This evening, after this morning and early afternoon at Lucero’s drinking Champagne, enjoying good food, and watching the men’s final of Wimbledon, a long, but great last set, we decided we didn’t need a dinner, after all the food at Lucero’s. So we had truffled popcorn and old CalCab, while watching the second stage of the Tour de France (via TiVo). The popcorn was quite good with a mix of black truffle butter and regular butter and sea salt. The CalCab was a 1980 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Napa Valley ‘Lot 2’ - fill just below the capsule; difficult cork, stuck so I had to use an Ah-So, which extracted it nicely; light black currant and dark berry fruit, with very little herb component; light, but balanced mid-palate, with a little acidity; and a medium-long dark fruit finish. It was quite enjoyable with the truffled popcorn and the TdF. It was a very enjoyable day with occasional thunderstorms and alternating clear blue skies.
Dick, that truffle popcorn sounds great. D you pop it on the stove? Steve and I experimented with an air popper for a while, but even with butter or truffle oil, we were never happy with the results. If you do it on the stove, do you use a special contraption, or just a big covered pot?
I use a deep sauté pan with a glass lid. A little oil in the bottom, adding 1/4 to 1/3 cup of popcorn on medium high heat, turning it down to medium when the popping slows, and off when it nearly done. I melt the truffle butter and butter in a small pan and then salt the popcorn in the pan and pour the butter over it and toss. Then I pour the popped corn into a large bowl and serve.
I scoop the popped corn into a smaller bowl, and pick it up with my tongue. Enjoying it with a older CalCab (the only thing we voluntarily drink them with), is quite nice.
Do you use any supermarket brand of kernels (a la Orville Redebacher) or something more upscale? Is there much difference? I’d like to try it this week.
Thanks!
Lately I’ve been using Albertson’s yellow corn (I like it better than their white). Most of the major ‘names’ have only microwave popcorn here. Non-microwave popcorn is hard to find around here.
Sounds so nice! Where do you find the Truffle Butter??
Hope you and Carollee had a fantastic 4th!
I got the truffle butter from our Whole Foods here in Santa Fe.
We had a quiet rainy 4th, yesterday was much more fun.
I’m munching on truffle popcorn right now. I had to stop at the mall anyway, so I picked up some sort of Amish popcorn at Williams Sonoma. $5 for a large bag of kernels. I made 1/3 cup, and every last kernel popped. I melted some plugra and drizzled in a truffle oil that’s made with real truffles by the Joel Palmer House in Oregon wine country… absolutely delicious. Thanks for the guidance!