Texas Popcorn

As National Popcorn Popping Month continues, the inspiration for this new-to-me popcorn recipe came from an unlikely source: a Disney star on a late night talk show. Yes, I learned about "Texas Popcorn" by watching Selena Gomez make it for Jimmy Fallon. It sounded just bizzarre enough to intrigue me.

Selena's version of Texas Popcorn entails tossing popped corn in a paper bag with Tabasco and salt. The coup de gras, though, is to then dip the pieces into pickle juice. She had me at "pickle juice."

We don't really keep Tabasco around the house, so, after popping a batch of hot air black diamond popcorn (which is why the popcorn has black hearts - it's not burnt, I just like how it photographs) I tossed half of it in a paper bag with popcorn salt and Cholula hot sauce

And the other half with popcorn salt and Pickapeppa sauce (which I love tossed over cream cheese served with crackers - an appetizer that seems super fancy but is actually super easy - I have old family friends to thank for that one!)

I may have overdone it with the Pickapeppa. The flavor was great, but it softened the popcorn to the point of sogginess. Oh well, first attempt!

I then served it all up with a small bowl of Claussen dill pickle juice.

And you know what? It was just weird enough to work! The flavors mingled while keeping separate places on the palate, a true menage of taste sensation. A little spicy, a little salty, and a little something else that just brought it all together. Each sauce was equally as successful, which tempts me to experiment with different hot sauces and blends (the Cholulah and Pickapeppa together was fantastic!) I'd also love to experiment with different pickle juices, with bread & butter and especially Wickle's pickle juice at the top of my list, but the purity and tartness of dill will be hard to beat. So this strange little experiment came out a huge success! I highly recommend serving Texas Popcorn at your next movie night.