Charmed Life
In the beautiful weather yesterday I took the New York Times out to the deck and plopped down. I picked up the magazine first and planned to read it all the way through like a civilized person. But after reading the day’s installment of the regular column “Cooking with Dexter,” I left the paper in a heap outside, walked into the kitchen, got out a saucepan, pulled ararely used bag of sugar down from the high cabinet over the stove and began to make caramel popcorn.
I’ve been a fan of caramel popcorn since I was a kid. On our one week in Ocean City each summer, my parents would take my sister and I to the boardwalk and tell us we could each choose one treat for the night. When I was young, it was easy: ice cream. But as I got older and my palate more refined (!), the choice got difficult: Thrasher’s French Fries or Fisher’s Caramel Corn? Both had the advantage of coming in multiple pieces and not being temperature sensitive, which meant that, unlike ice cream, I could make them last for nearly the entire length of the boardwalk. But otherwise, they were totally at odds: salty or sweet? No matter what I chose, I always wanted the other, too.
I still have the same dilemma. And so when I saw that this particular caramel corn recipe called for cayenne, I was all in. Within about 15 minutes I had caramelized the sugar, butter and water together, whisked in the cayenne, and poured it over a bowl of popcorn air-popped in the microwave. Unfortunately, there were more than a few “widows” in the bowl, which got mixed in with the fully-popped corn, making my finished product a bit of a dental adventure. But, damn, it was delicious. Sweet and spicy….which is almost as good as sweet and salty.
Making the popcorn reminded me of one of the best novels I’ve read recently, “The Post-Birthday World” by Lionel Shriver. In the book, two of the main characters Irina and Lawrence nibbled on popcorn every night before dinner, with Irina pulling from her battery of spices to make a different seasoning each night. They loved it because it was savory but not filling. After they were no longer together, each thought of their popcorn ritual fondly—it was maybe their best memory together.
Anyway, making the caramel popcorn has inspired me to check out some other popcorn possibilities. Here are some from one of my favorite cooking sites, 101Cookbooks.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/16/09 at 03:08 PM
