This is a genius method for making popcorn. It’s easy, it’s fast, and it’s way better than microwave popcorn.

I’d love to say this was all my idea, but I got it from Ryan over at The Spinning Cook. His post went up last September, and I don’t know why I didn’t make this sooner.

I used salty butter for this, because we like salt in this house. No need to be exact – I eyeballed the amount of butter (on the generous side, I’m sure), but I did measure out the popcorn to be sure I didn’t overflow. My 6-quart stock pot will pop a cup of uncooked popcorn without overflowing. I know this from experience.

The method is simple – brown some butter, pour off the solids (no need to be super exact here either), and then pop the corn in the sort-of clarified brown butter with a bit of salt. A lid is required, of course. And I put the heat just above medium and regularly shake the pot until the pops slow way down. I’d rather have a few unpopped kernels than a bunch of burnt popcorn.

Those brown butter solids don’t go to waste – they go on top of the popcorn once it’s popped. Feel free to adjust the amount of butter based on your taste – a tablespoon and a half to a half cup unpopped corn will be just lightly buttered with a subtle nutty flavor. And no weird microwave popcorn chemicals – in about the same amount of time.

The only issue with the recipe is that it says it serves 4. I mentioned to Ryan that this is an obvious error, because it only served two in this house.

• Ultimate Brown Butter Stovetop Popcorn (The Spinning Cook)