[scruple]

It's hilarious. I grew up in the rural midwest and I was taught to make "popped corn" on the stove in a pot with a little bit of oil by my grand mother. I love it this way, so does my wife, and I still prefer to make it this way to today. However, we had a very good friend over recently and I made popcorn for the 3 of us on the stove and she thought it was way beyond weird. She actually bought us one of those air popcorn makers for Christmas and was like, "Here, now you guys don't have to use the stove to make popcorn anymore!"

[khedoros1]

My parents had a pot with a top, and a crank in the handle that could be turned to stop the kernels from sticking. I suppose it's the more commercial version of what you grew up doing. It looks like they're still available for $20 or $30.

[abakker]

Those hand crank popcorn poppers can be pretty good at roasting your own coffee, if you're interested.

[jdironman]

I don't know about others, but I for one would like to learn more. Do you have any links or further info?

[mattw]

http://legacy.sweetmarias.com/stovepopmethod.php

I've been roasting coffee stovetop for about a year. Takes me about 10 minutes to roast 12 ounces, the result is great, and it only ends up costing about $1/lb more than what I used to pay for roasted beans at Costco. If you like coffee at all, I highly recommend giving it a try!

[abakker]

Yep - me too, and I've used a variety of beans from that same source to great effect. Good luck. Also, if you're in the bay area, I'll be happy to give you a demo if you need it.

[fiddlerwoaroof]

I used that for a while, eventually we switched to a hot air popper which seemed to do a better job with less fuss. Then, in December, I got a Behmor 1600+ which is really nice.

[hexane360]

And from experience, they're hands down the best option in every factor but convenience. Air poppers are basically flavorless (you need the oil), and electric auto-stirring machines are bulky and don't get hot enough.

The brand we've always had is Whirlypop.

[dekhn]

Waiting for the oil to get hot, and cleaning up afterwards, are both basically wastes of time. I remember switching to air poppers happily.

[scruple]

I guess? I mean, if that's your stance then isn't cooking any food at all is a waste of time because of waiting on things to get hot and the ensuing clean up?

I can tell you that getting the oil hot takes all of ~2 minutes and it's not like I'm standing over top of the stove waiting for it to happen. Cleaning up takes about 30 seconds to wash the pot, the lid, and whatever bowl I used to hold the popcorn. If I ever find myself thinking, "Geez, I really wish I had that 3 or 4 minutes back" then I'd be trying to find out what's really going on in my life that is making me feel that way. I can tell you with certainty that it sure wouldn't be the 3 or 4 minutes it takes to cook the popcorn and then clean up a pot, it's lid, and a bowl afterwords.

My thing with air poppers is that the oil imparts a flavor that you obviously don't get otherwise and which I happen to prefer greatly to air popped popcorn.