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What is the key to making Kettle Corn (sugared popcorn) on the stove without burning the sugar?

My husband is in love with kettle corn and has attempted a few times to make it from scratch. Each time has turned out to be disastrous...to include multiple fire alarms going off in our house freaking out our children of course.

He's also ruined a couple of pans doing this as neither of us applying elbow grease, even with the help of a brillo pad (steel wool), could get off the burnt sugar at the bottom of the pans.

Any suggestions for his next attempt?

How much shaking of the pan to keep from burning? Add the sugar at a particular point in time during cooking? What is the best heat setting for the burner?

edited Mar 18 at 1:11

klypos♦
3,571●10

asked Mar 9 at 8:07

Sabrina♦
1,423●1●11

klypos · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-18 01:29:42Z UTC

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Elizra's recipe uses a lot of oil, to my mind.

If you and hubby are following the instructions, you are missing something.

The pan needs to be hot for the corn to pop. It doesn't need to be SO hot when you are sugaring it - so pause a while, take it off the heat, then move to the sugaring step.

If those are good quality pans that are ruined, you can probably get them back by burying them in the garden for a week (leave the handle sticking out). After that, pick the mess off, boil water in them with a lid on for about half an hour, then try to clean them.

I don't know what does the work, but it does work ...

answered Mar 18 at 1:29

klypos♦
3,571●10

2

The burying your pans in the garden suggestion is really interesting. There are a bunch of additional suggestions for cleaning a burnt pan. In this case I think just boiling a lot of water in the burnt pan and using a utensil to remove the mess will work. ask.recipelabs.com/questions/1786/… – Kris♦ Mar 18 at 1:50

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It does depend on what the mess is - sometimes you can shift intractable blackness by heating a little oil in the bottom and scraping while hot. When you are dealing with a mix of burned sugar and oil, you will find that repeated boiling will have some effect, eventually - but not very rapidly. Burying things is an old method, but it is a "path of least effort". When I have this problem, I take the pan to the beach and use the sand - but not everybody is close to the sea ... – klypos♦ Mar 18 at 2:41

Elizra · Answer 2 · 2010-03-09 19:02:19Z UTC

I've never made kettle corn, but in my very un-limited :) experience of burning things, I've learned to KEEP THE HEAT LOW when in doubt. It seems so such a silly little thing, and my lack of patience still gets the best of me, but it really really works.

Another thing may be trying to make too much at once.

This recipe I found calls for 1/4 oil, 1/4 sugar, 1/2 un-popped popping corn.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, stir in the sugar and popcorn. Cover, and shake the pot constantly to keep the sugar from burning. Once the popping has slowed to once every 2 to 3 seconds, remove the pot from the heat and continue to shake for a few minutes until the popping has stopped. Pour into a large bowl, and allow to cool, stirring occasionally to break up large clumps.

Making Kettle Corn on the Stove…without burning

2 Answers