You may recall that Mr. Big Food and I are working our way through the list of seldom used kitchenware and crossing things off. Last night was the popcorn popper.

This was a special event! We had decided to spend a night up in the apartment, and so we did–all of us (except Tiger, that would have been just too much). Started with popcorn for a little appetizer, and then made fried bologna sandwiches on homemade herbed green onion bread to go with a tasty jello salad.

It was a lot of fun! Like camping out.

This is the best popcorn popper ever made. One quarter cup oil on the bottom plus 1-2 kernels of corn. Medium high heat. Wait for the kernel to pop, then put in enough corn to cover the bottom in a single layer. Not shown, but the handle has a crank on it that drives the rotation of a paddle in the bottom of the pot. Start cranking and don’t stop until the corn stops popping. Perfection. Corn never burns and this batch had only one kernel that didn’t pop–usually every single one does.

Search for R.S.V.P’S ‘PERFECT Popper’ Hand-cranked popcorn popper. There are a bunch of them out there for sale, though prices on eBay vary considerably.