Anyone over 30 who loves popcorn will probably miss the rich, buttery flavour of cinema popcorn from the 1990s. Luckily, those who do can now recreate it at home, thanks to a “secret” ingredient shared by a food expert.
Cristian Feher, a chef and host of the YouTube channel Food Chain TV, revealed exactly how to make “movie theater popcorn” that smells and tastes just like the real thing. In the video, titled ‘The SECRET to making movie theater popcorn at home that tastes just like the movies’, he said: “Do you remember what movie theater popcorn used to taste like? The aroma, that buttery flavour. Well, I’m going to show you the secret to how they used to do that.”
According to Cristian, the trick is using coconut oil, an ingredient many cinemas seem to have moved away from in recent years.
He explained: “The secret ingredient to movie theater popcorn is coconut oil. Now, for some reason, they just stopped using coconut oil, probably because it became really popular with the recent health trends.
“And like everything else, demand drives up price. So, movie theatres switched to something cheaper.”
To make the popcorn, Cristian recommends starting with a small pot and adding a generous amount of coconut oil.
“Don’t be afraid to use a lot of coconut oil because it’s going to taste really, really delicious,” he said.
“You also want to put a lot of sea salt in there. And again, don’t be shy because, you know, this is not healthy food. This is movie theater popcorn.”
Cristian said a small amount of corn kernels goes a long way, and it’s important to cook them on medium-high heat.
He also melts a stick of salted butter in a separate pot to pour over the popcorn later.
Once the oil is hot, the kernels start to pop. “As soon as you hear popping, start shaking it a little bit,” he said.
“You want the kernels to stay on the bottom and you want the popcorn to float on top of the oil.”
He then lifts the pan slightly above the heat and keeps shaking it until the popping stops.
“Give it a good shake so that all that salty oil coats the popcorn,” he added.
Finally, pour the melted butter over the top for extra flavour. “Movie theater popcorn. Mmmm. Oh my god. So much flavour. You can smell this down the street. So good,” Cristian said after tasting the final result.
He added: “This is movie theater popcorn. It’s all about how good it tastes and how good it feels in your mouth.”