Fun with Mr. Popping Cob
What to my wondering eyes should appear in my e-mail this morning but a rare guest post from Bucky. EL
Elizabeth’s post on unsafe foods, and microwave popcorn’s place on it, jogged my memory. Last summer when I stopped at a roadside farmer’s fruit stand to buy peaches, I bought — out of curiosity — the “Mr. Popping Cob” pictured to the left. I stuck it in the console between the seats and forgot about it.
I sent EL an e-mail and the picture and said I was going to pop it for the football game this weekend. She asked if I’d write a post about how it worked. Of course, once I remembered it, there was no way I could wait until Sunday to pop it. ...
Mr. Popping Cob is a dried-out ear of corn. The instructions say to put it in a large glass bowl with a lid slightly ajar, zap it for two-and-a-half minutes, add seasoning and eat.
Simple. And you use a glass bowl, so it has to be safer than those toxic popcorn bags cited in the unsafe food article, right?
The problem is I don’t have a large, clear glass bowl. My glass bowls are opaque. Mr. Popping Cob piqued my curiosity in the first place because I thought watching it pop would be the best part of the whole deal.
Instructions? We don’t need no stinkin’ instructions.
I placed Mr. Popping Cob directly on the microwave turntable and pushed the “Popcorn” button on the microwave.
Whoo hoo! This, my friends, is the most fun two minutes I’ve spent in the kitchen in a long time. As to taste … it tastes like popcorn, which is to say it has no taste, except for whatever you put on it. EL’s topic, “What Can You Put on Cardboard…” could just as easily been “What Can You Put on Popcorn…” Mine tasted like Land O’ Lakes butter and salt. “Too much salt.” (Which is my strategy for getting to eat the whole bowl of popcorn myself, but don’t tell Kaikala that.)
I don’t remember exactly how much Mr. Popping Cob cost, but I do recall thinking, “Yeah, one is enough.” So it isn’t something you would do every night, or even every weekend. Lissa’s lunch bag method sounds like the most sensible way to microwave-pop popcorn. But you should track down a Mr. Popping Cob and try it just once.
(Photos by Uncle Larry)
Comments
Pretty cool Bucky!
I thought it might have blown the door off the microwave, or filled up the cavity with popped corn.
11 flexing
Posted by: PCB Rob | December 12, 2009 3:55 PM
Your microwave must be a lot cleaner than mine if you actually ate anything that physically touched the bottom of it.
Posted by: Danielle | December 12, 2009 4:04 PM
Well, an internet search reveals that you can buy Mr. Popping Cob online, but you have to buy them by the dozen. 12 for $25.
http://www.mrpoppingcob.com/orders.htm
or Mr Popping Cob
barrera 0-0
Posted by: PCB Rob | December 12, 2009 4:10 PM
Brave Man Bucky
I like to just shake the hell out of a canister of Kraft Parmesean on top of that popcorn....add a little Old Bay shake or ten....sit down and enjoy the T.V. show!
Saw their website; 12 ears for $25.00. Might have to try them.
Posted by: Lone Lady | December 12, 2009 4:14 PM
Speaking of things that will blow the door off your microwave: I tell the kids that, if they are ever held hostage in the house, sneak an egg into the microwave (tell the captors you're making popcorn or something) and set the timer for three minutes. When the egg blows, and it REALLY does go off like a shot, run like hell. The other one is a ball of aluminum foil. Pow-wee! (Hamsters and poodles work, too, but they are MUCH messier.) Also, here's how to make tear gas in your kitchen, again, for those times when you're being held hostage: Turn on the kitchen faucet full force and HOT. Grab your trusty bottle of Tabasco Sauce, sprinkle some into the stream of steaming water while clapping a towel to your nose and mouth. Anybody else in the room around you won't know until its too late that they've been tear-gassed. Then, of course, run like hell.
stymie 58 (my Lil' Rascals name)
Posted by: Cleatus | December 12, 2009 4:45 PM
I'm with Danielle, Bucky. You can clean my kitchen any time.
That does look like a helacious amount of fun, though. I bet my cats wouldn't have known whether to run from the noise, chase the kernels or hold me up for the butter.
You got to get yourself to a thrift store, Bucky, and buy a clear glass bowl.
Posted by: Lissa | December 12, 2009 5:06 PM
Is the "clear" part of the instructions merely to enhance the theatrics...or is there something in glass pigments that precludes the use of an opaque bowl? I suggest further experiments by Bucky to make sure. That is, after he's lain in a stock of Mr. P. Cob.
Posted by: BankStreet | December 12, 2009 7:57 PM
I planned to write a really witty comment about Mr. P Cob, then noticed the Captcha phrase and surrendered:
extended unpop-
Posted by: jl | December 12, 2009 8:15 PM
jl, that is exactly why I keep opened popcorn bags in the freezer.
Posted by: Lissa | December 12, 2009 9:07 PM
Danielle and Lissa...not to worry. Kai is borderline OCD about kitchen cleanliness. She made me wash out the inside of the microwave after the popcorn and ran the turntable through the dishwasher, for example.
Posted by: Bucky | December 12, 2009 11:41 PM
Hey, no one ever died of "having too clean a kitchen." I'd rather blame anyone but myself for food poisoning!
Posted by: Meekrat | December 13, 2009 8:57 AM
I've seen your kitchen Meek, and you have every right to blame everyone else who co-habitates with you if you ever get food poisoning.
oddly enough, as related:
strife then
Posted by: Odie B | December 13, 2009 11:26 AM
This could have ended worse. You could have put an old school Jiffy Pop in the microwave.
Do they still make Jiffy Pop in the old stove top, tin skillet?
Posted by: Robert of Cross Keys | December 13, 2009 1:21 PM
That's a good question, RoCK. I haven't looked for Jiffy Pop in a long time. But I will later today.
Posted by: Bucky | December 13, 2009 2:22 PM
I'm pretty sure I've seen old school Jiffy Pop in a grocery store recently. I'm not feeling really inspired to walk to the grocery store in this weather, though.
Posted by: Lissa | December 13, 2009 2:50 PM
I know Food Lion has Jiffy Pop. I buy it for my granddaughter. It's made by ConAgra these days.
Posted by: Oat | December 13, 2009 3:19 PM
this sounds like a good start to an episode of the brady bunch if the bradys had a microwave
Posted by: unbelievaboh | December 13, 2009 3:43 PM
RoCK, yes they still do make Jiffy Pop, saw some at the grocery the other day. Actually thought about buying some, just for old times sake. One of my favorite memories of growing up was all the kids, gathered around mom as she made jiffy pop, then it exploding all over the kitchen. Not as exciting though as Lissa's brother exploding an egg!
Posted by: Trixie | December 13, 2009 4:52 PM