Double Truffled Popcorn — The House of Carbs

Sometimes, you just want a recipe that takes 10 minutes and feels like a treat. And with a bag of flour being harder to find than a horse in Richard III, it is preferable for that treat to include zero milled wheat. I see you. I feel you.

Double Truffled Popcorn is here for the occasion. It is so easy to make that I had to text friends to get their opinion on whether this could count as a “recipe” (they said yes). I have also gone to restaurants that have charged $10+ for “truffled popcorn,” so by learning this recipe, you could quickly become a popcorn entrepreneur since I estimate the marginal cost of this dish to be perhaps $0.70.

While truffle oil and truffle salt require an up front investment, a full bowl of popcorn will use only a fraction of your supply, and kernels of corn are blessedly cheap, so much so that when I was a grad student, I was briefly diagnosed as malnourished (not under-nourished) since I was living primarily on a diet of (un-truffled) popcorn, eggs, and tortillas (plus “heavy apps” at networking events). So if you’re a truffle lover on a budget, this one’s for you.

RECIPE - Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

Half a cup of corn kernels
1-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Drizzle of truffle oil
Pinch of truffle salt
2 pinches table salt

RECIPE

Add olive oil and 2 corn kernels to a pot with a lid. If your pot has a small bottom, use less oil (~1 tablespoon works in mine). If your pot has a big bottom, use more (eg, a Dutch oven may require 3 tablespoons). Your goal is to have enough oil where the bottom of the pot can be easily coated with oil once all the kernels are in. If in doubt, err on the side of a bit more oil rather than less.

Put on medium heat (not higher, or it will burn). Wait for the 2 kernels to pop. Immediately add the rest of the corn. This is particularly important when using extra virgin olive oil because it has a relatively low “smoke point,” and that point is basically the same point as when the kernels start to pop. The smoking will stop immediately when you add the rest of the kernels. If you don’t want to worry about smoke, use canola or vegetable oil, which have higher smoke points, but I like the taste of olive oil better.

If you’re using a pot that doesn’t have a vented lid (there’s a small hole in the lid to vent steam), tilt the lid slightly as in this recipe to keep your popcorn crisp. Continue cooking until you can count, “One One Thousand, Two One Thousand” without hearing any pops. Remove from heat and quickly pour into a serving bowl (the popcorn will keep cooking and can burn if you leave it in the pot).

Drizzle a little truffle oil and sprinkle some regular table salt. Repeat if you are using a deep bowl. It’s important to add oil and then salt so that the salt can stick to the oil or it will just bounce and settle to the bottom of the bowl.

When it comes to which truffle oil and which truffle salt, I would go for what’s cheapest and has some visible flecks of truffle. I’ve tried a bunch and can’t tell much difference among them, except those that only had “truffle flavor” and no truffle (some truffle “flavor” is fine and seems like a universal ingredient among options in the grocery store). Here’s what I use.