Truffle Lovers' Popcorn

OMG! We call this "crack corn"...its addicting!

I'm always looking for ways to use the truffle oil I have on hand as it's not something I commonly or routinely use. I love the stuff but you can just do so much drizzling. This caught my eye. Like popcorn with bacon grease, this is unusual, very tasty and decadent; and in this case, rather gourmet. But also like popcorn with bacon grease (or cinnamon sugar) it was a nice diversion but not a worthy replacement for the traditional hot buttered popcorn. I just sprinkled and tossed as it suited me, not measuring precisely, and skipping the dried parsley. I also used a fine popcorn salt, very sparingly, as the Parmesan is already fairly salty.

I tried this over Orville Redenbacher's Natural Buttery Salt & Cracked Pepper popcorn, and it was sublime!! You've really got to like truffle oil for this one; this is a beautiful way to showcase that earthy flavor!

Mine came out a bit salty, but still tasty. Will make again with less salt.

This recipe is similar to the popcorn that was served at Graham Elliot's restaurant in Chicago. Be sure to use white (not black) truffle oil and a good quality parmesan. Grate it over the popcorn and get ready for "mmmm". . .

Addictive!!!

My mixture wouldn't stick to the popcorn. No matter how much mixing/shaking I did, the mixture just sat on the bottom, with the plain, tasteless popcorn on top of it (I picked plain popcorn so it wouldn't be too salty).

The truffle oil/parmesan/parsley mixture clumped together and certainly would not coat the popcorn in any kind of reasonable way.

Since I don't use packaged popcorn anymore, I popped my organic popcorn as I normally do: take about a fistful of popcorn kernels that comes in a jar & microwave in a deep glass (microwave safe) bowl for 3-4 minutes, covered with a microwave-safe plate (making sure to vent so the popcorn doesn't get stale in its own steam). Once done, I sprinkled & mixed the truffle oil & Parmesan cheese on top. I found that the popcorn absorbed the oil too much and didn't spread as I'd liked. On the second go-around, I melted some butter, then added the truffle oil and drizzled on top of the popcorn, salting lightly (Diamond Crystal Kosher salt), without the Parmesan cheese (didn't have any left). This worked wonders!

Use half the popcorn or twice the oil