Sour Potatoes

Last Wednesday it was snowing. Really snowing. And when it she comes down like that, I have one thing on my mind and that is what are all of the very warm to very hot things I can cook for us today?

This got me thinking, soup, hot drinks in several varieties…your teas, your flavored coffees, and your hot cocoas…

And this got me thinking about Christmas, which for some reason got me thinking about Caramel Corn…so, I got busy, found myself an online recipe and gave it a whirl. Here’s the recipe I used from the website, www.ellenskitchen.com.

Deluxe Caramel Corn
Way Better Than Crackerjack

Pop 4-6 quarts of your favorite popcorn and place in a large buttered roaster. Preheat oven to 200 degrees, put the popcorn in the oven while you make the syrup.

In a deep pot, stir together constantly while heating, then boil together at a full boil for 5 minutes without stirring:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup honey OR corn syrup

Remove syrup from heat, stir in:

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1-2 cups toasted pecans, almond slices or other choice nuts

Syrup will foam high when you add the soda. Stir down and as it cools slightly, pour in a thin stream all over the popcorn. Stir in well with two large spoons or gloved hands, this stuff is HOT*HOT*HOT. Put the well mixed popcorn in its roaster into the oven uncovered, increase temperature to 250 degrees. Stir thoroughly every 15 minutes for 1 hour 15 minutes. Break apart and cool before eating or storing.

“This really isn’t so hard!”, I thought…I think I heard the Caramel Corn laughing at the way my simple mind works.

I did just as I was told in this recipe…I made a beautiful caramel and stirred when I should and didn’t stir when I shouldn’t. I removed caramel from heat, added said ingredients, and stirred its foamy contents into my popcorn. I was aware of its HOT*HOT*HOT-ness and was very careful. And then I baked and stirred every 15 minutes for 1 hour and 15 minutes. And we were so happy when we saw this beauty emerge from the oven…

The results had a certain je ne sais quoi about them and the sais quoi was bitterness. Yes, cue the tragic music, all of that hard work for nothing, for inadvertently I had set the oven a bit too high, resulting in beautiful, disgusting, bitter caramel corn. It was so hard not to eat it, it still looked so good and I kept trying it, hoping that it was only the piece I got last time that was bitter. Alas, every bite was more disgusting then the last…it was like being out on the ocean and seeing all that beautiful water and you can’t drink any of it.

Anyway, into the trash went all that carmel coated gorgeousness, but really this story has a happy ending, check back in on Friday for (Not So) Good Caramel Corn, the Sequel…and just like Aliens or the Empire Strikes Back, the Sequel will be way better than the original!