
…and it saw extensive use and got decent results.
As a kid, we ate huge amounts of stove-top popped popcorn. My first exposure to microwave popcorn was the original mid-’80s Act II at my grandparent’s house. At that time, it was different, but I really liked it.
My mother had (still has) a hot-air popper:
(I think this model)
…but I never liked the popcorn popped with that, as it was always dry and tasteless. She mostly used it when making popcorn for caramel corn or popcorn balls.
I used to eat the Pop-Weaver brand light-butter variety extensively, due to the low price compared to other brands. The light-butter had butter flavoring, but did not leave the greasy slick in my mouth like many other brands do. I had tried some of Pop-Weaver’s other varieties, but they all left me feeling like I had Crisco on the roof of my mouth afterward… :confounded:
I wanted something with a bit of a stronger flavor than the light butter, so a few years ago, I embarked on a quest to find a better microwave popcorn. I purchased packages of several brands of the microwave popcorns available in the area, including Orville Redenbacher, ActII, Jiffy-Pop, and other generic and commercial brands.
I first bought a large box of regular butter Orville Redenbacher brand, but I found it to have a weird mild-but-annoying sour aftertaste. I read the ingredients and found that it included citric acid; I found the flavor to be unpleasant so I gave most of that away. After that experiment, I began purchasing smaller packages, until I found a variety I liked.
My favorite of the Orville Redenbacher varieties is the “Tender White” in the pop-up bowl. I like that they have actually taken the time to innovate something as blasé as the old-fashioned microwave popcorn bag. The “Tender White” variety is pretty good, but not my favorite.
I eventually discovered the Pop-Secret Homestyle. I really liked this variety as it had a good saltiness, and decent flavor, but without the excessive greasy-mouthfeel aftertaste. The Homestyle has a coarser salt than your typical microwave popcorn, as if it is salted with normal table salt.
I wanted something with a stronger butter-type flavor than the Homestyle, so based on my enjoyment of the Pop-Secret brand, I purchased a small package of the “Extra-Butter” variety. My previous experiences with “Extra” and “Movie-Theater” style butter variants left me skeptical, but I found that the Pop-Secret variety was excellent. It is my current favorite due to it’s good flavor, without the grease of other brands:
I would normally be opposed to the “Pop-Secret” brand, as it violates my budget-friendly lifestyle by tending to be the most expensive brand available. However, I have found it to be consistently excellent, with great flavor, large popped kernels, and few unpopped left behind.