this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
143 points (91.3% liked)

You Should Know

33451 readers
769 users here now

YSK - for all the things that can make your life easier!

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with YSK.

All posts must begin with YSK. If you're a Mastodon user, then include YSK after @youshouldknow. This is a community to share tips and tricks that will help you improve your life.



Rule 2- Your post body text must include the reason "Why" YSK:

**In your post's text body, you must include the reason "Why" YSK: It’s helpful for readability, and informs readers about the importance of the content. **



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-YSK posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-YSK posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

If you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- The majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities:

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

Credits

Our icon(masterpiece) was made by @clen15!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Ghee, or Indian-style clarified butter, is butter that's been simmered and the milk solids (proteins and sugars) skimmed off. This leaves a clear yellow oil that doesn't smoke when it's heated and doesn't go rancid quickly, but has a distinct toasty butter flavor.

Popcorn fans often want a buttery flavor, but plain butter is a bad choice for popping popcorn in a pot, because the proteins and sugars smoke and burn around the same temperature where it's hot enough to pop the kernels.

Vegetable oil is either flavorless or faintly bitter, and some high-temperature vegetable oils tend to start polymerizing (i.e. becoming plastic) when heated in small amounts. This is also not good for popcorn.

Good-quality popcorn popped in ghee reliably produces lots of "butterfly" popcorn with few unpopped "duds" and no scorched kernels or batches ruined by smoke.

Try it! I'm sure not going back to canola oil.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago (4 children)

smacks forehead

That is a great idea! Coconut oil was ok,but kinda odd-flavored for popcorn ...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Since ghee is so expensive, I usually do coconut oil and ghee mixed!

I love ghee on my stovetop popcorn! A wok works great!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Dude, my mom makes ghee out of milk. It costs literally nothing

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

to make ghee at home costs lots of milk, time, and effort. Try making ghee yourself from cratch and you'll know exactly how much it really costs.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Avocado oil is great for popcorn. It doesn't add any flavor but I love the resulting texture: very crisp and clean. I like using red or blue corn because the contrast is visually appealing. You want long, skinny kernels to get the butterfly popcorn. Personally I'm crazy for cheesy popcorn, and the secret there is to find cheese powder with some savory herbs like oregano. I also love to do it with Kashmiri (floral hot Indian chili) powder.

Important edit: Do NOT under any circumstance use chili popcorn to spice up Netflix & Chill. This is a snack for lonely degenerates who don't even masturbate daily any more. It's for watching war documentaries and French New Wave, not pervy cartoons and superhero throwdowns with a plot designed to be ignored while you finger your frenemies. You won't look worldly and sophisticated while you're driving somebody to the fucking hospital. Be responsible.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Burlap and barrel has a black lime and a black urfa chili that are just fantastic on popcorn.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

You can also get brewers yeast

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Never tried Ghee. I usually use canola, coconut, or bacon grease. I'm up for more buttery flavor though. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Bacon grease sounds incredible. How much of the flavor ends up in the popcorn?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

It's subtle, but I only use just enough to pop the kernels. I also have a jar of it by the stove most of the time.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

I've always just used avocado oil. Sometimes coconut oil but that obviously leaves a faint hint of coconut that not everyone likes. I'll try ghee next time but I never heard of anyone trying to make pop corn with just butter in the pan. That sounds like a mistake folks only make once! lol

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Olive oil here. The market nearby doesn't sell canola oil because it was never popular. MSG is also great on popcorn.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Nutritional yeast is also amazing. Gives it a cheesy flavor, and it's healthy to boot!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Nutritional yeast, chicken salt, and ghee for the oil is my go to. Absolutely delicious.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I second that comment.

It's been about two decades since I've gone there, but the Landmark Cinemas in the San Diego area had nutritional yeast for your popcorn, right there in the station where you pump your own butter and grab napkins. Curious, I gave it a try...

For the past twenty years (give or take), a can of Bragg's Nutritional Yeast has been an ever-present staple in the kitchen, which I use to season popcorn, as well as slightly charred tortillas with either butter or avocado.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Don't some companies sell "popcorn oil"? What is that made of?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

soybean oil, usually. and diacetyl can be added as a buttery flavoring.

fun fact: diacetyl inhaled in large enough doses can cause bronchitis. this was a problem in popcorn topping factories, hence the term "popcorn lung"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Oil and artificial flavors. I've tried a lot of them and none of them have a "real" butter flavor. It's more of a greasy feel than taste.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

We use non-virgin olive oil. High smoke point, but good flavor.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

For any dairy intolerant or vegan people here you can get a similar effect by clarifying a vegetable spread like Flora and adding salt until it tastes ‘buttery’ enough for you

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Exactly. And don't use the vegan butter to pop the corn, just use some neutral vegetable oil like rapeseed oil there. After the corns have popped, just melt the vegan butter in a pan and drip it over your popcorn.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

…holy shit you’re a genius.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Ugh. That was so bad. I love that for you.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Ghee sounds awesome for popcorn! I use refined coconut oil and Flavacol at the moment.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

After reading this post a few days back, I was inspired to get some Ghee and try it out. Absolutely delicious, thank you @[email protected]!

[–] poejreed 2 points 2 years ago

Also, as far as i know, you can buy the same seasoning they put on the popcorn at the theaters. Its called flavacol.

Also, beware of bagged popcorn a lot of the bags contain PFAS, which is supposedly bad for you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Peanut Oil is the answer. High smoke point, taste negligible.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)
  1. Not buttery
  2. Although it probably doesn't kill the housemate with the peanut allergy, it makes them very uncomfortable and possibly costs them a significant medical bill.
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I tried ghee, it tasted awful. Butter flavored coconut oil is where it's at.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

And if youre a terrible cook (like me), throwing the kernals in a paper lunch bag & throwing it in the microwave for 3 minutes makes perfect popcorn (and does so without covering your kitchen in oil splatter/ annoying your neighbors with smoke detectors going off.)

Lol sorry. Thanks for the ghee suggestion! It sounds awesome & im excited to try it!

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Coconut oil

load more comments
view more: next ›